Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-01-Speech-2-306"
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"en.20030701.11.2-306"2
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".
Mr President, I would like to thank Mrs Lucas, Mr Lannoye and Mr de Roo for tabling a question on adding water and protein to chicken meat. In May 2002 the Irish and British authorities published the first worrying results of their investigations concerning chicken breasts imported from the Netherlands and intended for the catering industry. The results published by the same authorities on 12 May 2003, show that the problem remains.
As regards the detection of the addition of pork or beef protein following enzymatic treatment to destroy the DNA, this will be examined by the Commission Services with the experts from the Member States.
In addition, it is important to emphasise that other control methods, including documentary checks, should be used to check the origin and traceability of products.
The practice of artificially increasing the weight of meat by the addition of protein and water – in some cases up to 40% or 50% water in the final product – in order to mislead the purchaser is despicable. It appears that purchasers and, by association, consumers are being misled on three counts.
First, the labelling of the product may lead to the assumption that it is fresh poultry meat, when it is clearly not. Second, some products have been labelled as Halal despite containing pig as well as other animal proteins. Third, the meat contents expressed have been overstated.
Enforcement and possible sanctions arising from the infringements of legislation relating to the labelling of foodstuffs and unfair practices are the responsibility of Member States. According to the information transmitted by the Irish and British authorities, the chicken products concerned are in the main manufactured in the Netherlands. That does not mean that there is no other country concerned with this issue. I have asked Member States to strengthen their controls and reinforce their cooperation. Fraud appears when you are looking for fraud.
As regards the letter from the Dutch authorities of July 2002, I have, along with my colleague Commissioner Fischler requested more information from the Dutch authorities about the measures taken and the origin of the protein. In March of this year the Dutch authorities undertook to ensure that these products were correctly labelled. However, inspection results from the UK and Irish authorities indicate that the problem of fraudulent labelling continues to exist.
I have therefore asked the Member States to improve collaboration between national authorities and to strengthen the controls. Furthermore, I have decided that there is a need to improve the labelling requirements for chicken and other meat preparations. The Commission will propose to Member States in the food chain committee to include an explicit mention, for instance, of chicken preparation with added water, on the food label.
The standing committee on the food chain and animal health composed of representatives of Member States welcomed this suggestion at its meeting on 8 April 2003. The technical discussion will continue during the next committee meetings.
I have also asked my services to consider the development of standards for meat preparations that would limit the amount of water that can be added to such products and the use of animal proteins for the purpose of bulking.
Your suggestion to indicate chicken meat containing beef or chicken meat containing pig is one that will be examined along with the possibility of banning the use of such proteins in poultry meat preparations."@en1
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