Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-07-05-Speech-2-620-000"
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"en.20110705.38.2-620-000"2
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".
Madam President, Mr Dalli, ladies and gentlemen, after almost three years of very hard work, far more than 3 000 amendments, countless conversations, discussions and debates, highly complex technical negotiations and political trialogues, we have reached the stage of voting on the political package, the major compromise between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers on the future labelling of food.
This regulation is intended to give consumers more and better information about food, in order to allow them to make informed purchasing decisions. That is not all, however. It should also benefit the European food industry by providing more legal certainty, less red tape and better lawmaking. This is particularly important for the small and medium-sized businesses which make up more than 80% of the food industry in the European Union.
At the same time, this labelling must be appropriate for every type of food and non-alcoholic drink, from basic foods to highly processed ready meals. This is why mandatory labelling using the traffic light system is not possible, because it is not suitable for basic foods.
Despite all the difficulties, despite all the political and ideological differences in Parliament and despite all the self-interested nationalism in the Member States, we have managed to reach a respectable compromise. Information about allergenic substances will be immediately obvious. The plants used to produce vegetable oils will be specified. There will be country of origin labelling for pork, poultry, lamb and goat meat. An impact assessment will be carried out for other products to show whether and how the origin can be specified, for example, for milk and dairy products, single ingredients, in other words, products made from one main ingredient, meat in processed foods and so on.
Imitation foods must be clearly labelled as such on the front of the packaging. The same applies to reconstituted meat and fish which is formed from small pieces. In addition, packaging must not give the impression that it contains something which is not there. If there is a picture of fruit on a yoghurt pot, the yoghurt must contain fruit, not just colouring and aromas.
In addition, the most important nutrients must be stated, but always per 100 grams or 100 millilitres in order to allow comparisons to be made. The label must also state whether water has been added to meat, the date on which meat and fish was first frozen and many other important details.
However, the most important point is that all the information must be legible. We have defined legibility and we have specified a minimum font size and called on the Commission to introduce binding regulations for other factors, such as the contrast between the text and the background.
At the same time, we have protected the handcrafted food production sector from excessive costs and red tape. Information about allergenic substances must be provided for fresh, non-prepacked foods, but not the nutrient information which can only be obtained by means of costly analyses. The Commission originally wanted this nutrient information to appear, but this would have led to the disappearance of national and regional specialities and would have resulted in standardised European pap, which is why we have ensured that it does not happen.
Now we have all come to an agreement and the reputable consumer protection organisations are very satisfied with what has been achieved. I would like to thank everyone involved, the shadow rapporteurs, the Commission and, in particular, Mr Dalli for his explanations, which I hope he will soon pass on to us and with which he succeeded in cutting the Gordian knot in our political debates. I would especially like to thank the Hungarian Presidency which has achieved something that we had almost given up on, the equivalent of squaring the circle, and that is an agreement on this regulation."@en1
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