Before all of this, and to its credit, in October 2010, the EC initiated a “fitness check” exercise designed to review an entire body of legislation in a certain policy area with the purpose of identifying excessive burdens, overlaps, gaps, inconsistencies, and/or obsolete measures.
To that end, the food chain was identified as one of four pilot projects for a fitness check, which culminated in publication of a Dec. 18, 2013 document titled “A Fitness Check of the Food Chain.” This “Fitness Check” provided the ground work for the Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme, which was introduced at the end of 2012, the EC tells Food Quality & Safety, mentioning that the “Fitness Check” served as both an overall assessment by establishing the state of play and, at the same time, as an initial mapping exercise outlining the next steps.
One of several conclusions drawn in the “Fitness Check” report was “the absence of some important elements in legislation.” The report stated, “Typically, this was the case of dealing with food fraud, which was ‘left’ to other legislation (criminal law, fraud, etc.) implemented by other official bodies (such as the police). Analysis of the situation and lessons learned from the recent food scandals showed clearly that effectively dealing with a problem is impossible without the participation of official authorities in the food sector, which are only capable of providing the necessary information flow to enforcement authorities. This area needs further exploration.”
On Dec. 17, 2013, the EC published a report on the possibility of extending mandatory origin labeling to meat as an ingredient. According to the EC when queried by Food Quality & Safety, the main purpose of this particular report was to set out in a neutral and objective manner all relevant facts in order to launch an informed and fruitful discussion both with the European Parliament and the Council. The report itself did not suppose or imply any a priori position of the EC on the subject, the EC notes.
Responding to Food Quality & Safety when asked for any available updates, the EC says that on Feb. 11, 2015, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling the EC to introduce mandatory origin labeling for meat as an ingredient. The EC states that “it has taken note of the European Parliament’s resolution and is currently reflecting on the best way forward.”
Without question, Europe’s horsemeat scandal may have brought food fraud to greater light, but other food fraud activities have been and continue to be newsworthy and potentially dangerous to humans and animals, Dr. Vågsholm emphasizes.
“Prior to the 2013 horsemeat scandal, the importance of food fraud was not really fully appreciated,” he says. “The episode of horsemeat in lasagna has been a real wake up call. However, food fraud has probably always been happening, and several other incidents have helped to highlight the issue of food fraud in recent years. These include mislabeling a cheaper fish product as more expensive one, labeling pork filet as beef filet, and using melamine as a fraudulent protein substitute in dog food or infant formula, as was done in China. There are strong incentives to cheat and the probability of being caught is perceived as low.”
Leake, doing business as Food Safety Ink, is a food safety consultant, auditor, and award-winning journalist based in Wilmington, N.C. Reach her at [email protected].
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