The European Parliament’s environment, health and food safety committee today called for the origin of meat in all processed foods to be clearly labelled.
S&D MEP Glenis Willmott co-sponsored a resolution calling for mandatory country of origin labelling for meat in foods like ready meals, burgers and sandwiches.
Labelling products with the country of origin is already mandatory for fresh meat.
Glenis Willmott said:
“MEPs have always been clear we want the same rules to apply to meat in processed food as for fresh meat. What’s more, 90% of consumers say they want this labelling too.
"This is about not misleading consumers. If a beef lasagne is labelled as a British product, then this should mean that the product was made with British beef.
"More honest and transparent labelling would also help to restore consumer trust in the food industry, which was badly damaged after the horsemeat scandal.
"MEPs have made our position clear. We now want the European Commission to come forward with clear proposals for mandatory labelling of the country of birth, rearing and slaughter for all meat in processed food.”
