LIVESTOCK IN THE EU – CLOSE TO A PROPOSAL FOR ORIGIN LABEL

Key issues affecting the EU livestock sectors:

Avian flu cases are soaring across Europe. More than 48 million birds have died in the past year in the UK and the EU. EU farmers may no longer have to remove the free-range label from their eggs in the event of an extended mandatory housing order.

Impact of the opening of the EU market to Ukrainian poultry production. The lifting of tariffs and the suspension of quotas on Ukrainian agricultural products, including Ukrainian poultry for a year, has led to a surge in Ukrainian poultry imports into the EU. The European Commission has said it could re-impose duties if EU producers face serious difficulties.

A German parliamentary group has called for the animal welfare label to be applied to products from other EU Member States and third countries.

The Commission may present a proposal for EU-wide origin labelling early next year.

In Germany, piggeries should be converted to improve animal welfare. This could result in a reduction of the pig population.

Germany tightens animal transport rules and calls for EU-wide monitoring. Germany will also tighten rules on antibiotics for livestock.

According to the European Food Safety Authority, animal transport times should be shortened to reduce the risk of antibiotic-resistant germs.

The European Commission published in November a Communication on “Ensuring the availability and affordability of fertilisers”. The text sets out long-term objectives for Europe and the rest of the world.

MEPs call for initiative on mental health in agriculture

Members of the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee have called for concerted efforts to support the mental health of EU farmers as pressures mount on the already strained sector.

The European Parliament has called for a downgrading of the protection status of wolves in the EU to help protect the livestock sector.

This resolution could put political pressure on the European Commission to re-evaluate its approach to the management of wolf populations.

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FARM TO FORK NEWSLETTER: THE FERTILIZERS HEADACHE

In the midst of the price and energy crisis and the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the food market, the Commission is about to publish a communication on fertilizers (on November 9^th). According to some rumors, the Commission will call on national capitals to ensure supplies of gas for fertilizers manufacturers, and encourage to use the agricultural crisis reserve. At the same time, coming from the latest Council meeting, most of the 27 ministers of agriculture agreed on the importance of manure-made fertilizers and asked for legal flexibilities on the current nitrate legislation.

On animal welfare, while EFSA published some guidelines on the welfare of animals on transportation, stressing that transport should be short and that deep cleaning of the vehicle should be done, the German minister for agriculture is proposing a bill for a mandatory animal welfare label which might cause market distortion issues, critics argue.The European Commission, on the same topic, published an overview of the achievements and challenges of the current Animal welfare legislation, concluding that the current setting has improved the welfare of many EU animals including their protection during transport and slaughter.

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LIVESTOCK IN THE EU – A DECLINING MEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCTION

The European Commission’s short-term outlook – Autumn 2022 edition – shows that production of meat and dairy products in the European Union is expected to decline this year, and the following one.

Persistently high feed costs and African swine fever (ASF) continue to limit the growth of EU pigmeat production.

Beef production is expected to decline by -0.6% in 2022, mainly due to structural adjustment in the beef and dairy sector, despite high prices.

New records in Europe of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), and a persistent virus in wild birds continue to impact the poultry sector.

Signs of declining livestock production warn of limited supplies which could exacerbate the high food inflation in Europe. The historic drought has reduced the availability of grass and feed (especially maize), thereby increasing costs for farms, which are also faced with soaring energy and fertiliser prices.

In view of a review of animal welfare legislation the Commission has published a “Fitness Check” which gives an overview of the achievements and challenges of current animal welfare legislation.

The European Scientific Committee of the Nutri-score has published an update of the algorithm which is supposed to be more “consistent” and “aligned” with nutritional and public health recommendations. These changes propose a more severe rating for certain foods, including meat.

The European Parliament voted in mid-September to extend the list of agricultural products covered by the future new anti-deforestation law to include maize, poultry and pork.

According to the World Climate Report, methane emissions are overestimated, with cattle producing 3 to 4 times less carbon dioxide than assumed.

The Swiss initiative “No to intensive livestock farming in Switzerland” was rejected by 63%.

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NUTRITION & HEALTH : EU label legislation postponed

As the expectations around the Commission’s proposal about a EU-wide nutritional labelling systems are getting higher, many events are being organized around this topic. However, the Commission seems that it will postpone this legislative initiative at a later stage of 2023 considering the ‘complexity’ of the issue and the fact that more time is needed for the EU executive to take a final position on the matter. At the same time, Italian researchers have proposed another label to be displayed on food products, the ‘Med Index’, that would promote those products that are in line with the Mediterranean diet and with its principles of sustainability (i.e., nutritional, environmental, and social).

In the meantime, traditional and nature-sourced food products are being challenged by the development of lab-grown protein industry, with start-up in the field raising capitals to open new production facilities to scale up, expand their offer, and the geographical location. In this context, a study analyzed consumers’ openness to lab-grown dairy (through precision fermentation) and found that the overall safety concerns as well as questions about the technical process of production were frequently underlined. However, only few individuals within the early adoption group expressed opposition to the products while the majority of the people interviewed were ‘on the fence’ as to whether they would consider trying the product.

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NEW GENOMIC TECHNIQUES: PATHS OPEN TO NEW LEGISLATION, SUPPORT AND RISK ASSESMENTS

Outside the EU, states like Kenya and Ukraine open up to the possibility to have a more flexible legislation around genetic engineering techniques. Within the EU, the French organization for biotechnology pushes for a stronger use of new genomic techniques to assure food security and face the climate challenges. At the same time, EFSA developed some criteria on risk assessment for plants produced by targeted mutagenesis, cisgenesis and intregenesis.

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NUTRITION & HEALTH : CONSENSUS FOR A NEW ALGORITHM

Over the summer, the scientific committee in charge of NutriScore, the front-of-pack nutritional labelling systems in used in 6 EU countries agreed on changing the algorithm behind the scoring system. The changes concern the calculation of fats and oilseeds, and a specific rule for red meat. On the same front, Italy upgraded the national nutritional labelling, Nutinform, with the digital version of it: an app.

In preparation for the awaited renovation package concerning Food information to consumers (expected to be advanced in the early months of 2023), the Joint Research center published some research on nutritional labelling, origin labelling, alcoholic labelling. These studies will be most likely used as a base for the Commission to draft its legislative proposals.

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FARM TO FORK STRATEGY: FERTILIZER AND PPP LEAD THE DISCUSSIONS IN PRAGUE

During the informal meeting of agriculture ministers held in Prague, Commissioner Wojciechowski hinted to the need for the EU to have a fertilizer strategy, notably in this time of agricultural price crisis.

On the revision of the use of plant protection products, some delegations led by the Polish one strongly asked for an effective revision of the Commission’s proposal, considered ‘outdated’ and out of context, in light of the events in Ukraine and the fact that the impact assessment did not consider any consequences on food security. At the same time, the Commission adopted new rules to fast-track the adoption procedure of new biological pesticides.

On animal transport, the European Agency for Food Safety published some reports on the matter. These ones will be used by the Commission as a base for its legislative proposals (expected for the fourth quarter of next year). The reports find that providing more space, lowering maximum temperatures, and keeping journey times to a minimum are all needed to improve the welfare of farmed animals during transport.

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NEW GENOMIC TECHNIQUES: SAFETY REQUIREMENTS VITAL TO GMO OPENNESS

After the informal AgriCouncil in Prague middle of September, EU ministers seemed to be particularly open to the new modifications of the EU legislations on GMO, assuring solid impact assessment and safety as the top priority.

In Austria, an NGO guides a pan-European on-line petition to keep the status quo on GMO regulations, fearing that a possible modification would allow what they call ‘new-GMOs’ to be sold in the market without following the security measures needed.

On the other side of the Atlantic, while the USDA approved a gene-edited tomato rich in nutrients, the US government approved an executive order that set the guidelines for future cooperation amongst governmental bodies to boost the US biotechnology and bio manufacture industry. At the same time, a federal judge claimed that current GMO labelling rules do not assure the safety of consumers because they prevent some from accessing the information.

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LIVESTOCK IN THE EU – PERIODIC NEWS

The Russian-Ukrainian crisis continues to have a strong impact on agricultural markets. Trapped between soaring production costs and declining consumer purchasing power, European livestock farmers and animal feed producers face difficulties to plan ahead.

Prolonged animal disease outbreaks and the increase in grain prices caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine are expected to reduce demand for animal feed in the EU.

High temperatures and drought have had a severe impact on pastures, forage and cereal crops, further threatening the European animal sector.

All of these factors have driven up prices for EU animal products. However, the risk of decapitalization in the face of production and feed costs is leading to a risk of reversal of trends in meat prices

Due to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and the lack of vegetable protein, organic chicken and pig farmers will be able to use non-organic protein feed thanks to a temporary derogation adopted at EU level.

The first European Parliament debate on synthetic meat was held in mid-July. The EU has been called upon – by representatives of synthetic meat sector – to invest more in public R&D on these products.

Five EU countries are calling for a review of the current animal transport legislation dating back to 2005.

A climate scientist proposes changes in the calculation of GHG emissions from the livestock sector, as conventional calculations could be misleading when applied to methane emissions, especially when it comes to emission reductions.

The environment ministers of the Member States have supported the European Commission’s proposal for a regulation on deforestation-free supply chains. Beef and soy, as well as other products, would no longer be imported into the EU if their production caused deforestation.

A survey reveals that 70% of Welsh farmers intend to reduce production next year due to rising costs and other factors (insufficient market returns, impact of government regulations, etc….). More than half of cattle farmers may reduce it during the year, with an average reduction in cattle numbers estimated at -10%.

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NUTRITION & HEALTH : MONTHLY NEWS

Developments in the debate of lab-grown meat is happening around Brussels, with the first event on the topic hosted by MEPs in the EU Parliament: while the producers, NGOs, and, it seems, the Commission to some extent support this technology, farmers and consumers are sceptic about the benefits that this product could bring to the vision of the future of food. In the meantime, the UK identified alternative proteins as a strategic field where to invest for its long-term food strategy.

In answer to an Italian MEP, the Commission states that alternative milk products cannot be marketed as ‘milk’, but should be called in a way not to confuse consumers. On the same line, the South African authorities banned meaty names for vegetarian and vegan products.

On food labelling, the Italian competition authority expressed itself on the NutriScore, accusing the label to confuse consumers.

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