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delegations led by the Polish one strongly asked for an effective revision of the Commission’s proposal, considered ‘outdated’ and out of context, in light of the events in Ukraine and the fact that the impact assessment did not consider any consequences on food security.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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NEW GENOMIC TECHNIQUES: MONTHLY NEWS

While the debate on New Genomic Techniques in the EU continues, with European institutions and member states taking clearer positions on the topic – Italian MEPs pledge for the support of the revision of the legislation so to ease the application of new genomic methods for plant breeding; the Italian low Chamber stared formal discussions about the ‘genome editing’ bill; Austria is more than ever convinced to oppose any opening to NGTs -, Japan passed a bill about stricter GM labelling.

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FARM TO FORK STRATEGY: MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

The new Czech Presidency of the Council clearly adopted a different approach on the Farm to Fork strategy compared to previous presidencies: in light of the war in Ukraine and its consequences on the world’s food security, it intends to slow down the process of reform. At the same time, however, Health Commissioner Kyriakides presented to MS and strongly advocated for the advancement of regulations on pesticides use, getting closer to the implementation of one target of the strategy (reduction of chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030): in her presentation, she said that Integrated Pest management methods will be favored, and that pesticides should only be used as the very last resource. A report of the US agricultural department analyzed the effects that the F2F could have on the European milk sector, concluding that, if fully implemented, the milk sector will have to prepare to suffer.

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NUTRITION & HEALTH : MONTHLY NEWS

Cultured meat is developing strategy to gain attention from business, consumers, and regulators. In the UK, the parliament was asked to adopt a more open legislative approach towards this technology, in Japan a company of the sector developed a method to reduce costs in feeding cells, whereas in the US a company is building the largest production center of synthetic meat in the world, while its competitor has been accused of false and misleading claims on the quality of their proteins. In Denmark, a cooperation between university and restaurant is aiming at creating alternative seafood.

In the European Parliament, MEP Ulrike Muller (Renew Europe, coordinator in Comagri) will host in July an event promoting synthetic meat.

On nutrition, a MEP brought back to the attention a WHO report on children living in overweight and obesity, stressing that education should be the main driver for the improvement of health and dietary habits.

A study reveals that information on healthy diet is confused among the public, and that social media (notably Tik Tok) can spread misleading information on dietary patterns.

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NEW GENOMIC TECHNIQUES: MONTHLY NEWS

While the UK is adapting to implement the Precision Breeding bill that will allow for less strict regulation of genome editing, the European Committee on agriculture discussed with the Commission the state of the art of the revision of the EU legislation. The representative of DG SANTE said that the current legislation does not consider the latest scientific developments, and that its proposal will consider a tailored regulatory framework.

In Germany, the national parliament discussed at first reading a proposal to target further development of new genomic techniques, supported by the CDU/CSU. However, the Federal minister for environment publicly opposed a revision of the current law, arguing that transparency and security should be paramount.

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FARM TO FORK STRATEGY: MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

After several months of delay compared to the original publication date, the Commission published its legislative proposal for a revision of the sustainable use of pesticides directive, in order to make the F2F target of reduction of these products legally binding, but having the member states to find ways of applying it. Despite some member states and producers’ organisations voiced their willingness to push the proposal back so to concentrate on the disruption of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict on the agri-food markets, Executive Vice President of the Commission Timmermans defended the proposal saying that it will foster sustainability and environmental protection, as well as long-term agricultural production.

EU Ministers had a last discussion under the FR presidency on on mirror clauses, supporting an analysis done by the Commission that concludes that this kind of measures can be compatible with WTO rules, and that, however, a case-by-case approach should be taken for single products.

Preparing for its six-month presidency of the Council of the EU, Czech representatives stated that the priorities of the farm to fork strategies should be put on hold, considering the conflict in Ukraine and its consequences on the food markets as the main catalyst of their actions.

On Strategic National Plans, the Organic sector complained to some member states that their plans do not foresee enough efforts to reach the targets set by the Green Deal, notably to have 25% of their agricultural land farmed with organic agricultural methods.

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