Food Safety: Do We Know What We Eat?

In the light of the horse meat fraud, policymakers, businesses and consumers are rowing over the level of regulation imposed on food safety measures and prevention.

Consumer trust is indispensable for competitiveness of food supply chain, an industry generating annual turnover of €500 billion and representing one-tenth of all EU trade. Recent disturbances in consumer trust have therefore stirred a debate about product safety, in particular on the new Regulation 1169/2011 on the provision of food information and the package of measures reinforcing official controls and animal and plant health protection across agri-food chain.

On 15th May, the European House in Prague hosted a debate on this topic. In connection with the horse meat fraud, Ladislav Miko, Deputy Director General of DG SANCO pointed out that the current EU legislation addresses only safety of products, not the subjective quality. Therefore, it is up to the consumers to demand higher quality by choosing better quality products over lower prices. In addition, he stated that this fraud has at least proven the effectiveness and efficiency of the EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF). According to Olga Sehnalová, Member of the European Parliament’s IMCO Committee, the trust of consumers has been affected mainly by insufficient controls and therefore she demands stricter and more transparent regulation on food labeling.

On the contrary, Klára Trněná from Consumers Defence Association CR considers further legislation unnecessary. In her opinion, the emphasis should be put on thorough controls and stricter sanctions. Businesses are not opposed to controls in general, as they perform product-testing themselves. According to Petr Baudyš, representative of the Czech Confederation of Commerce and Tourism, a new legislative proposal might not be enough and shifting responsibility on businesses would be hard to implement. “Consumers are still the most important auditors,” he concluded.