INFORMATION AS A RIGHT OF CONSUMERS MR SERGIO BERLATO Member of the Agriculture and Rural Development Commission European Parliament a.v.e.c. General Assembly – Hamburg, 7 october 2006

  As you all know, food safety is one of the cornerstones of the EU's policy and a priority question in the political, economic and social agenda of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission because the EU is one of the most important protagonists in the production and consumption of food products and the international trade in such products. The EU's food legislation is applied in a non-discriminatory manner, regardless of whether the food is produced for the domestic or the international market. The safety and trust of consumers is a matter of capital importance for us.

  Public opinion is increasingly disorientated before scenarios of escalating food emergencies and scandals; from the mad cow disease to dioxin contaminated chickens and the outbreak of avian flu in some parts of the world. Therefore, attention is increasingly addressed to methods of production and the guarantees of quality and safety offered by food producers. Above all, there is the growing desire for knowledge and transparency. The attention of consumers, environmentalists, scientists, the media, industry and food distribution is therefore increasingly focused on matters relating to food safety.

This is especially true in some European countries, such as Italy, where food and cooking are an integral part of our culture, life-style and identity. Thus undermining the trust of the Italian (or the Europeans) in their food means commencing to destroy an important part of their cultural heritage.   For all the reasons indicated, I have followed the very serious crisis of the Italian poultry industry and the slump in consumption caused by “media terrorism” with great interest and much concern. From the end of August 2005 and up to the second half of May 2006, consumption fell 40% (with peaks of over 70% in October/November 2005 and February/March 2006). The Italian poultry sector has accumulated losses for almost 800 million euros. And 30,000 jobs were lost.

Notwithstanding their grave losses, the Italian producers, through UNA, implemented an advertising and information campaign directed at consumers whose results were, unfortunately, largely offset by the resumption (up until the end of March) of media attacks.   Given the seriousness and the persistence of the crisis, the consumption of poultry has still not returned to its preceding levels but - unless new alarms are launched - it is forecast that they will soon rise and return to their former levels.

In order to convince Italian end users to have trust in the poultry produced for their consumption it was essential to have the indication of origin placed on all products (fresh meat, and meat preparations and products based on poultry meat). The measure was adopted by the Italian health authorities.

Labelling of origin of poultry carcasses   For the poultry reared and slaughtered in Italy IT (or ITALY): Country of origin 003: Istat code of the commune of the farm BO: province of the farm 020: numer of the farm of the origin of poultrymeats, assigned by he ASL EXAMPLE OF LABELLING OF ITALIAN POULTRY CARCASSES For the poultry reared in other Countries and slaughtered in Italy FR or ES, or DE, etc (or FRANCE, OR SPAIN, OR GERMAY): Country of origin For the poultry carcasses imported from other Countries BE, or UK, or NL (or BELGIUM, or UNITED KINDGDOM, or NETHERLANDS): Country of origin

Labelling of origin of poultry cuts   For the cuts from poultry try reared and slaughtered in Italy IT (or ITALY): Country of origin VR/MN/BS/FC: province of the farm BO: province of the farm EXAMPLE OF LABELLING OF ITALIAN POULTRY CUTS For the cuts from poultry reared in other Countries and slaughtered in Italy FR or ES, or DE, etc (or FRANCE, OR SPAIN, OR GERMAY): Country of origin For cuts imported from other countries BE, or UK, or NL (or BELGIUM, or UNITED KINDGDOM, or NETHERLANDS): Country of origin

Labelling of origin of poultrymeat preparations and products   EXAMPLE OF LABELLING OF ITALIAN POULTRYMEAT PREPARATIONS AND PRODUCTS For the raw poultrymeat reared and slaughtered in Italy IT (or ITALY): Country of origin For poultry preparations and products imported from other Countries BE, or UK, or BR (or BELGIUM, or UNITED KINDGDOM, or BRASIL): Country of origin

I also recall that other types of food for mass consumption has been required to adopt mandatory labels of origin: Fishery and Aquaculture products (Regulation 104/2000/EC); Fruit and Vegetables (Regulation 2200/96/EC); Honey (directive 2001/110/EC); Table eggs (Regulations 1907/1990/EEC and 2295/2003/CE)

it is indispensable and urgent that the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission institute a mandatory system of labelling of origin for poultry meat and preparations and products containing poultry meat. In the interest of the poultry industry and consumers, I shall personally ensure that the problem is submitted to the two parliamentary committees of which I am a member.