June 28, 2011

Slovakia's meat products to indicate origin

It would soon become necessary to show the country of origin on meat, milk, and other dairy products' packages, according to MEP Anna Zaborska in Bratislava on Monday (Jun 27).

"I believe that changes to the legislative proposal won't take place after further discussion in the plenum and that the European Parliament (EP) will approve this with a majority," said Zaborska at a seminar on labelling food products.

It will also be compulsory to state the country of origin on food products that are made up of only a single substance or consist of at least 50% of one substance only. Products that have more ingredients from various countries will not be subject to this obligation.

The measure should be resolved by the EP by the summer holidays. Packages should also provide information about the date on which they were first frozen and about allergens.

Slovak MEP Miroslav Mikolasik views information on allergens as very important because at least one-third of children suffer from an allergy.