Countryside Alliance welcomes European support for country of origin food labelling

The Countryside Alliance welcomes the call for country of origin labelling for meat as an ingredient in processed foods made by MEPs on Wednesday (21 January).

Members of the European Parliament's Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee have called for the country of origin of meat used as an ingredient to be indicated on packaging, in the same way as it will soon be for all packaged fresh meat.

They also want the European Commission to look again at research that suggested the impact of such labelling for processed food would be prohibitive.

Countryside Alliance head of policy Sarah Lee said: "Following the horsemeat scandal, people are very concerned about the provenance of their food. We would like all meat products – including those where meat is an ingredient – to have full country of origin labelling so consumers can be confident about what they are eating and where it came from.

"From April all fresh meat sold in the UK must be labelled showing where the animal was reared and slaughtered. However this will not apply to products such as sausages, bacon and ready-meals. It remains the case that sausages made in Britain from Danish pork can be legitimately labelled as British because the meat has been processed in the UK. We believe food marked as British must come from British farmers. "

For further information, contact the Countryside Alliance head of media Charlotte Cooper on 07500 834163 or [email protected]

Notes for journalists
• Read the European Parliament ENVI Committee release here: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20150120IPR10802/html/Food-safety-MEPs-call-for-country-of-origin-labelling-of-meat-in-processed-foods
• The call for country of origin labelling for processed meats forms part of the Countryside Alliance's manifesto of rural issues for the General Election. Read the full document at http://www.countryside-alliance.org/ca/article/our-general-election-manifesto-rural-priorities-for-2015-and-beyond