Transcript European Union

SUMMER SCHOOL 2014
THE FUTURE IS FOOD
THE ARTISAN AND THE CONSUMER, GETTING THE MESSAGE ACROSS
Raymond O’ Rourke, Food & Consumer Lawyer,
Member of the TASTE Council
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Food Label – major way of getting message across ??
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FOOD LABELLING
Mandatory items on a Food Label – name, ingredients, QUID,
allergens, best before date
Principal behind food labelling rules – must not mislead the consumer:
“as to characteristics of the food and in particular, as to its nature, identity, properties,
composition, quantity, durability, country of origin or place of provenance, method of
manufacture or production”
Many of mandatory items on a food label have a food safety dimension
– food hygiene etc
Taste Council want to highlight these other issues so important for Irish
artisan food products – a case of fraudulent information
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How can the LABEL further assist in promoting Irish
Artisan, Traditional & Specialty Food ??
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COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELLING
Mandatory Origin Labelling – Beef or if consumer would be mislead
without such information
Irish Government (2007) – notified to European Commission, draft
regulations requiring country of origin labelling on pigmeat, poultry and
sheepmeat - Commission rejected draft regulations (March 2008)
EU Regulation 1169/2011 on the Provision of Food Information to
Consumers – mandatory country of origin labelling part of the new rules
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COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELLING
Country of origin will become mandatory for – lamb, pork, goat, chicken
Country of origin labelling for meat used as an ingredient – Commission said
no need for it even after the horsemeat crisis ?? More analysis being
completed on its introduction. Already countries like France have introduced
national rules for such labelling – why not Ireland ??
Senator Feargal Quinn has Food Provenance Bill before Seanad –
introducing such mandatory origin labelling – why doesn’t the Government
take on board the content of the Bill rather than waiting for Europe – good
for consumers as well as Irish food producers.
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COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELLING
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COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELLING
Irish Government can then spend its time in Europe arguing over the
issue of ‘substantial transformation’ – more and more important with
the possibility of an EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement.
We cannot allow a situation where foreign beef, lamb, chicken can be
imported and processed into a food product which is then labeled as
‘Irish Beef, Irish Lamb, Irish Chicken’
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USE OF TERMS ‘artisan’ ‘farmhouse’, ‘natural’ etc
Terms used in marketing terms by food companies to enhance the
consumers view of the nature of the food product – but in many cases
the use of such term is ‘misleading’
‘natural’ defined following Supreme Court case & legislation & court
cases for the use of terms such as ‘fresh’, traditional’ & ‘mountain’
Food Standards Agency Guidelines establishing criteria for the use
of the terms ‘fresh’, ‘natural’, ‘pure’, ‘traditional’, ‘original’
‘authentic',' home made’, ‘farmhouse’
No specific legislation or guidelines as so many Italian products
have PDO/PGI status or national or regional denomination of origin
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USE OF TERMS ‘artisan’, ‘farmhouse’, ‘natural’ etc
‘Artisan’ – it is a term that is popping-up on all sorts of products –
everything from Starbucks Artisan Breakfast Sandwiches to Domino’s
Artisan Pizza – means absolutely nothing !!!!
Datamonitor (UK) found that in the past 5 years a whopping 800 new
food products had emerged on the market bearing ‘artisan’ labels
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USE OF TERMS ‘artisan’, ‘farmhouse’, ‘natural’ etc
FSAI in conjunction with Taste Council and other stakeholders
have drafted a Code of Practice on the Use of Food Marketing Terms
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Artisan/Artisanal
Farmhouse
Traditional
Natural
Great initiative – Ireland will be the only country in the EU to define the
term ‘artisan/artisanal’ – Taste Council believe this is a chance for Irish
Government/Bord Bia to further promote the Irish Artisan sector
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PROVENANCE - PDOs/PGIs
EP & Council Regulation 1151/2012
on Quality Schemes for Agricultural Products & Foodstuffs
= PDOs and PGIs
= Geographical indications
= identifying products as originating in a territory where a given quality,
reputation or other characteristic of the product is essentially
attributable to its geographical origin
PRODUCTS COVERED
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Bakery/pastry
Table olives
Beer
Oil/fats
Fruit/vegetables/cereals
Cheese
Livestock/animal products
DISTRIBUTION OF PDOs/PGIs/TSGs by MEMBER STATE
Italy
265
France 217
Spain
194
Portugal 125
Greece 101
Germany 78
UK
57
Poland
36
Czech Rep 33
Slovenia 20
Belgium
15
Slovakia 15
Austria
Hungary
Finland
Sweden
Ireland
Lux
Cyprus
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14
10
7
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PDOs/PGIs - Application
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name
description of the product
definition of the geographical area
evidence that the product originates in the geographical area
method of obtaining the product
link with the geographical area
inspection structure
specific labelling details (PDO or PGI logos)
“generic” names cannot be registered – e.g. cheddar
Once a name is registered, any producer in the geographical area may start
producing if he respects the specification and is controlled.
MAIN BENEFITS TO PRODUCERS OF PDO/PGI SCHEMES
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Legal protection and copyright against counterfeit products in Europe.
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Provides consumers with assurance on quality and origin.
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Adds to brand personality and heritage creating a point of difference.
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Prestige associated with on-pack logo helps premium price positioning.
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Designations provides scope to extend reach to export markets.
Main Difficulties for PDOs/PGIs in Ireland
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Time and effort required to undertake registration process can be
cumbersome
Need for Producer Group to make application
Production costs can increase to meet higher technical and quality
standards
Producers find it hard to see any marketing benefit especially when
so few Irish consumers know of the schemes
HARVEST 2020 – dedicated unit in Department of Agriculture to assist
with applications – recent success with Waterford Blaa & others in the
pipeline
PROVENANCE - PDOs/PGIs
Hungary - Traditions – Tastes – Regions (in abbreviated form HÍR) was
a national initiative aiming to identify and assemble traditional
Hungarian and regional foodstuffs – in total 300 foodstuffs registered –
some became PDOs/PGIs. Slovenia & Czech Republic has similar
Initiatives
PDO-PGI Spain-France campaign – co-financed by the
EU - promotes seven PDOs/PGIs
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LOCAL FOOD
Traditional means of selling food via markets – ‘farm-gate’
Over 150 farmers markets established round the country
and many now aligned with Good Practice Standard for Farmers
Markets.
Huge popularity with consumers while assisting in maintaining vibrant
rural communities and most importantly a local “food culture”
Labelling legislation permits enforcement in a flexible fashion for non
packed products at markets – its an issue for Member States –
information on certain items via blackboards without compromising food
Safety – also ‘flexibility’ clause in EU food hygiene legisaltion
LOCAL FOOD
Tourism Ireland – great work publicising food festivals, food trails – the
Wild Atlantic Way
Buying local as demonstrated in Good Food Ireland-Grant Thornton
Reports sustains local economies & adds to food tourism
LOCAL FOOD
BIG ISSUE – is local food being sold in the big Retail Multiples – there
has been a lot of progress but more could be done
75% of food products sold by Carrefour come from local suppliers
Ireland – we need to get retail multiples to agree similar % of food
Products coming from local Irish suppliers – if it can be done with a
French retailer it should be able to do something similar with retailers in
Ireland
TASTE COUNCIL RECOMMENDATIONS
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Country of Origin labelling – introduce Irish rules immediately –
argue for a definition of ‘substantial transformation’ at EU level
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Bord Bia to use the fact that Ireland is the only EU country to define
the term ‘artisan’ as a means of marketing Irish artisan sector
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PDOs/PGIs – support Dept of Agriculture’s efforts for more Irish
applications as recommended in Harvest 2020 – look at compiling
inventory of Irish regional foods + marketing Irish PDOs/PGIs with
UK PDOs/PGIs in UK supermarkets as like in France & Spain
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Local Food – support flexible enforcement of labelling legislation at
farmers markets, without compromising food safety + look at
getting the multiples to sign on to a % of food products sold coming
from local suppliers