Protest in Brussels: foodwatch Accuses EU of Large-Scale Failings in Health and Safety - Open Letter: Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker Is "Detached from Reality" (FOTO)

Berlin (ots) -

Photos of protest in Brussels: https://tinyurl.com/ya4lrcej

The European consumer organisation foodwatch accused EU Commission
President Jean-Claude Juncker of large-scale failings in health and
consumer protection. Europe is being rocked by massive food scandals
time and again, and the Commission has failed to effectively protect
consumers, argued foodwatch in an open letter to European Commission
President Jean-Claude Juncker. foodwatch described the Commission's
claim that European food law provides adequate protection from health
risks as "detached from reality". If the EU's General Food Law
Regulation is not comprehensively reformed, it is only a matter of
time before the next food scandal erupts, wrote the consumer
organisation. In Brussels, foodwatch activists handed over the open
letter and protested in front of the European Commission building. A
demonstrator dressed as President Juncker stood behind a table with
foods from recent scandals like fipronil-tainted eggs, horsemeat
lasagne and contaminated Lactalis baby milk, presenting them as tasty
delicacies that European citizens can consume without concern.

"Be it fipronil in eggs, contaminated Lactalis baby milk or
horsemeat in beef lasagne, Europe has been hit by recurring food
scandals, many of which have posed health risks for consumers.
Instead of protecting Europe's 500 million citizens and correcting
the shortcomings in EU law, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker
is pretending that everything is perfectly fine as it is," said
foodwatch expert Lena Blanken.

The consumer organisation provided the Commission with its
analysis of the weaknesses in EU food law, along with several
concrete proposals for improvement. For example, foodwatch is
demanding that food traceability in the EU be guaranteed. In this
context the organisation referenced the fipronil scandal as proof of
the EU's failure to ensure complete traceability throughout the food
chain, an actual requirement of EU food law. Furthermore, specific
testing obligations for food businesses should be introduced.
foodwatch also maintains that the alert system is flawed: EU food law
must include strict provisions obliging the authorities to quickly
and comprehensively inform consumers of not only potential health
risks but also food fraud, and in all cases disclose the names of the
respective manufacturers and products. In addition, foodwatch is
demanding that consumer associations be granted the right to bring
legal action against public authorities that ignore their obligations
under EU law. This is the only way to give consumer associations the
leverage they need to effectively defend consumer rights.

However, Jean-Claude Juncker himself apparently sees no particular
need to act. Recently, one of European Commission's spokespersons
claimed that all food products in the EU can be traced along the
entire supply chain and that it would otherwise not have been
possible to resolve the fipronil scandal so quickly. In its letter to
President Juncker, foodwatch denounced these claims as "completely
false and disrespectful to the citizens of Europe", arguing that the
authorities have yet to determine how many millions of eggs were
contaminated with the insecticide fipronil and where they ended up.

In April the European Commission proposed a reform package for
European food law that would amend provisions on risk assessment for
plant protection products while turning a blind eye to all other
problems. foodwatch criticised the proposal as inadequate with the
argument that, instead of focusing on a single issue, the Commission
must eliminate the fundamental weaknesses of EU law. Europe's
"General Food Law", Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002, was adopted in 2001
in reaction to the BSE crisis (mad cow disease). Currently, the
European Commission is planning to revise it in the context of the
"REFIT" process (Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme).

Sources and additional information:

- Open letter to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker:
https://tinyurl.com/Open-Letter-Juncker
- Analysis of the weaknesses in EU food law:
http://tinyurl.com/analysis-food-law
- Photos of foodwatch's protest event: https://tinyurl.com/ya4lrcej
- European Commission: Food products are traceable (spokesperson
quoted in an article from German news agency dpa):
http://www.eu-info.de/dpa-europaticker/287872.html
- Jean-Claude Juncker: Official "Mission Letter" on EU food law:
http://ots.de/pzP2R6

foodwatch is a European non-profit consumer organisation that has
been fighting for safe, healthy and affordable food for all people
since 2002. foodwatch operates at the national and European levels
and has offices in Germany, France and the Netherlands. More about
foodwatch: www.foodwatch.org/en/about-foodwatch/

Contact:
Andreas Winkler
Email: media@foodwatch.international
Tel.: +49 (0)30 / 24 04 76 290, at the event in Brussels: +49 (0)174-
37 51 689

Original-Content von: foodwatch e.V., übermittelt durch news aktuell