Dairy industry calls for halt to COOL push
ICOS European affairs executive Alison Graham said the two-year trial which the commission has allowed in France has led to a landslide of other countries following suit.
She warned that such legislative initiatives risk putting Irish farmers and co-ops at a disadvantage.
“The commission may no longer be able to stop this domino effect of countries falling into line behind France, however at the very least further applications must be put on hold until the impact of the French trial can be assessed at the end of 2018, in order to limit the market damage,” she said.
In France, processors must label the origin of dairy products, including all liquid milk, butter, cream, yoghurt and cheese, and processed foods with a meat content of more than 8%, but not dairy ingredients.
Italy, Portugal, and Lithuania have applied to implement similar national mandatory labelling, using the French application as a blueprint. Spain, Greece, and the UK are expected to shortly follow.
Ms Graham said this push by EU states is clearly their response to the dairy crisis, in order to ensure preference is given to their domestic producers, and she said this is neither compatible with the EU’s core principle of free movement of goods, nor with EU food information law.
