Stop fake-food, EU registers European Citizens’ Initiative for reliable food labels

Brussels – Stop the fake ‘made in’ on the shelves and in the shopping cart: EU citizens demand genuine and real food products, and the European Commission pleased them by registering a European Citizens’ Initiative for future legislation that is fake label-proof. The College of Commissioners registered the ‘Stop Fake Food: Origin on Label’ initiative. By accepting it,  the Commission agrees to work to propose measures to ensure that European consumers have access to transparent information about the food they buy and to meet their expectations on food quality and sustainability.

The initiative also calls for ensuring clear and explicit labeling of origin for all products and adherence to consistent environmental, health, and labor standards in the internal market. Brussels accepted this demand from civil society as it is consistent and in line with what has been done so far at the EU level on labeling and indication. The EU has already spoken out in favor of clear and uniform communication for everyday breakfast products (a measure known as the ‘breakfast directive’), and work has been underway for years to uniform the rules on food labels.

Following the registration of the legislative proposal initiative, the organizers have six months to open the signature collection.

The Commission will have to follow up one way or the other if the European citizens’ initiative receives at least one million statements of support within a year in at least seven different member states. It will have to decide whether to go ahead and draft a proposal, be it directive or regulation, or scrap it altogether. In the latter case, it will need to justify its reasons.