"People who are dependent on foreigners for food ... must always be subject to them." (Dr Benjamin Rush, a civic leader in Philadelphia 1775)
In 1997 Britain was 80% self-sufficient in food. By 2003 this dropped to 62% and is likely to fall a further 25%.
The
National Audit Office reported that the
EU withdrew the pesticide controlling the pest thrips palmic. If it was
serious about controlling pests it should wait until an effective alternative is
available before banning existing pesticides. (BBC Radio 4 Farming Today
The
National Audit Office reported that there were insufficient port inspectors and they lacked resources. They did
not know what they were looking for. DEFRA planned to increase the number of
inspectors by six. (BBC Radio 4 Farming Today
An EC directive banning the burial of "Animal
By-Products", from fallen farm stock to the millions of
tons of meat products thrown away each year by supermarkets, threatened to
create a shambles. Tesco and Sainsbury's
managed to win a two-year reprieve from regulations that are wholly
unworkable. Although there was no reprieve for farmers, the new law still proved
so impractical that by mid-summer local authorities were telling farmers to
carry on burying dead animals on the farm as before. Defra is still vainly
trying to concoct a system to enable this absurd EC edict to be obeyed. (Sunday
Telegraph, C Booker,
GOODBYE bendy bananas. Farewell curved cucumbers. So
long chunky carrots. The
European Union has finally triumphed in its quest to tame nature and keep
unusually shaped fruit and vegetables off our shop shelves. The
House of Lords yesterday ordered greengrocers across the country to obey
every EU horticultural regulation passed over the past 30 years concerning
fresh produce and conform to the myriad of rules covering size, length,
colour and texture. The law lords
rejected the argument, put forward by the supermarket Asda, that
a legal blunder in 1973 had made the EU laws unenforceable. Now greengrocers
will have to ensure that under EU regulation 2257/94 their bananas
are at least 13.97cm (5.5in) long and 2.69cm (1.06in) round and do not
have "abnormal curvature", as set out in an eight-page directive
drawn up in 1994. The
ban on bendy bananas was necessary, according to an EU Commission official
at the time, to prevent them from being mistaken for a "bicycle wheel".
Organic
cucumbers will have to straighten up their act, as well. Any that curve
more than 10mm per 10cm in length cannot be sold as a Class 1 product. Peaches
must not be less than 5.6cm in diameter between July and October, and
Class 1
Traditional dishes of freshly shot game are under
threat from European rules that could restrict the hunting and shooting of
wild animals, it was claimed
yesterday. Landowners yesterday
expressed alarm over the future of country sports after
the proposals were highlighted by Struan Stevenson, the Conservative MEP. Mr
Stevenson claimed that shooting animals such as pheasant, partridge, rabbit,
deer, hare and duck would be affected by the rules designed to ensure
the health of animals killed for human consumption. Under
the proposals to be considered in February, wild game
will have to be certified as fit and
healthy by a trained person before being shot. A
vet would also have to carry out a post mortem examination on an animal destined
for the home market to ensure that no "abnormalities" had occurred as
a result of the hunting process. Mr
Stevenson claimed that implementing the new rules would make it uneconomic
for the organisers of shoots to sell game to butchers. Alasdair
Laing, the owner of the Logie sporting estate in Morayshire and the
vice convener of the Scottish Landowners Federation, said: "It would be very
difficult to get a vet out to an estate on the west coast of
The
British public would be horrified to think that the export of our horses and
ponies for slaughter abroad could resume. Yet it could.
Since our foundation in 1927 the ILPH has been at the forefront of the
campaign in
It was reported last week that
an Austrian farmer, Johann Thiery, had been fined and threatened with prison for
selling "apricot marmalade"
made from a traditional Austrian recipe passed on by his grandmother. Under
EU rules "marmalade" can only be made from citrus fruit. Sternly
defending Mr Thiery's punishment, a European Commission spokesman said:
"The law is the law." Next day Pedro Solbes, the EU's economics
commissioner, was reported as defending the right of
The Food Standards Agency was accused of introducing a “rogue’s charter” that allows meat producers to adulterate
products such as bacon and ham. Influential groups are writing to the
chairman, Sir John Krebs, to call for it to abandon new Meat Product Regulations
that will grant producers legal permission to add water, proteins and starch
under the guise of “technological purposes”. Meat processors will no
longer have to label clearly the percentage of water content, but will list
“meatcontent” within the list of ingredients. (Daily Telegraph
DEFRA
and the FSA have told
It must be remembered that
to label British food as British is a breach of the criminal law"
"This is because of those Alice in Kafka-land rules from the EU which make
it illegal to label food with its country of origin....All that matters is where
the food was processed and packaged. If you import your frozen chicken
from Thailand, so long as it is processed and packed in Briticism it is legal to
call it "British"....The rules are so crazy that countless efforts
have been made to get round them, and to pass on to shoppers the information
many of them would like to know.. One of the most pitiful was the NFU's
"Little Red Tractor" scheme, intended to kid shoppers into thinking
that any food bearing this label came from a British farm. in fact, as
even the NFU was at last forced to admit, it mean nothing of the kind." The
French themselves resorted to labelling food "Not made in
A French Market was sprung on us in Epping with very very little
advance notice. Subsequent pres reports indicate the Town (Parish) Council
did not charge for the use of the market facilities as they do every Monday
when our usual market comes to town. (AGS ind-uk@yahoogroups.com
JACQUES CHIRAC,
The average person in sub-Saharan
The
African state of
The European Commission has certainly "gone to work on an egg". Its latest requirement is that farmers must stamp every egg they sell with their home address, the details of the hen which laid the egg, the method of production, the code for the producer-packer, and a sell-by date (News, Feb 7). Lest farmers grumble when the regulations come into effect next year, a Brussels bureaucrat chirped that labelling "will be a nice job for [their] wives". Despite its concern for marital co-operation, Brussels is, once again, penalising small, independent producers, who must each now waste £5,000 on labelling equipment. These farmers produce the high quality, organic and free range eggs that consumers love, and do already stamp every box with the required information. The effect of this latest diktat will be, in many cases, to drive them out of business . All this is to protect us from ever eating a rotten egg. Isn't the real rotten egg here the European Commission? (Daily Telegraph 08/02/2003)
Mr. David Cameron MP (Witney), " By the end of December, all horses, ponies and donkeys will have to have a passport. It is not for travelling or for sale or purchase; it is just for existing. There are no exceptions. Let us clear about where that requirement came from. European Commission decision 93/623 required registered horses born after 1998 to be accompanied by a passport when they are moved. The intention was to simplify the trade in pure-bred horses. Commission decision 2000/68 amended that decision to ensure that horses treated with certain drugs did enter the food chain. Under that decision, all horses will require a passport setting out all medicines taken if the horse is ultimately intended for human consumption. * The Government decided after consultation to implement the directive by introducing a compulsory system of passports for all horses, backed by fines of up to £5,000 or six months' imprisonment. (Gold plating - Ed)Four questions need to be answered. Is a passport scheme necessary? * did the Government consult properly? * is their proposal on implementing the decision the right one? * and have they fully understood the drawbacks of their scheme? [Hon. Members: "No."] My hon. Friends pre-empt me: the answer is no to all four questions. The Government should have fought the scheme to a standstill in Europe. Pigs and sheep do not have passports. Cows now have passports, but they do not include any information about drugs. At the abattoir, the farmer is simply asked whether any drugs that could enter the food chain have been administered in the past six months. The same procedure could apply to horses, especially in countries such as the UK, where the overwhelming majority of horses never enter the food chain-and a very good thing too. European countries such as France that eat horse flesh import much of it from countries outside the European Union. Will this bureaucratic nonsense be imposed on those countries? Of course not. The EU decision will not even serve the purpose it is intended to serve; it should have been resisted. ..." "....Nicholas Soames (Mid-Sussex): My hon. Friend is making an extremely powerful case against this dismal proposal. Does he agree that the Government would have been far better occupied in trying to deal with the appalling conditions in which tens of thousands of horses are shipped to France for food consumption, rather than monkeying around with British horses and ponies, which are already kept to a very high standard?..." (Hansard 12/2/03)
A warning about salmonella in eggs has been issued after two outbreaks of food poisoning, which have already claimed one life. The unusual strain of salmonella, enteritidis PT 14b, has made more than 150 people ill since early September in the south east and north west of England. One person infected by the bug died in Cheshire over the weekend. In Cheshire, a bakery was using ordinary eggs in products that were not cooked. It had now stopped this practice, said the FSA. Salmonella in samples from a London patisserie had indicated a risk of cross contamination. Experts are still working to positively identify the sources of the outbreaks. But a common factor in both was the use and handling of ordinary eggs by local food firms. In 1988 Edwina Currie, the junior health minister, said most egg production in Britain was infected with salmonella. Her comments sparked a public outcry and two weeks later she was forced to resign. (Ananova 15th October 2002) The source of the infected eggs has been traced to Spain. 10% of eggs are imported from various countries and they have poor provenance. Imported eggs are used in the catering trade. Two people have now died from this outbreak. Salmonella has been eradicated from UK egg production as a result of the precautions introduced by Edwina Currie. (BBC Farming Programme 26/10/02)
Under a new EU definition of what meat is, certain sausages cannot be called "sausages" any more, i.e. if they contain low levels of meat, or low quality ingredients such as gristle. This particularly affects vegetarian sausages because they contain no meat at all. (BBC R4 Today programme 27/9/02)
There is a new Statutory Instrument out, which will come into effect on June 7: SI 889. Title: FOOD, ENGLAND - The Meat (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) (England) Regulations 2002. Our Westminster correspondent writes, "There is not a great deal we can do about as it is a European regulation being put into British law, though at some point we shall have to compare them quite carefully..... it is an absolute killer and will do enormous damage to small food producing companies, including farmers who want to expand their activity into food processing of some description. This is not our government but definitely EU stuff. Meat is the first. The other food producers will be hit later. (Warmwell.com) What makes this law particularly bizarre, even by EU standards, is its key part, which makes compulsory the adoption of a system of food safety management known as "Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points" (HACCP). The HACCP system was developed in the 1960s for NASA to guarantee high purity food for astronauts involved in the moon landing programme, vital because uncontrolled bodily functions in a space suit can be rather inconvenient. But the system itself, while highly successful, was devised for highly sophisticated food-processing operations and has been adapted successfully only in other large food processing operations. The central features of HACCP are the preparation of written procedures for each menu or production item in a food operation, its analysis to determine potential hazards and the writing down of a list of controls to be applied at "critical points" in each process - including the frying of a humble egg. Following that, records must be kept to prove that each of the process critical controls have been implemented, and further records must be kept available for inspection, to demonstrate that the system has been reviewed each time changes are made to the operation - like boiling an egg instead of frying it! In other words, this is a highly bureaucratic, paper-based system which will require all food traders to document almost every action they take, on pain of criminal sanctions - in the UK amounting to a £5,000 fine and/or three months in prison. Food traders must undergo compulsory (and expensive) training in the system and, at a rough estimate, implementation will cost the small and medium business sector some £2 billion a year. The problem, of course, is that HACCP is a highly technical issue, and the arguments against it are complex - beyond the knowledge of the average MEP - so it took a UK Independence Party MEP, Nigel Farage, to point out the obvious flaw. Something that had been developed for a sophisticated technology-based organisation, he said, is not appropriate for Joe's caff in Lewisham High Street or even Jean Dupont's bistro in the rue de la Révolution in Marseilles. To all intents and purposes, even the existing law was not being complied with so why, Farage asked, was the Commission creating even more laws? The EU parliament passed the regulations with a thumping majority and, after a few more procedural steps, they are due to come into force in 2004. Said Farage, these technocrats are totally out of touch with reality. They have gone into orbit and landed on another planet like the astronauts for which the HACCP system was devised. If Parliament endorsed it, it would prove that it too was living on another planet. All that is underscored by our present position in the parliament. As the weather warms, there is pressure from the MEPs and staff to open up the canteens onto the terraces by the banks of the Rhine, where we can take our coffees and meals in the fresh air. But the parliamentary authorities have refused our entreaties. The security risk is too great they say. So we sit inside in our air-conditioned "palace" while each time we attend, we see more and more guards patrolling the perimeter, armed to the teeth with machine guns. That is the modern day story of the EU. Protected by machine guns and multiple security systems, the parliament makes insane laws that bear no relation to the realities of modern business and, when the voters register their disapproval, we get more machine guns to protect us - while the torrent of laws continues unabated. (Warmwell/First Voice 25/5/02)
THE Welsh are upset that the European Union has chosen today, St David’s Day, to interfere with one of the national symbols of Wales, the common or garden leek. European Union rules intended to make leeks conform to international standards come into effect today, and yesterday Nigel Evans, the Shadow Welsh Secretary, waxed indignant about it. Mr Evans, Conservative MP for Ribble Valley, said he was aghast at the insult that the principality’s national emblem should be regulated by Brussels in this unfeeling way on the country’s national day. The final insult is that they are being brought in on St David’s Day, he moaned. If it had been April 1 I think I could have properly understood it. The regulations mean that in future leeks will be divided into two classes. The leeks in class one must be of good quality. The white to greenish white part of the leeks must represent at least one third of the total length or half of the sheathed part, Mr Evans said. Size is determined by their diameter measured at right angles to the longitudinal axis above the swelling of the neck. The minimum diameter is fixed at 8mm for early leeks and 10mm for other leeks. (The Times March 01, 2002)
OFFICIALS of the European Union will meet behind closed doors today to rule whether a lumpy sauce is, legally speaking, a vegetable. An obscure panel of technocrats, known as the "Nomenclature" sub-group of the Customs Code Committee, will decide how many lumps are admissible in a tin of Baxter's creamy mushroom or Dolmio pasta sauce before these products turn into vegetables, losing their tariff privileges as sauces. At present, a sauce containing more than 20 per cent in lumps is classified as a vegetable, even if the lumps are fruit, triggering import taxes that can reach 288 per cent. Strict tests are carried out in laboratories, using metal wire sieves with an aperture of five millimetres. The lumps are then rinsed in warm water. If they remain lumps, the sauce is a vegetable. The World Customs Organisation in Geneva ruled against the EU's lump system two years ago after Unilever complained that its "Chicken Tonight" dish was being treated unfairly. The EU has now offered to raise the "lump threshold" to 30 per cent but the food industry is demanding that the whole scheme be scrapped, saying it is an "idiotic" hold-over from the days when the EU was still trying to regulate condom sizes or the flavour of prawn cocktail crisps. One source said the EU's policy had been devised by mid-level officials from Mediterranean countries to protect vested interests in their own countries. "This is the sort of nonsense you get in a protectionist system where deals are done behind closed doors and there is no accountability. The result is that product development is handicapped." The food industry says the "lump rule" fails to take into account the growing consumer preference for high quality "yuppie sauces" and "textured" products. It is calling on the EU to adopt the approach of the United States where sauces are not classed as vegetables, whether lumpy or otherwise. (Daily Telegraph 10/01/2002)
THE Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) costs the UK £5 billion - the equivalent of 2p on income tax, says the Consumers' Association. In a new report, the association says the CAP should be abolished because it costs European Union families the equivalent of £16 a week each. The association says the farm subsidy policy takes up about half the total EU budget of £27bn and benefits neither farmers nor consumers. It also fails to support farmers. (Farmers Weekly 12 December 2001 )
There are several farms that produce guaranteed BSE-free beef. These farms feed only grass and hay to their cattle. But the animals take at least 24 months to reach maturity. Brussels has ruled that no animals can enter the human food chain if they are over 30 months old. It is recognised, however, that grass only fed beef can be slaughtered for meat at 24 months if they are registered on a special scheme. The UK government set up the "Beef Assurance Scheme" for these farmers for which they pay a subscription. The EC, however, set out rules that have proved impossible to comply with: the cattle brains have to be sent for veterinary examination - this can be done without difficulty, but the blood from the carcasses must be drained into special holding tanks. No abattoir in the country is prepared to set up the equipment for this. And why should guaranteed BSE-free blood be separated in this way? The government has refunded the subscriptions to the members of the scheme without even a covering letter and the Minister Elliott Morley has refused to explain why it has abandoned the scheme. Members of the scheme are in effect being forced by the government to feed concentrates to fatten their cattle within 30 months. (BBC R4 Farming Today 19/11/01)
THE Co-op today declares war on eurocrats over the size of peaches, announcing that it will sell illegal undersize fruit. Risking £10,000 fines and up to six months’ jail, its directors also plan to fight Brussels on a second front by selling small carrots, apples and plums. A European directive dictates that peaches offered for sale from July 1 to October 31 must be at least 56mm (2¼ in) in diameter. The Co-op says that requirement discriminates against organic peaches. Wendy Wrigley, the Co-op’s general manager for retail brands, said: "Organic food already costs more to produce because yields are lower and labour costs are higher. If farmers can’t sell these peaches because they are too small, this will drive prices up." Posters will appear in selected stores in London, Manchester and Beith in Scotland from today promoting undersized peaches imported from Italy with the slogan: "I am small and perfectly formed, but legally you can’t buy me." If the public backs the stance, the move will be extended to carrots, apples and plums. Carrot sizes are a particular concern to organic growers. According to Brussels a carrot cannot be sold as a carrot unless its top is 20mm in diameter. Apples must be at least 65mm diameter for the larger varieties, such as Bramley, and at least 55mm for dessert apples. Organic apples are sometimes smaller and are refused by supermarkets. British plum growers are also affected. The minimum size for a Class 1 plum is 35mm, while a plum of 30mm, which could be just as good a quality, is graded Class 2. (The Times JULY 02 2001)
Forceful pressure is being put on the EU to allow irradiated foods in all member countries. This could make the Norwegian ban void because of the EEA Agreement, writes Norwegian daily Nationen. Will radiation be the future answer to Europe's problems with regards to infectious matters in foods? Will it ensure fresh vegetables that may have a longer life on the supermarket shelves? Will it make it possible to use meat of low hygienic quality as food? asks Nationen. From March 20, all EU and EEA countries are subject to common EU rules about radioactive irradiation of foods, and a vehement debate inside the EU may lead to a number of new foods being irradiated. This is a solution that the nuclear power industry recommends through the International Consultative group on Food Irradiation, writes Nationen. (EUobserver.com 31/5/01)
In the beginning of June, the EU Commission will advance a proposal that will radically change the Union's practice on the issue of genetically modified foods, writes Danish daily Information. The proposal will entail that it will be possible to import foods with residues of genetically modified products that are otherwise not allowed in the EU. (EUobserver.com 22/5/01)
Nancy Abeid Arahamane says that even a camel could tell you why poor countries remain poor. .For the past seven years, she has been trying to sell pasteurized camel cheese to the European Union from her modern dairy in Nouakchott, Mauritania. .She found a German importer to take her entire production. But then she discovered that the EU does not have any specific regulations concerning camels. It would need a special directive to allow her to export. (See full story in "Protectionism")
A damning report released by a Senate commission of inquiry (into BSE) yesterday criticised French governments since 1993 - and especially their agriculture ministers - for incompetence in dealing with the crisis.In 1994, the French Agriculture Ministry claimed that BSE could not be transmitted to humans, despite early evidence to the contrary. The Ministry resisted pressure to ban the use of offal in animal feed until 1996 - a step taken by Britain in 1990. To avoid harming the French agricultural industry, the Ministry also delayed the precaution of super-heating animal feed. And contrary to advice from the Health Ministry in 1999, the present Agriculture Minister, Mr Jean Glavany, did not ban all use of meat and bone meal until last autumn. The Health Ministry was repeatedly at odds with the Agriculture Ministry over the BSE crisis, and experience has shown that the Health Ministry was invariably right. Yet the Prime Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, gave preference to the Agriculture Ministry because Mr Glavany was a charismatic leader close to the farming lobby. "Our hearings allowed us to determine that politicians at the highest level played with people's health out of economic interests," Mr Francois Sauvadet, who heads the commission, told Le Figaro. Although it is most critical of French authorities, the report does not spare Britain, whose attitude it describes as "unjustifiable". The EU Commission was guilty of "inertia", the report says, and a "law of silence" reigned within the agricultural community. "Those involved in the food chain did not assume their responsibilities and mutually accused one another," it notes. (Irish Times 18/5/01)
McLarens at Ashford in Kent are important meat packers. 60% of the meat that they market is imported, (of the 10 countries supplying the UK, 6 have endemic FMD and have had cases as late as February of this year, 2001) when asked why - we told consumer demand. If there was no demand they wouldn't be importing it. What was very interesting was the fact that they sell meat under two labels, British and Imported. We asked why on their price list they did not state 'country of origin'? They said the consumer wasn't interested. This company supplies many hospitals, schools etc., When questioned on types of meat imported, traceability was a very weak link. We were told that he could trace it back to his agent in the UK, and probably trace it back to the packhouse in the country of origin but thought it highly unlikely it could be traced back to the individual animal. Here again we have another double standard, the bureaucracy that we have to contend with compared to apparently legal methods used by importers. (FFA Newsletter 7, April 2001) www.farmersforaction.fsnet.co.uk
Environment minister Michael Meacher revealed the names of 25 sites across Britain where new trials of GM crops are likely take place - provoking accusations of irresponsibility from environmental groups. Mr Meacher insisted that without trials, society would never know for certain whether the crops were safe or not. (Guardian 3/8/00). Organic farmers are furious that the Government has ignored requests to leave a protective buffer zone between the GM tests sites and their properties to safeguard the purity of their produce. They are facing huge bills to test their organic crops to discover whether they have been contaminated with GM pollen. Five test sites are within four miles of similar organic crops. A leaked letter from the Food Safety minister shows the Government knows its testing plans do not give organic farmers enough time to protect their crops and guarantee that standards are maintained. (Independent 2/3/01). SCIMAC is the government agancy that selects GM crop trial sites. It has selected a GM maize trial site within 2 two miles of the Henry Doubleday Research Association headquarters at Ryton Organic Gardens, near Coventry. If the trial goes ahead, HDRA could lose Soil Association organic accreditation for land within the gardens used for commercial vegetable production and for scientific research. HDRA is concerned that GM pollen from the trial could damage its sweetcorn crops. At a meeting the Minister agreed that the siting of the trial was unreasonable and that he would write to the Scientific Co-ordinating Committee overseeing the trials and to SCIMAC, the industry body which arranged the availability of the trial sites, to ask them to stop the trial at Wolston. (http://www.hdra.org.uk/news/pr010503.htm ). Michael Meacher explained that the problem is that under EU rules for the selection of trial sites, damage to neighbouring farms was not a permissible criteria. (BBC R4 Today Programme 7/5/01)
An EU desire to harmonise standards for organic produce deals a further blow to already low levels of consumer confidence. A European Commission legislation proposal is set to allow the use of roughly 50 new substances in organic products, including preservatives, colouring agents and flavouring additives. Some of these substances are at present thought likely to cause cancer, while others are suspected of causing allergy, says the Danish Consumer Council in the Danish newspaper Politiken today. In the aftermath of BSE and the growing fear of Foot and Mouth decease consumers are increasingly worried about the quality and nature of agricultural produce. Bjarne Pedersen, from the Danish Consumer Council told Politiken that it was crazy to allow these substances in organic food products, since, the consumer perceives organic products as a healthier alternative. They specifiable choose non-conventional food products to avoid additives and preservatives. The proposal would fundamentally shake consumer confidence in organic products. There does not seem to have been calls for this new legislation from organic farmers, in actual fact, some groups have been calling for tougher legislation to outlaw the use of the 12 substances at present permitted in organic produce. The propose legislation is already facing strong opposition from organic farmers who see it as a text book example of how to water down the concept of organic foods. Paul Holbeck, from the Danish Organic formers association Organic house, tells Politiken that Europe have once again chosen the lowest common denominator and adopted all substances on the list, which are permitted in just one national member state. Which runs directly counter to the desires of the organic industry. (EUobserver.com 29/3/01)
Meat is still being imported from Namibia, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentine all of which have suffered outbreaks of foot and mouth in the last twelve months. In addition, South Africa has endemic foot and mouth but only had imports banned on January 5th. The carcasses are imported with the disease and used by restaurants and school kitchens. The remains are fed to pigs which then incubate the disease and spread it. The agriculture ministry said that 'responsibility for approving countries from which it was safe to export meat lay with the European Union'. (The Sunday Times 4/3/01)
Black pudding and haggis have been reclassified as "food ready to eat". Butchers licensed only to sell raw meat are now forbidden to sell these items. (BBC R5 4/3/01)
87% of beef served in Swedish schools comes from Sweden as four out of ten schools have written guarantees from their suppliers that they deliver only Swedish beef. This is a breach the Treaty of Rome, says one government lawyer, according to Swedish paper Svenska Dagbladet. However, Swedish schools don't care, and some of them find ways to outwit the Treaty. During the last five years, since the beginning of the BSE debate, Swedish school kitchens have seen an upsurge in the number of students demanding vegetarian and vegan food. In light of this development, schools have made a guarantee of only Swedish beef as one of the conditions in their tenders. The result is that 87% of all Swedish school kitchens serve only Swedish beef. "This is against the very core of the Treaty of Rome," says Hans Sylvén, chief lawyer in Nämnden för offentlig upphandling, the governmental office in authority, according to Svenska Dagbladet. "The EU action against BSE means that it would hardly be possible to claim that Swedish meat is safer than foreign meat." If someone denounces a school we shall have to take the school to court, he says. (EUobserver.com 2/2/01)
There used to be ten
different Camembert cheeses, now there only three owing to EU rules on
pasteurisation. (BBC 5 Live 27/6/02)
A cheesemaker in France who uses unpasteurised milk has pitched a tent in the centre of the town of Angers to garner support for the preservation of such cheeses. He stopped producing cheese in 1999 in protest against draconian European health regulations which, he claims, "make the milk cleaner but less healthy". Since 1st January 1998, when the new European rules came into force, he would have had to spend £40,000 on improving his cheese-making business to comply. [Contre-courants, 20th December 2000]
The Norwegian Government has decided to adopt three disputed EU directives on additives in foodstuffs after two years of hard pressure from the European Union. Under the European Economic Area agreements Norway has been forced to adopt the EU regulations without being a member of the European Union. The directives allow for more additives and colors to be used in the food. According to the Norwegian Newspaper, Nationen, a fourth directive on child food was not accepted by the Norwegians. New evidence of dangers posed to small children from cosmetic additives in their nutrition has been send to the scientific commitee in Brussels. (EUobserver 29/11/00)
The Food Safety Commission has ordered Port Health Authorities to inspect all EU beef imports to ensure that no meat from "over thirty month" old animals is imported. It is illegal to sell such product in the UK. The meat inspectors say there is no legal authority to inspect cargoes from the EU neither do they know if it is on-board ferries from the EU because manifests are no longer required. It is also impossible to tell if "OTM" meat is used for processed foods. (BBC Radio 4 PM 24/11/00). Customs inspectors at UK ports are still awaiting directions on what to do with meat imports. They would know how to check for Foot & Mouth Disease but have received no instructions from MAFF or the EU to do so, so are frustrated to be doing nothing and are anyway understaffed. (BBC R4 Farming Today 30/3/01)
SLACK import controls blamed for triggering Britain's foot-and-mouth crisis could spark an outbreak of the deadly ebola virus, customs officials have warned. The foot-and-mouth epidemic has been blamed on infected meat which was smuggled into the country and ended up being fed to pigs. Now it has emerged that customs officials at Heathrow airport discovered 15 illegally imported dead monkeys which could have contained the ebola virus. Ebola is one the deadliest diseases known to man. It has devastated pockets of Africa and can claim the lives of thousands of people in weeks. The consignment of dead monkeys was found hidden in a cargo of vegetables from Africa by Port Health officials at Heathrow last December. Clive Lawrance, whose company Ciel Logistics removes impounded meat imports from airports, reported the incident to agriculture minister Nick Brown. "The next day we were informed by Port Health that after laboratory checks we had a risk of ebola contamination," he wrote in the letter. Few flights at Heathrow are targeted by officials looking for smuggled meat, said Mr Lawrance. As a result, huge quantities are coming into Britain. Flights that are targeted often unearth suitcases leaking blood and letting off a dreadful stench, said Mr Lawrance. "There is no need for sniffer dogs," he said. The person who imported the monkeys that sparked the ebola scare was arrested. In most cases, however, meat is impounded but no arrests are made. Mr Lawrance had already warned Mr Brown in a letter a year ago that "unchallenged" illegal meat imports could lead to a foot-and-mouth epidemic. "The risk to the community is extremely high given that some of this product may contain diseases such as anthrax, foot-and-mouth and others," he wrote. A MAFF spokeswoman said she knew nothing about the ebola scare or that the consignment of dead monkeys had been seized. "All meat looks the same when it is seized. It is taken off the premises to be destroyed. We do not have it tested," she added. (Farmers Weekly Online http://www.fwi.co.uk/live/ 6 April 2001)
EU internal market ministers concluded four years of debate by agreeing legislation which defines honey as a "natural sweet substance" produced by Alpis mellifera bees. "Mellifera" means honey-making, so what the ministers are really saying is that honey is made by honey-making bees, a point which apparently needed clearing up. Similar accords are expected soon to clarify the role of milk-producing cows, wool-providing sheep and meat-laden pigs. (European Voice 31/5/00)
It is the egg that dare not speak its name - thanks to the bureaucrats of Brussels. In what astonished critics derided as a half-baked decision, European Union officials have ruled that as a new egg from Sainsbury's cannot be called by its proper name - because it has been slightly heated up to get rid of hazardous bugs. Despite looking and tasting like eggs, and of course having been laid by hens, under existing EU regulations, (EEC) No. 1907/90, they cannot be labelled as such. A MAFF spokesman said that we are going to address the Commission to try and get the old legislation to accommodate the new technology. (Daily Mail 14/8/00)
Every few months, schoolteacher Julio Colomba gathers with friends in northern Italy to eat what he admits is an illegal dinner. They meet stealthily at a restaurant after hours to revel in the glories of spiced sausage and pasta made with fresh eggs and stuffed with sweet ricotta cheese, all produced on "unapproved" mountain farms. Colomba and his friends say they are not hiding from the Italian police so much as from the bureaucrats of the European Union, the super-national entity that from its Brussels headquarters 600 miles away is changing the daily lives of millions of the continent's inhabitants. As the EU matures and the 15 member governments expand its authority, Europeans from Stockholm to Udine--Colomba's hometown--have been surprised and at times upset to find its officials nosing into what they can eat, how they travel, even how they incinerate their trash. Many Italians strongly support the EU, yet a growing number of citizens are unhappy with it. Through a series of "infringement" suits in the European Court of Justice, the EU has recently taken Belgium, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain to task for inappropriately awarding private contracts, burning waste, dumping sludge, bailing out failing businesses and blocking independently made television programs. Some 3,580 cases are pending in the EU for national violations of EU farming, fishing, educational, fiscal, consumer, transportation, taxation and environmental policies. This being Italy, it is the EU's recent demands for strict food safety regulations--governing issues as diverse as the temperature of refrigerators, the drainage systems of farmhouses and the design of sugar bowls on cafe tables--that has prompted the most astonishment and grumbling. Many Italians worry that their treasured culture of rough-hewn, small-scale food production is under siege from distant heathens. For example, "the European Union said the humidity of fresh pasta must be 'X,' a level that is impossible if it is made by artisans," Agriculture Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio said scornfully. "We stopped it, of course. But this was done by some person, not from Italy--maybe Swedish, British or Irish; they have nothing to do with pasta." Recent skirmishes have involved the Italians' desire to keep producing a certain kind of pecorino cheese in dank, underground pits; to continue curing Tuscan pig lard in marble vats, instead of stainless steel; and to keep baking pizzas in wood-burning ovens that contain small quantities of a carcinogenic ash. Italy has won exemptions from many of the EU food guidelines by declaring, in essence, that its methods of making dinner are akin to historical monuments worthy of special protection. In fact, the threatened bans have caused local sales of lard and the foul-smelling moldy cheese to skyrocket and turned their producers into heroes. Under this foreign assault, traditional foods have become so chic that in 1998 120,000 people attended a "Hall of Taste" in Turin sponsored by Italy's "Slow Food" movement, a popular backlash against the modern diet. The movement has been growing rapidly. At times, the Italian government takes the insurgents' side. Last Wednesday, the agriculture ministry published the nation's first formal list of traditional foods, meant to help producers who seek exemptions from EU hygiene rules. It runs to more than 2,100 products. At the famed Volpetti food shop behind the Italian Senate, mozzarella is no longer colorfully twinned with prosciutto in the display cabinet because rules require them to be stored separately and at different temperatures. Roberto Volpetti, 28, who took over the business from his father three years ago, said that while the rules generally improved the cleanliness of shops throughout the city, "affectionate customers" have complained in particular about the withdrawal of fresh egg pasta. Nearly half the 65,000 food shop owners in Italy spent as much as $15,000 apiece upgrading their meat cutters, refrigerators and ovens; two-thirds have sent their employees--typically a wife, son or daughter--to attend courses on food hygiene. But tens of thousands of Italian shops closed rather than conform. Barbaro and other merchants who stayed in business complain about Italian rules--designed specifically to meet EU hygiene standards--that require shopkeepers to record refrigerator temperatures every three hours; bar the use of well water in the production of fresh ricotta cheese; require buffalo milk mozzarella to be kept so cold its taste can barely be distinguished from other mozzarella; and discourage the use of homemade mayonnaise or the sale of unwrapped sandwiches. Italian cheese makers similarly had to beat back an EU-mandated requirement that cheese be cured in a clean environment, lined with plastic or ceramic tile. That would have eliminated a distinctive sheep's milk cheese that is cured for a year in brick-lined, underground pits, emerging with a soft center and a thick outside layer of mold. "The large organizations . . . need food that is totally sterile," said Scanio, the agriculture minister who championed the recent listing of traditional foods. He cites EU adoption of a nine-day expiration date for milk, which allows large manufacturers to pasteurize it at a higher temperature than Italian food producers. Colomba, a biologist and deputy director of the Italian Slow Foods campaign, may be an extreme case. But he spoke with excitement about an upcoming meal, built around the clandestine purchase of a well-known, but unapproved, cheese from Sardinia two weeks ago. The cheese "has some worms inside. This cheese has a strong taste . . . and now it is ready. I know this because yesterday when I came home, they were jumping." (August 7 2000 The Washington Post Company) --
All food sellers, ranging from supermarkets to hot- dog stand operators, will have to carry an official registration number under new European Union food safety regulations. A compulsory registration scheme affecting more than half a million small businesses means that no traders will be licensed to sell food unless they meet strict hygiene requirements. They will also have to keep detailed records of all the ingredients they use in their foods, including their place of origin. A new breed of "food police," overseen by veterinary and environmental health officers, will be employed to ensure that the rules are obeyed. The measures, which go beyond anything imposed on British food businesses before and could cost the food industry millions, cover virtually everyone selling food, including restaurants, ice-cream booths, farm shops and tearooms. David Byrne, the EU's health and consumer protection commissioner, said in London yesterday that the measures were designed to harmonise and simplify a mass of existing legislation in the EU. Even the smallest food businesses would have to follow hazard analysis procedures now employed by major food processing companies. Caterers and other food sellers would have to ensure full traceability of "all food and ingredients". Hot-dog sellers and similar small food traders could risk losing their licence to work if inspectors find breaches of the rules. This could include infringements such as handling money and food "without wearing protective gloves". He could not answer questions about how the new regulations would affect the Women's Institute or other catering volunteers at village hall functions or garden fetes for charity events. Stephen Alambritis, spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses, added: "These measures will put tremendous pressure on the independent food sector. People will just give up as the pile of red tape gets higher and higher." (D Telegraph 22/7/00)
After three years of arduous debate pitting national tradition against single market needs, EU internal market ministers finally agreed on exactly what constitutes jams, jellies and marmalades. The new definitions are supposed to arm discerning shoppers with the means to distinguish among such puzzlingly named products as jam, "extra" jam, jelly, marmalade and jellied marmalade. The major differences are in the content of sugar ("soluble dry material") and proportion of fruit (pulp, puree or juice). There had been heated debate on the issue between the EU's biggest sweet tooths -- Belgium, France, Italy and Spain -- and the Scandinavian countries, where tarter jams and jellies are traditionally used to garnish meat dishes. The final compromise says "normal" jam must contain at least 60 percent sugar. But the Nordics will be allowed to continue calling their less-than-sweet concoctions jam, so long as the label makes clear that it is, according to EU norm, sugar-deficient. The British, who at the outset saw no need for any such a directive, got a dispensation for their traditional jam-filled biscuits, which contain artificial flavourings banned under the new rules. They got around that by convincing the internal market experts that, during the baking process, the outlawed flavouring evaporates from the jam and becomes part of the biscuit, which technically is not covered by the rules. (BRUSSELS, March 16 AFP)
Stephen O'Brien, Member of Parliament for Eddisbury, will present his Private Member Bill on food labelling for its second reading on the 3rd March. Mr. O'Brien's Bill, which requires that the country of origin be included for every major ingredient in all food products, and the standard of production, is designed to give the British consumer a real choice when buying food produce. (Press Release by : Mr Stephen O'Brien MP Friday, 03 March 2000). Joyce Quinn, Junior Minister of Agriculture said Mr O'Brien was "skirmishing with the EU". The proposal contravened EU food labelling regulations and the government would oppose it. (BBC R4 Parliamentary report 3/3/00)
EU farm ministers have given the green light to more detailed labelling of beef beginning September 1 that would clearly indicate the country of origin, the latest move to assuage consumer concern over madcow disease. (BRUSSELS, July 18 AFP)
A new
regulation on EU food law has been put into force which enables the
Commission to act immediately in cases where food safety is threatened and without
the consent of the member states. This regulation includes the first set of
comprehensive farm-to-table food safety measures. Euobserver.com
22/2/02)
Headlines greeted the announcement in London of the creation of Britain's Food Safety Agency, giving the impression that the new agency will soon exercise supreme control over Britain's food safety policy. But almost simultaneously in Brussels the new Irish food safety commissioner announced the setting up of the European Food Authority to which all national food safety agencies, including Britain's, will be subordinate. Britain's much vaunted Food Agency will be little more than a branch office of Brussels. The EU announced it has 84 new legislative proposals due to be enacted within two years. These cover every aspect of food law starting with a mammoth new food hygiene directive that would override all national food law. (Sun Telegraph 16/1/00). The Government believes that a single body to control and regulate food safety and standards in the United Kingdom is appropriate because it would be impractical and costly to duplicate the necessary scientific advice in all parts of the UK, and because it will facilitate the even implementation of food safety legislation, most of which has its origins in the EU. (FSA legislation)
In a splendid display of the spirit of subsidiarity, the European Commission, has said that it wants to create a European Food Authority by 2002. It has produced a White Paper explaining how the authority will work to the highest standards and acquire international recognition immediately. Brussels and London are being talked about as possible locations for the body. [Handelsblatt, 10th January 2000]- This will no doubt spell the death of any remaining small food producers - Ed
In the latest Commission proposals to tighten up food safety laws, the institution states that "snails must be killed using humane methods". Frogs, on the other hand, appeared to be easier prey, with the Commission's draft legislation simply stating that "frogs may only be killed by slaughter in an approved establishment". (European Voice 7/10/99)
English apple growers have been denied up to £250,000 in EU aid for promotions because they refuse to abandon claims that their apples taste better than imports. Lord Tebbit said, "When the English are punished for rejoicing in the quality of English apples who would dare to say that we are not ruled by Europe?" Sir Teddy Taylor added: "The EU are using brute force to deprive people of proper consumer choice. If the government doesn't stand up to this to end this bureaucratic nonsense it is not doing its proper job for the people of Britain." (Mail 17/9/99)
Following the Belgian dioxin panic Brussels announced that it is illegal to import Belgian chickens without proper certification to show they are free from contamination, a confidential letter has gone to members of the British Poultry Meat Federation reporting "we are aware of a substantial quantity of Belgian chickens being imported" by two major poultry importers "and also of Italian chicken which is not packed in accordance with the hygiene directive". Neither MAFF nor port health authorities are routinely inspecting imports at the port of entry because they say this is against EU single market legislation. It is alleged that a major West country poultry processing plant has been importing large quantities of illegal Belgian chickens and then, with the approval of the plant's official vet employed by the meet hygiene service, re-packing them with Union Jack labels to make customers think that there are British chickens. The EU legislation lays down that so long has as food is processed or re-packed it can be marked as coming from the country where this takes place. (Private Eye 9 July 1999)
The Parliamentary Bill setting up the Food Standards Agency gives officials powers to write their own laws, which is unprecedented in any field. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has been pushing forward a project dismantle Britain's food inspection system, which has been run by local government since 1875, and replace it with a centralised "food police", reporting ultimately to the EU's new Food and Veterinary Office in Dublin. The Bill allows ministers to transfer all existing local authority food inspection powers to the new agency, without the need to consult Parliament. The agency will have blanket powers to "do anything" to further "the exercise of its functions", it would be empowered to write its own laws, again without consulting Parliament. Despite dropping the £90 flat rate levy on all food premises, the new agency will be empowered to impose on food businesses virtually any charges it wishes. (Sunday Telegraph 27 June 1999)
New Zealand is allowed to export butter to Europe according to a quota. The New Zealand Dairy Board has developed a secret way of making pure butter spreadable. Although it is a pure product the EU has ruled that spreadable butter falls outside the quota and is liable for extra duty of £1,500 per ton. UK Customs and Excise have arrested several employees of the Dairy Board for trying to persuade Britain of the merits of spreadable butter. The Board has decided to set up a European plant to process imported butter to make it spreadable. (FT 11/11/96, 13/11/96). Customs & Excise dropped all charges after admitting that their investigating officer had left. The six defendants said they would be seeking substantial sums in legal costs and damages. (2/5/98)
New Zealand hopes to rebuild its US$50m spreadable butter sales in Europe following a decision by the European Commission to treat the product is ordinary butter. In 1996 the European Union imposed high tariffs on New Zealand's spreadable butter, causing the suspension of shipments to Europe. New Zealand took the issue to the World Trade Organisation and a panel ruled in favour of New Zealand in the dispute. (Financial Times 11 June 1999). The New Zealand Daily Board has welcomed the resumption of spreadable butter exports to Europe under the country's quota allocation, but says it would never recover its initial market share. New Zealand pioneered the technology for producing spreadable butter by filtering out hard fats, but access under the quota was withdrawn in 1996. The subsequent political and legal battle forced it to make the product in continental Europe, rather than exported directly. (FT 9/11/99)
Ministers have implied that they should impose a moratorium on the use of genetically modified organisms, however, none admitted that Britain is in no position to do anything of the kind. Under directive 90/220, no member state can prohibit the planting of GM crops; and under Commission regulation to 258/ 97, no member state to can prohibit the sale of any GM food approved by Brussels. Furthermore, Commission recommendation 97/618 lays down that, "to compensate for the inability of employing reasonably adequate safety factors before a GMO is put on the market the appropriate information must be obtained by post-market surveillance". In other words there is no way of testing whether GMOs are safe until after they have been put into commercial use. (Sunday Telegraph 28 February 1999)
The European Commission warned it would take France to court for failing to respect European Union laws over licensing genetically modified products after France withheld consent for the marketing of two modified foods. (Financial Times 8 July 1999)
The European Union has already approved 18 Genetically Modified Organisms for sale in Europe. Countries have no power to ban the sale of these items. Austria and Luxembourg, however, have refused to allow the sale of modified maize produced by Novartis even though it has been authorised by Brussels. (Financial Times 13 February 1999)
The French government employs a senior official to protect traditional food processes. Our Minister of Food, Nicholas Soames asked him, to organise a Best of France food market in Covent Garden. When they were setting up the traditional market they had a visit from our food hygiene inspectors who insisted that they install running water and hand basins on each stall and said that the stallholders had to wear a plastic gloves. The French had to employ a consultant at a cost of £20,000 to negotiate with these officials to allow the market to go ahead. (BBC Food Programme 1 March 1999)
An EU directive will allow the use of preservatives in French bread. This is anathema to traditionalists. (Guardian 6 February 1998)
The government says it will refuse a moratorium on the sale of GMO foods but it forgets to point out that it has no power to do so anyway. Under the EU's directive 90/220 and regulation 258/97 no member state can ban the sale of any GM food approved by Brussels. (Sunday Telegraph 8 February 1999)(FFP28)
Organic mushrooms approved by the Soil Association are grown in compost that can come from non-organic straw. The composting process destroys any agricultural chemicals that might be present. The EC has now ruled that only organic straw can be composted. This will lead to the virtual disappearance of organic mushrooms because organic straw is very scarce. (BBC R4 Food Programme 30/1/99)
The Bombay Duck ban is based on ignorance and cultural bias and needs to be challenged politically by our representatives in the UK, many of whom rely on the votes of those who own and work in Britain's 8000 Indian restaurants, which are being starved of one of their established revenue streams. (Iqbal Wahhab Tandoori Magazine 9/11/98) (See Fish & Fishing) The ban has now been lifted, see the Save Bombay Duck site for latest news.
A north Wales abattoir owner, Dewi Jones, had charges thrown out by magistrates when the Meat Hygiene Service prosecuted him for selling three pigs that the Meat Hygiene Service inspectors had failed to stamp with the official EU health mark. The MHS has a statutory duty to stamp the carcasses. Mr Jones had paid the MHS £70,000 last year for its inspections, more than he earned in his business. This is an example of the reign of terror imposed on the industry by the MHS and EU regulations. Meat plants are now effectively run by young MHS veterinary officials; to save costs they are recruited from Spain and have a poor grasp of English. More than half the owners of abattoirs now have a criminal conviction. (S Telegraph 1/11/98)
The French government had blocked the European Commission's crusade for the New Transatlantic Marketplace (NTM) but a New Transatlantic Economic Partnership (NTEP). "A new comprehensive trade initiative" has taken its place. An important element is the derestriction of constraints on genetically modified foods. David Aaron, the US under-secretary of Commerce for International Trade, was even more explicit. "Unfortunately", he explained, "the European Union, which is a major market for US foods, feed ingredients, and other agricultural products, has a slow and unpredictable process for approving new US agricultural products developed through advanced biotechnology". Aaron described the hurdles of obtaining market access for Monsanto's Roundup Ready soybean and Novartis' Bt maize and concluded, "the EU approval process for the products of biotechnology is non-transparent and overly political. We need to work closely with the EU to finalise approval and develop, for future biotech crops, a workable, timely, and transparent approval process". He was optimistic, as "the European Commission (EC) appears to understand our frustration with the EU approval process and is trying to make up for lost sales as we speak by opening up more corn tenders this year". (Corporate Europe Observatory , Issue 2, October 1998)
It is illegal after 30 June 1998 to sell size-D peaches, 2 inches to 2.2 inches in diameter, according to EC regulations 1169/93 and 3596/90. Asda supermarket group had a 6.5-ton load arriving so it decided to give them away to children. The regulation takes no account of poor harvests such as 1997/98. An EU spokesman dismissed Asda’s solution as a publicity stunt. (Daily Telegraph 2/7/98) The regulation has been amended so that Size D (51 mm and over but under 56 mm in diameter or 16 cm and over but under 17.5 cm in circumference) is not allowed in the period from 1 July to 31 October. Smaller peaches can be sold in the winter months! (EC REGULATION 2335/99)
EC regulation 577/97/EC sets out the rules for labelling brandy butter. Products that have less than 34% butter must be called "brandy spreadable fat", or "brandy buttercream". (European 6/4/98). Brandy butter with a higher proportion of butter will have to be called a "butter preparation". (European Voice 23/4/98). The sale of traditional brandy butter is banned from April 1999. Products with less than 34% butter cannot be sold as brandy butter. Brandy butter has less than 27% butter; higher levels produce a distasteful greasy product. High butter content also means it has to be refrigerated which makes the sugar crystallise out. Sales of £2m a year will have to cease putting small companies at risk. French anchovy butter with 10% butter is allowed to retain the name and sales are permitted under the law. (Mail on Sunday 21/6/98). Mr Andrew Gordon, MD of Gordon Fine Foods Ltd, said "the EC Milk, Fats and Oil Committee proposed to raise the milk fat content of Brandy Butter from 22% to 34%. This spoils the taste and ruins the shelf life. The Committee says that if the fat content is not raised then the product must be called 'Butter Cream with Brandy'". (BBC R4 You & Yours 14/1/99) Mr. Rooker: I am pleased to announce that, following discussions with the industry, the European Commission and other Member States, we have managed to secure a derogation that will lower the minimum milkfat content of brandy, rum and sherry butters from 34 per cent. to 20 per cent., thereby ensuring that these traditional alcoholic butters can continue to be made using the traditional recipes enjoyed by the UK consumers for many years. (Hansard 23/2/99)
The margarine industry is warning that many products will have to be withdrawn from shops once the new EU criteria governing spreadable fat is implemented in July 1998. The regulations penalise the margarine industry and hand a competitive advantage to the butter producers. If a single sample failed to have 41% margarine fat content the entire output could be withdrawn. It is much harder to ensure uniform fat content than with butter. Up to now the average fat content of a batch was used as a reference measurement. (European Voice 23/4/98)
A European Court ruling has overturned the strict quality standards for Italian pastas. This will allow inferior pasta made with soft wheat to be imported. It will also allow in artificially coloured pasta, made to look like real egg, or spinach pasta. Bread made from soft wheat will also become lawful. Italian consumer groups are up in arms. The changes are treated as a threat to Italy’s sovereignty. (D Telegraph 20/5/98)
The European Commission announced in November 1997 that it would commence infringement procedures against the British Government for a failure to maintain the level of veterinary control in meat plants required by Community legislation. Vets must attend plants every day. One small specialist meat company, Graig Farm at Llandrindod Wells, which sells organic and additive free meat, which handles only two carcasses a week, has been told that veterinary inspection charges will increase from £600 a year to £17,000. (Eurofacts 10/4/98). The further huge rise in inspection costs, ordered by Brussels, will cause at least 100 more firms to close once the Christmas period is over. The MHS has assured its officials that even though many firms may have to close their businesses the MHS is concerned to maintain security of employment of its staff. (S Telegraph 1/11/98)
Full cream yoghurt has to be diluted and sold as Greek Style yoghurt. (Herefordshire farmer 13/6/98).
Forty-two Dewsbury tripe dressers went by coach to Brussels to protest against EU regulations that have banned them from producing the particular type of tripe they need for the Yorkshire National Tripe Eating Championships. (BBC R 4 You & Yours Programme 6/3/98)
The EU has attacked the Australian government because it plans to privatise meat inspection services. The EU said it would reject Australian exports of meat because EU directive regulations demand a high level of government involvement in meat inspections. (FT 18/2/98). At the same time the EU is claiming a boost to Australian trade by a mutual recognition agreement on conformity assessment. (CEC 12/2/98)
Bees are plagued by a deadly parasite called the varroa mite which is spreading throughout the country. Beekeepers have discovered a range of effective remedies including several common substances, such as talc, formic and lactic acid. But EU Directive 96/23 has ruled that, because bees are food producing animals, it is only legal to treat them with licensed products, otherwise fines of £5,000 are payable. Common substances cannot be licensed because they cannot be patented. Beekeepers are now forced to use the only licensed product, Bayer's Bayvarol. The mites, however, are gaining immunity to this insecticide. Bees are now facing extinction and the pollination of our crops is seriously threatened. (Sunday Telegraph 30/11/97)
The owner of Whole Earth Foods Organic Foods, Mr Watts, has a criminal record because he sells marmalade sweetened with fruit sugar. This is forbidden by EU regulations which say he must use refined cane or beet sugar. The court fined him £450. He has been forbidden to call his product "Marmalade". It is permitted to call it Pure Fruit Spread, but he now calls it "Whole Earth Better Than Marmalade". Following this scandal the Commission has agreed to look into the possibility of allowing fruit sugar as a sweetener. (BBC R4 Europe Now 4/11/97)
Brains of sheep and veal, favourite delicacies of gourmets, could soon be removed by law from the finest restaurants of Europe. The EU has banned them from the food chain from 1 January 1998. (FT 20/10/97)
When an amateur dramatic society applied for a license to sell wine at their performances they were told that under a new Euro-ruling they had to display the prices of six Community-controlled wines. (S Telegraph 21/9/97)
A British wine maker has been fined £4,500 for mistakenly selling a dessert wine with peach flavour as a wine. It should have been sold as fermented grape dessert drink. As such it was not wine and therefore was not covered by the EU wine regulations so no offence was committed. He still has to pay the fine. (S Telegraph 5/10/97)
The EU is spending £20m for an advertising campaign to get people to consume more olive oil. This is because it also pays subsidies of £1.3billion to produce olive oil. This creates a vast surplus. The subsidy is so attractive that Spanish production capacity has doubled. There is also corruption in claiming the subsidy. Mills run without processing the oil, the electricity bills give the illusion of production. The Commission is spending £130m to make a register of olive trees because it will switch the subsidy to individual trees. (Daily Mail 14/8/97). A record number of olive trees are being planted. (Times 23/4/98)
The EU is spending UKP250m a year subsidising live cattle and sheep exports to the middle east for ritual slaughter. As a consequence abattoirs in Ireland are forced to close leading to the loss of many jobs (BBC farming Programme 14/7/95). The subsidy for cattle is £300 per beast. This encourages export to countries practising immense brutality say Compassion in World Farming. (BBC R4 Europe Now 19/10/97)
Many products such as muesli and whole-wheat bread made with wholemeal wheat will be banned because they will exceed the maximum levels of phosphates laid down in the EU Food Additives Directive (S Telegraph 19/6/94).
The UK is the second largest net contributor to the EU budget. Included in the budget expenditure is UKP57m paid to EU farmers to destroy their produce (Daily Mail 7/8/95). Another example of EU funding is that given to Irish mushroom growers. They get 50% capital grants, grants and subsidies for marketing, employees, electricity, storage, processing, composting, handling and roads for smallholdings. Irish growers also have a special low corporation tax of 10%. The UK is the main importer of Irish mushrooms and UK producers, although the most efficient in Europe, cannot compete with the highly subsidised imports. In the last three years 50 UK farms have had to close and 1,000 employees have been sacked, 13% of the sector workforce. (FT 3/8/95). Irish firms, rich from the subsidies from the EU, have been buying up their UK competitors. They now own six of the eight biggest mushroom firms in Britain. Irish imports are now 30% of the British market. Although Brussels ordered the Irish government to hand back £1.4 million, as subsidies illegal under EC law, there is no evidence this was done. (S Telegraph 11/10/98)
Soya Milk must be renamed Soya Drink; it infringes the Dairy Designations Regulation. The EU is ignoring that "milk" means an emulsion. Cows milk and Soya milk are emulsions. One intention is not to inform but to reclassify Soya Milk so that it carries a higher rate of VAT. The description "cream crackers", however, is allowed. Three quarters of the world's population is intolerant to cows milk. (BBC R4 Food Prog. 18/2/94). Waitrose have named their product "Soyilk".
The draft EEC Wild Game Directive states that a vet must inspect deer shot for human consumption and refrigerated at the point of kill. (S Telegraph 20/12/93). The CEC say this only applies to game hunted for commercial ends and imported game meat. Professional hunters will have twelve hours to deliver their game to a valid processing plant and it is only large scale hunting that will call for evisceration immediately after being put to death. (CEC Jan 1993). Hunters who share a vehicle are only allowed to carry one carcass per vehicle (BASC Winter 1995).Traditional Norwegian elk hunting may soon be a thing of the past, if a new EU law is passed, according to Norwegian paper Nationen. The proposal says that the animals must be placed in a cool store immediately after the killing, and that the cutting up of the animals must take place in certified slaughterhouses and be inspected by veterinarians. Otherwise, the meat must neither be sold nor given away. According to Nationen this would mean that the elk hunter either has to stay in the immediate proximity of main roads or get themselves helicopters, and Norway's Association of Hunters fear that such rules will lead to a boom in illegal trade in elk meat. Norway is not a member of the EU but obliged via the EEA agreement to incorporate EU rules related to the internal market. (EUobserver.com 8/3/02)Every jar of home produced honey sold must have a number and the date marked on it. This can require a machine costing £3,000. Imports do not have to comply. (S Telegraph 25/4/93).
The Danish Feta cheese industry to be eliminated because they use cows milk
and the white dye is to be banned. This will stop a large export trade to Iran
(FT October 93). The directive protecting products named after a geographical
area also hits Danish feta. Feta can only be produced in Greece. Although they
produce 700,000 tons a year and have done so for 20 years they have to stop
selling it as Feta, but exports can continue. (FT 28/1/96). (Indy 7/3/96). A
Yorkshire sheep's milk dairy has been told to cease production of Yorkshire
Feta. Up to 10 tons of cheese are produced by Judy Bell in her Dales enterprise.
The EC's Protected Designation of Origin Regulation stated that the name would
only be allowed for sheep's cheese produced in Greece. The ruling will cost the
small dairy thousands of pounds in re-branding and re-labelling the cheeses that
have won medals for excellence. (S Telegraph 28/10/98). The European Court of
Justice agreed with Danish, German and French cheesemakers that they had been
unjustly stopped from using the name Feta. The ban is lifted (Times
18/3/99) On Tuesday, the
15-member union’s regulatory committee discussed a proposal by the EU
Commission to include the Feta cheese on its list of appellation of origin
products. These products can only be marketed as such if made in a specific
geographical area traditionally linked with the product. However since no votes
where taken after the discussion, the vote would have to be postponed for the
next committee meeting in the following months. Member states who are major
cheese producers, like Denmark, the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands, are
likely to be effected badly by this move, as they would end up loosing their
market share of the product. Although the other member states would still be
able to produce the cheese currently branded as Feta, they would not be able to
use this name, with the danger of loosing consumers who shop for this particular
kind of cheese. A similar proposal was annulled 3 years ago at the European
Court, as the Court saw that the name Feta had become a generic name, and thus
cannot enjoy protection as designations of origin. (EUobserver.com
11/4/02)
Organic food retailers to pay hefty registration fee and maintain a full audit trail of the ingredients. The UK has the most rigid enforcement of the EEC regulations. (Soil Association News Aug. 1992)
Genetically engineered food can be sold as organic. This includes tomatoes with fish genes and cooking oils with rat genes. (Living Earth & Food Magazine May 1993). This rule has been rescinded by IFOAM.
The European Union is to allow pigs and to be reared intensively and non-organically then fattened organically and sold as such. The Soil Association has opposed this relaxation of the quality regulations. (BBC Radio 4 Farming Programme 12/10/99)
The EU has approved the sale of genetically modified maize without identifying labels. The maize contains a gene that confers resistance to the important antibiotic ampicillin. (FT 19/12/96) EU labelling proposals say only live genetically modified products should be labelled. This means that 80% of genetically modified food need not be labelled (FT 17/1/97). A new labelling scheme, however, will require GM food to be identified (FT 7/8/97). The Labour Party before it came to power said the GM maize should not be allowed into the UK. Now in the role of the UK Government it says that it cannot break the EU import approval (FT 14/10/97). ). The Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the EU said in the absence of EU rules manufacturers will act to meet consumer demands for clear and precise information. Labels will identify genetically modified food. (FT 8/1/98). ). New EC proposals suggest that food be labelled with a statement that it "may contain GM organisms". The proposal can only be overruled by a majority decision in the Council of Ministers. (FT 19/5/98). Pressure from objecting countries forced the EC to back down so the "may contain GM" label scheme is withdrawn. Now labels must say that food does contain GM organisms. This, however, presents a problem for small food producers who may be unable to afford the scientific tests to prove there are no GM items in their food. They could be forced to say there are GM organisms simply because they cannot afford the tests. Some foods will be exempt because they could not be genetically modified. The GM tests, however, would not pick up flavourings, colourings and additives that have been genetically modified. (FT 27/5/98)
Carrots are defined by the EEC as fruit. This is because they are used to make jam in some countries and jam has to contain fruit.
The EEC Nutrition Labelling Directive will prevent manufacturers and retailers from using the labels designed by the Coronary Prevention Group which tell consumers whether the amounts of fats, sugar and fibre etc. are high, medium or low. (Living Earth and Food May 1993). The CEC admit to this restriction.
The Double-labelling Programme requires producers to spell out information in three ways: in the ingredients, in the nutritional list and also now in the product name. Prawn Cocktail crisps must now be labelled "Prawn Cocktail Flavour Potato Snack - with Sweetener" (Independent 2/2/96).
The Co-op is to put health warnings on alcoholic drinks. Own brand wines, spirits and beers will state the government's recommended daily allowances and advice on drinking during pregnancy. This act will breach two EU regulations that lay down specific rules on labelling. (FT2/12/96)
The Co-op is to challenge the EC by putting ingredient labels on its own-brand wines and spirits. It will list ingredients few people ever knew they were drinking, such as potassium bisulphide, polyvinyl-polypyrolidine and acacia gum. They will break EC rules and risk prosecution by the Wine Standards Board. The law is against the consumer interest, says the Co-op. (S Telegraph 25/10/98)
It is now illegal for Environmental Health Officers to check EEC food imports at the border. In 1992 22,000 tons were found unfit for human consumption. (S Telegraph 3/1/93)
Sausages, shepherds pies and steak and kidney pies threatened by new EEC Health Directives (CEC). The CEC admits the new rules have caused and are causing problems for the smaller businesses.
Cucumbers must conform to colour and curvature specifications. The CEC admit this rule but add that it is not illegal to sell miss-shaped cucumbers. Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1677/88 of 15 June 1988 laying down Quality Standards for cucumbers… fresh in appearance, - firm, - clean, practically free of any visible foreign matter, - practically free from pests, - practically free from damage caused by pests, - free of bitter taste (subject to the special provisions for classes II and III under the heading 'Tolerances'), - free of abnormal external marks - free of foreign smell and/or taste. Cucumbers must be sufficiently developed but their seeds must be soft…be well shaped and practically straight (maximum height of the arc: 10 mm per 10 cm of length of the cucumber). Class II cucumbers, slightly crooked cucumbers may have a maximum height of the arc of 20 mm per 10 cm of length of the cucumber. Crooked cucumbers may have a greater arc and must be packed separately. Cucumbers grown in the open must weigh 180 g or more. Cucumbers grown under protection must weigh 250 g or more…etc.
Bananas are also subject to size and shape regulations; the minimum acceptable banana should be 5.5 inches long and 1 inch wide. Commission Regulation Number 2257/94 detailing the regulations covering the quality standards for bananas, includes the provision that they be free from "abnormal curvature". ((Independent 23/9/94)/Eurofaq 10/11/98). This rule would outlaw all bananas produced in the EU, e.g. Canary bananas, so there is a derogation excluding EU produce (EIC 19/10/94). Bananas are classified as agriculture, not food (BC R4 Food Programme 1/3/98). C Heaton who works for a shipping company said, on the subject of the EU regulations: "I would say that it used to take me about two hours in total per week to deal with a 1,500 Ton cargo in one vessel and that included writing the reports to Head Office. Eight people, full time, now do that same job. There is a separate 'examination' room where the bananas are measured and 'tested'. I used to do it on the deck of the ship and down the holds". (Eurofaq posting 28/3/99)
Lemons are subject to 8 new EU size categories and 4 quality classifications (Times 14/12/94).
Strawberries cannot be sold if they are less than 22mm in diameter, neither must they be square in shape. If they are not deep red they are classed as "bad". Rejects have to be pulped. (BBC R4 Farming Programme June 1995) Regulation 899/87 annex ii as amended by regulation 1435/91 and 888/97. PYO strawberries exempt because sold direct to public at the farm gate (DEFRA 2/7/01)
Lockwoods of Ambergate in Derbyshire is a major supplier of frozen Mushy Peas with a turnover of UKP2m per annum. In June 1996 they will be forbidden by the EU from using the green dye which gives the peas their characteristic colour, the rule was waived for tinned mushy peas. From June the frozen peas will go yellow. This is expected to cause the market to collapse and the company will surely go out of business. Consumers will also be deprived of a favourite traditional food (BBC R4 10/8/95)
The United States has formally lifted trade sanctions imposed on the European Union two years ago in a dispute over EU banana imports. The Bush administration has said it is now satisfied that European barriers against bananas from outside the West Indies - with their links to France and the UK - will be removed. Under the new deal, the EU agreed to gradually increase its quotas for bananas grown in Latin America until 2006, when all preferential quotas will be eliminated. Two big US companies - Chiquita Brands International and Dole Foods - said they had lost almost half their European sales since the EU implemented a preferential quota system in 1993. The US announcement on Sunday means that European goods including bath preparations, handbags and wallets, felt paper and paperboard, lithographs, bed linen, batteries and coffee makers will be available again in the US. (BBC News On-line 1 July, 2001)
On Wednesday, EU ministers of agriculture adopted a new trade arrangement for banana imports coming from the countries in the ACP zone (Africa-Caribbean-Pacific), ending almost a decade-long dispute with the US, according to Yahoo France. Following a World Trade Organisation ruling two years ago that the existing EU imports regime was discriminatory, the US imposed trade sanctions worth $191m a year on EU exporters. The US suspended its sanctions in July, after the European Commission put forward a plan that would increase the share of its market for Chiquita Brands, Dole and other US distributors selling fruit produced in Latin America. The new scheme adopted on Wednesday will grant banana producers in the ACP zone 83 per cent of the EU's annual import quota. The remaining 17 per cent will go to other countries. In 2006, the markets will be completely open. (EUobserver.com 20.12.2001)
The European Union and Ecuador announced that they have reached an agreement on the trade dispute over banana imports into the EU, which will end the long-standing banana war. Ecuador threatened to take the dispute back to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) if the EU does not make some changes. Earlier this month, the EU and US made a compromise over bananas to finish the trade battle. "This is a decisive step to put this saga to rest. It is a landmark result in that the European Commission and Ecuador, a developing country and the single largest exporter of bananas, have achieved this satisfactory outcome. It is now possible to say that the major parties to the long-running banana dispute have been able to agree on a solution that represents a fair balance between the competing interests," said the Commission in a press release. "While the banana row appears to be resolved in principle, the deal must still be endorsed by EU governments, which have disagreed bitterly over bananas in the past," writes the BBC. "Both Ecuador and the United States have won WTO cases against the EU's banana import policies." (EUobserver.com 02.05.2001)
The World Bank says the EU Banana Policy is perverse and inefficient. The system distorts competition, encourages black marketing, restricts growth, discriminates against efficient producers and robs inefficient producers of an incentive to raise productivity. It costs EU consumers $2.3bn a year but little of this goes to the producers, it goes to traders instead (FT 20/1/95). The oldest banana importer in Germany used to ship 100,000 tons from South America but now he is only allowed to import 1,500 tons pa. He is bringing a case against the EU in the German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe. This court recently threw out the EU rule against American TV programmes so there is a good chance that the banana policy will not apply in Germany (S Tele 2/4/95). ). The World Trade Organisation has declared the subsidies paid to the former British colonies in the Windward Isles for banana production is illegal. This is catastrophic for the island economies. Neighbouring French Martinique and Guadeloupe are considered French domestic Departments and can thus be subsidised by the EU, including Britain. (Times 9/9/97)(FFP). The EC's operations to reform the banana regime are an alarming example of disrespect of the rule of law in international trade. The EC reserves 30% of licences for traders who traditionally market Community and ACP fruit, forcing Latin American traders to buy surplus licences. GATT criticised this so the EC allocated quotas based on trade shares in 1994/96. This, through a legal quirk, effectively conserves the status quo. This is a classic EC strategy: the EU legislative bodies pass inappropriate wording. Anomalies have to be resolved by the banana management committee but this is under the control of the Commission. (Letter in E Voice 22/10/98). The EU has conceded that the banana policy does infringe WTO rules. (European Voice 8/4/99
Just when Caribbean Community (CARICOM)countries are fighting to stave off a European Union (EU) plan to open its protected market to exports from the world's poorest nations, a new system governing banana sales has left regional producers reeling. Following a meeting between the EU and US officials this week, the EU's farm commissioner's office says that the Union will soon be issuing import licences to ships arriving with bananas on a first come, first served basis. Trade officials previously used distribution patterns to allocate licences to vessels fetching fruit from the Caribbean and from US-owned Latin American farms. ''This is bad news for us, very bad,'' says Byron Blake, Assistant Secretary General of the 15-nation Community and the regional trade chief. ''I am sure we won't be able to cope and it is cumbersome and time-consuming for ships to move from one island to the next, picking up small quantities before heading to Europe.'' He predicts that ships from Latin American will easily make it first to the EU and even if they are not able to sell the entire load there, the remainder could easily be dumped in Eastern Europe as is the case at the moment.. The United States, through Ecuador and other countries in Latin America, has for most of the 1990s attempted to kill the protective system under which Caribbean bananas enter the EU arguing that it discriminates against Latin American producers. The Caribbean accounts for a mere two percent of world banana production. The 77-nation African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of nations has 16 percent of the EU market worth 857,000 tonnes. The Caribbean accounts for 10 percent of the ACP quota. Britain has voted against the proposal noting that the Caribbean will need all the protection it can get. Caribbean officials say that the irony of the 'Everything But Arms' deal is that it will favour fellow Third World countries. By tradition, they should not oppose the move, but a free market in the EU for fellow poor nations will destroy the industries upon which Caribbean countries so depend. (GEORGETOWN, Dec 22, 2000 IPS)
The EEC Directive on Hygiene and Foodstuffs bans the use of absorbent materials, e.g. wood., in the preparation of food and drink. This could include the use of oak casks in whisky production, clarets and Rioja wines and sherry. Also wood-fermenting vats could be banned. (The Guardian 11/11/92). Denied by the CEC. Although the Directive has not yet been implemented Environmental Health Officers are applying the rule energetically. Traditional kipper smoking forced out of business because wooden hooks are used in the smokehouses.
Cornish cured pilchards outlawed because they were packed in wooden boxes (they go mouldy in plastic). Now they can be sold in wooden boxes because the Newlyn factory has declared itself a Working Museum under EU regulations (S Tele 26/11/95).
Sellers of cheese and celery sandwiches must use different cutting boards to slice the cheese and celery. (BBC R4).
Traditional cheese makers banned from using wooden storage shelves. A Northumberland cheese maker told to mature his cheeses in plastic vacuum packs (BBC R4 23/4/93).
At the meeting held in London on March 24, 1999 by the Specialist Cheesemakers Association the Countess of Mar reported that the steering committee for the Food Standards Agency, who implement EC directives, regard small food producers as "purveyors of germs"! (British Goat Society Monthly Journal May 1999)
Prize-winning Bonchester cheese ceased production owing to excessive EU regulations. In recent years small cheese producers reduced from 4,000 to 2,000 thanks to regulations that are not applied with such rigour in Europe. This means that there are virtually no new entrants into specialist cheesemaking. The safety record shows cheese is 30 times safer than tap water. (BBC R4 Farming Programme 20/11/98)
A Devon goat's cheesemaker says rules will kill her business. She has been told to get rid of her trusty wooden milking stand by environmental health officers. Only a small amount of cheese is made which means it's not viable to pay for the type of equipment the regulations insist upon (Western Morning News 4/6/98)
A goat's milk and cheese producer in East Sussex is battling with French imports which would never be allowed to be produced in the UK because the French producers take no notice of EC hygiene regulations. A group of French producers have been invited by Wealden Council to sell their cheeses in local markets, such as Heathfield. The camembert cheeses are unwrapped, un-refrigerated and sold without the required identifying code by traders who have no hand washing facilities, do not wear the regulation protective clothing and handle money as well as the cheeses. Children have been seen playing with the cheeses on the pavement. He has had the cheeses analysed and they are heavily contaminated with bacteria. He has visited the farms where it is produced and knows that they would be closed instantly by our own health inspectors. He has complained to Wealden council and MAFF but no action has been taken. This farmer set up a goat semen laboratory according to MAFF instructions. When he expected to get his EC license MAFF produced another EC directive that effectively nullified all his work. (Nutknowle Farm, Horam, E Sussex 20/9/99)
A cheesemaker in Oxfordshire, who has been in dairying for over 50 years, has to have an EC "health mark" to export her produce. This is awarded by the Environmental Health Officer for her district. The EHO seems to know nothing about cheesemaking but is insisting on "gold plating" the regulations. For example, by insisting on lab. tests on every batch of milk. The cheese is matured for 60 days and the regulations state that milk tests are not required. If the cheese maker fails to satisfy the EHO she does not get her "health mark" and cannot export her cheese any more. This could also nullify her insurance cover. She explained that other cheesemakers are not faced with this problem. There is not a level playing throughout the country in the interpretation of the EU regulations. It is a post-code lottery. She has also seen French cheese in Waitrose supermarket without a health mark, no weight marking and no maker's name. All factors which would quickly disqualify a British cheesemaker. Another case of 'one rule for us and another for the French'. (Personal communication 22/9/99)
The favourite Danish apple is banned for eating, this is because the average size falls on the division between large and small apples, half the crop will always be scrapped for juice. All small apples have to be juiced (FT 24/1/93). The CEC agree this is so. ASDA supermarket chain is giving away thousands of small apples as a gesture in protest at the EU legislation (Independent 4/10/96)
The EEC forced the UK to import UHT milk. British farmers who now only produce 80% of our milk consumption are pouring milk into the ground because they have exceeded their EU quotas. UK cheese makers are having to import milk to maintain production, or go on short time. (Various sources March 1994). Italian farmers have over-produced milk. The EU has fined them £289m. The Italian government has offered to pay the fines. (FT29/11/97)
Small scale cheese makers forbidden to use pressure washers to clean the cheese preparation area (BBC Woman's Hour 8/10/93).
The limit for listeria in cheese is 1,000 bacteria per gram. It is usually harmless except for some strains that are harmful to the elderly and pregnant mothers. Health inspectors make no distinction between harmful and innocuous strains. The producer of Lanark Blue cheese has had his entire stock confiscated for exceeding the limit but with the harmless strain. He can be put out of business even though no one has ever become ill. In court Sheriff Douglas Allen saved Lanark Blue and awarded costs of £320,000 against Clydesdale Council. The EC Directive on milk hygiene effective from April 1995 states that there should be no listeria of the virulent strain in cheese at all. Listeria is an ubiquitous organism; it is found everywhere, especially in blue cheese. In future many farmhouse cheeses could be banned. So-called traditional cheeses may escape the ban. (FT7/12/95).
UK government interpretation of the principles set out in EU hygiene regulations directives has tended to be very rigid and strict, causing the effect of the EU measures to be more punitive than elsewhere. Several cheesemakers in Scotland have closed because they could not afford to comply with recent new requirements. At present, traditional cheeses in Britain receive a de-rogation from the microbial standards set by the EU milk hygiene directive. But government officials are unhappy with this situation and are pressing, as an amendment to UK law, for the introduction of microbial standards which, whilst they may be marginally less onerous than the standards for other dairy products, will, I predict, create intolerable problems for many British artisan cheesemakers. More seriously, the imposition of standards will overturn a principle of UK food law, namely that a food cannot be condemned unless there is evidence that