During a debate in the European Parliament this morning on how to improve the safety of the EU's food supply chain in light of the recent horsemeat scandal, GUE/NGL MEP Martina Anderson challenged Commissioner Borg on his view that legislation can only go so far in stopping criminals cheat the system in pursuit of cheap profits. "As legislators we have a responsibility to make any criminal act as difficult of possible," she said.

"Although the EU can claim to have one of the most developed traceability systems in the world, it is clearly not 100% fit for purpose in the processing sector," continued MEP Anderson. She called for mandatory country and region of origin labelling for meat products as well as frozen and processed meats. "This would ensure there was a stronger onus for supermarkets to take responsibility for the supply chain."

To conclude, she said that we should take full account of the specific characteristics of member states allowing beef from a specific country or region to be identified as such. "This would aid traceability in general and prevent scandals such as this."

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