Jill Evans MEP today hosted a meeting at the European Parliament in Strasbourg for the Women's Institute (WI) to present their campaign for mandatory country of origin labelling to fellow MEPs. The debate was held in advance of a vote on food labelling, due to take place at the plenary session of the European Parliament this week.

Despite the UK government insisting that a voluntary scheme is sufficient, recent research by WI members has revealed that products without appropriate labelling can be found in most supermarkets.

Jill Evans commented:

"I fully support the WI's efforts in campaigning for the EU to make the place where food comes from obligatory on the labelling. Their research has shown that this is what consumers want - indeed 98% of WI members support this.

"In Wales, our meat is a high quality product that we are proud of and we want it to be identified as such, especially when it may be in competition with a lower priced meat from a country without such high standards.  This is the sort of law the EU should be adopting - one that protects both the producers and the consumers.

"The law expected to be adopted this week will ensure that the country of origin is labelled on all fresh meat. The campaign does not stop here though. We still want all meat and dairy products to be labelled with their country of origin. The European Commission has to produce a report with an impact assessment on extending the law to cover these products in the next two years. In this time, I will be working with the WI as well as consumer groups and farming unions in Wales to ensure that we get the best labelling possible for our consumers."

Steven Cornelius
EFA Communications & Press Officer / Attaché de communications & presse ALE
Green / EFA Group in the European Parliament
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The European Free Alliance (EFA) Group in the European Parliament includes MEPs from Scotland, Wales, Flanders, Catalonia, Corsica and Latvia, who advance the cause of Europe's stateless nations, regions and disadvantaged minorities.