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The rapid increase in popularity of food delivery and e-commerce
services brought on by the COVID crisis led the Pew Charitable
Trusts last week to urge US authorities to step up efforts to
create a framework to regulate and oversee food safety in those
emerging fields.
With no regulatory framework in place to ensure the safety of
food delivered through these novel food channels, it was up to
companies to identify food safety risks and boost precautions,
Karin Hoelzer, a Pew veterinarian, pointed out.
A new analysis from the European Investment Bank (EIB) last week
looked at how the financing needs of EU farmers and agri-food
businesses are supported by the European Agricultural Fund for
Rural Development (EAFRD).
The EIB conducted two EU-wide surveys focusing on the access to
finance of more than 7,600 farmers and 2,200 agri-food enterprises
and found a financing gap within the EAFRD of between €19-46
billion for agriculture and more than €12.8 billion for the
agri-food sector.
Market support measures, animal welfare,
deforestation
Later in the week, the full European Parliament endorsed a set
of exceptional market support measures for EU wine, fruit and
vegetable producers, but refused to approve another aid proposal
from the European Commission. The fate of market measures for
crisis distillation and storage for wine remains uncertain and will
only be decided later.
Separately, the European Parliament agreed to create a new
inquiry Committee to better enforce EU rules on the protection of
transported animals.
MEPs overwhelmingly approved the new initiative at the plenary
session on 19 June, with 605 out of 689 parliamentarians voting in
favour.
The special Committee will be tasked with investigating possible
violations of EU Regulation 1/2005 on the protection of animals
during transport within and outside the EU, including by air, road,
rail and sea.
Meanwhile, Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius told
members of the European Parliament what they could expect when the
EU executive proposes rules to reduce EU imports linked to
deforestation.
"Instruments could include voluntary commitments from the
industry, mandatory labelling, due diligence, certification
schemes, [and] approaches similar to the EU system against illegal
fishing," he told lawmakers, adding that the Commission is
currently conducting the related impact assessment.
The proposal is part of the EU's 2030 biodiversity strategy,
which aims to commit the bloc to protecting nature and ecosystem
services. It also includes other measures such as a target to
include 10% of utilised EU agricultural area under non-productive
elements, as well as plans to push for similar global targets.
Front-of-pack labelling, forced labour
The European Commission was urged last week to adopt the
colour-coded Nutri-Score as its mandatory, harmonised front-of-pack
(FOP) nutrition label, but possibly with waivers for some products,
such as traditional specialities bearing geographical indications
(GIs).
Marco Settembri, Nestlé CEO for Europe, Middle East and North
Africa, floated the idea of waivers from future EU mandatory
labelling requirements at a June 17 online media meeting that the
company called to explain the Nutri-Score system and why Nestlé
wants the European Commission to adopt the colour-coded label for
the EU.
Finally, back in the US, a report from the Government
Accountability Office (GAO) said that US Customs officials needed
to communicate better with stakeholders in order to boost
enforcement of forced labor violations related to imported
seafood.
The report, called Forced Labor: Better Communication Could
Improve Trade Enforcement Efforts Related to Seafood, was requested
by House Natural Resources Committee (NRC).
"Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing has long been a
concern of the [NRC]," said the committee. "In addition to the
environmental harm it causes, [illegal] fishing is associated with
other illicit practices, including the use of slave or forced labor
and human trafficking."
