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The article below has been taken from our IEG Policy dated
05/05/20.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday
last week (April 28th) designed to keep meat plants open and shield
food companies from "liability problems" due to COVID-19. The order
was a response to rolling meat plant closures and fears of meat
shortages.
The White House said it would use the Defense Production Act "to
ensure that Americans have a reliable supply of products like beef,
pork, and poultry."
Under the order, the Department of Agriculture was directed to
ensure America's meat and poultry processors continue operations
uninterrupted "to the maximum extent possible", and to ensure
processors continued to ensure worker safety by following the
latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA).
The day after the order was signed, it was reported that efforts
to resume operations at US meat processing plants shuttered due to
outbreak of COVID-19 among workers was making steady progress. But
the situation for producers remained precarious and animal
depopulation had been unavoidable according to House Agriculture
Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) who spoke at a press
briefing on Wednesday (April 29) in southwestern Minnesota.
EU-Mexico deal signed
In Europe, the European Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan and
Mexican Economy Minister Graciela Marquez finalised the details of
the trade agreement over a telephone call on Tuesday.
Under the EU-Mexico agreement, almost all trade in goods between
the EU and Mexico will be duty-free. The Commission has said that
EU agricultural exports would be one of the biggest beneficiaries
of the trade deal, particularly producers of poultry, cheese,
chocolate, pasta, and pork.
The two parties had started negotiations in May 2016 and reached
an agreement in principle two years later, but they had to finalise
one remaining issue - better access to the public procurement
market at national and regional levels for EU companies.
The European Commission also reported last week that the EU
agri-food sector had coped well amid the COVID-19 disruptions.
Staple food such as flour, pasta, canned fruit and vegetables,
and rice have been in higher demand, while higher-value products
such as quality meat cuts, wine and specialty cheeses are seeing a
significant decrease in consumption.
However, thanks to the sustained demand for food, EU agriculture
has also suffered relatively less damage from the lockdown measures
than other parts of the economy, the Commission observed.
Member states address COVID
In Italy, a new emergency action plan to address critical issues
pertaining to farm labour was announced by the country's ministry
of agriculture, food and forestry policy, or MIPAAF.
The new plan will cover critical elements such as an urgent
mapping of the needs for agricultural labour, a possible use of
projects that are already funded by the ministries of labour and
interior to help address the emergency, as well as the acceleration
of a platform used to match labour supply and demand.
Meanwhile, Slovakia loosened restrictions in place due to the
COVID outbreak, allowing local retailers to open their store, but
ensuring that there is a ratio of 25 square metres per customer,
and that customers cover their faces and maintain a two-metre
distance from other persons.
In the UK, the group representing frozen food manufacturers
published guidance on re-opening factories whilst in Poland, the
sugar tax implementation was looking set to be further delayed
because of the COVID crisis.
Food labeling back in the news
Food labelling policy was back on the agenda last week as
multinational food giants, Danone, McCain and Nestlé, were among
nearly 40 organisations that joined forces with three MEPs to write
to EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides urging
the European Commission to make the colour-coded Nutri-Score
mandatory across the 27-nation bloc.
With one in two European adults overweight or obese, the letter
stated that it was clear that stronger action was required to "help
stem the tide of this public health crisis".
