Paris (AFP)
MEPs again spoke Tuesday in favor of a more transparent and precise labeling on the origin of honeys to avoid fraud, while a French decree to this effect was relied on by the European Commission, said the government.
The Assembly examines at first reading on Tuesday evening and Wednesday a proposal for a law on "the balance of commercial relations in the agricultural and food sector". This consensual text is mainly used to resume measures already voted in October 2018 in the law food (Egalim) but censored by the Constitutional Council, because considered too far from the title of the bill.
MEPs on Tuesday approved Article 1 of the proposal, which provides that for "honey made from a mixture of honeys from a Member State of the European Union or a third country, all countries of origin of the harvest are indicated on the label ".
In passing, the Secretary of State Agnès Pannier-Runacher acknowledged that the decree that the government had presented to the European Commission in this sense had been "retabled".
He proposed to label countries of origin "in descending order of weight" by highlighting, in bold, the countries of origin representing "more than 20%" of the honeypot.
"That's what the European Commission has said, putting the countries of origin above 20% fat," said Agnès Pannier-Runacher. The European Commission also replied that it was not necessary to claim ingredient indications "in descending order of weight", as European regulations already provide.
Fraud on honey, especially from China, regularly anger the industry while French production, around 20,000 tons per year, is far from sufficient to meet the national consumption of about 40,000 tons.
This year, French beekeepers are also planning "catastrophic" production because of difficult weather conditions.
MEPs also opposed an amendment by Richard Ramos (MoDem) to make the country of origin declaration mandatory for cocoa products.
For "mass cocoa, you will put a strain on our French companies and that will not apply in other countries while cocoa is a commodity that circulates," warned Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
© 2019 AFP