Incatema will support the European Commission in evaluating meat product labelling in member countries

24 October, 2019

Incatema Consulting & Engineering will support the European Commission by participating in an evaluation of the implementation in Spain of the Regulation on identifying the origin and labelling of meat products, led by the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI). This project is organised by the company Agraceas which coordinates various leading consultancy entities in the main European countries and will be headed up in Spain by Incatema Consulting & Engineering.

The general rules on food information aim to assist consumers in making decisions and hence the reason why they stipulate that certain information must compulsorily appear on the food item’s label of origin. The study in which Incatema Consulting & Engineering will participate will evaluate whether this information relating to certain meats, as applied in Member States is effective, efficient, coherent, relevant and provides added value to the European Union (EU) in view of their objectives, requirements and current challenges.

The evaluation aims to cover the situation in the EU markets and assess all the aspects of the Regulation since it came into force on 1 April 2015. It will include a general overview of its application in each Member State and must identify any administrative burden, obstacles or existing barriers, the best practices and any new challenges. These elements must lead, where appropriate, to conclusions on the application of the Regulation and recommendations on the possible need for adjustments.

The Regulation guarantees the traceability of meat in the European Union

On 13 December 2013, the European Commission adopted Regulation 1337/2013 which establishes the rules and conditions regarding the indication of the country of origin or source of fresh, refrigerated and frozen pork, sheep, goat and poultry meat. Likewise, the Regulation endorses an identification and registration system in each production and distribution stage of these meats to guarantee the connection between the meat and the animal that it comes from and that the related information and the indications of the country of origin are transferred together with the meat.

The Commission is legally obliged to present a report to the European Parliament and to the Council evaluating the mandatory indication of the country of origin or source of the fresh, refrigerated and frozen pork, sheep, goat and poultry meat, within five years of the application of the Regulation, i.e. before 1 April 2020.