Thursday in plenary: Labelling of animal feed products
In the final session of the February plenary MEPs gathered to discuss the issue of correct labelling for animal feeds. BSE, CJD and 'mad cow' disease stemmed directly from using contaminated animal feeds leading to widespread culls and fear of the unknown. Parliament yesterday updated 2002 rules concerning animal feed labelling. Consumers and farmers alike will know better what they are eating.
Clearer labelling for safer content
Animal feed is produced mainly using a system whereby old animal tissue is converted in protein rich feed. During the 90s, this process was tainted severely as farmers purchasing rendered feed were not 100% clear on the contents. The spread of BSE came from the feeding of diseased rendered animals directly back to normally herbivorous cows, thus spreading the disease.
Building on an initial rule passed in 2002, the European Parliament have now made it clear that they want complete transparency in the labelling of animal feed.
Green MEP and rapporteur of the legislation Friedrich-Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf said: “We are talking about transparency in relation to feed to provide safe foodstuff for consumers. Customers of compound feed need to know exactly what they are being provided with.”
Maintaining intellectual property rights
The new proposal includes the customer's ability to read a list of the ingredients of the feed in descending content percentages. The customer may also request further, more detailed content analysis of the feed within a range of plus or minus 15%. The Parliament agreed that this variant was necessary to protect the feed manufacturer's intellectual property rights.
Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Health said: “The compromise package strikes the right balance between consumer protection and intellectual property rights...it marks a concrete step against the misleading of feed.”
Other debates: Kosovo,
In other debates on Thursday the Parliament discussed the role of the EULEX legal mission in Kosovo. After one year of independence the Mission want to promote stability in the area, providing political and financial support wherever possible. The resolution was adopted with 424 votes in favour, 133 against and 24 abstentions.
Members also called on more unity in trade between the EU and China as a new report showed greater independence from each party.
Also debated was the situation of asylum seekers in the EU. The topic centred on the conditions of holding cells individuals are put in whilst their diplomatic status is being resolved. MEPs were universal in their condemnation of the poor conditions experienced.
Human rights debates
The session closed with a debate on human rights. Discussed was the continuing conflict in Sri Lanka between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan Government which has seen the deaths of over 70,000 people to date.