EP wil strengere controles en sancties om voedselveiligheid te garanderen (en)

More tests and heavier sanctions for offenders are needed to prevent a second horse meat scandal, according to members of the EP's public health and food safety committee. They debated on 18 February about what should be done after horse meat had been found mislabelled as beef in several EU countries, however they ruled out the need for new EU legislation. Committee members also called on member states to better respect existing rules on labelling and to better collaborate on traceability.

Need for better enforcement

MEPs agreed on the need for credible penalties and better enforcement. Swedish Green MEP Carl Schlyter i, vice-chair of the public health and food safety committee, said: “It's almost risk-free to do wrong today! Focusing on low prices, on finding the cheapest place on the market increases the risk of fraud. We need to change this logic; the fines and penalties should be felt by the companies."

Chris Davis i, a Liberal MEP from the UK, also pleaded for better sanctions: “For many people, eating horse is unacceptable. Imagine how much worse it could be if it were pork! Responsibility must rest with the food manufacturers. Ideally, some effort should be made for common penalties at EU level."

Peter Liese i, a German member of the EPP group, supported the better enforcement of current rules: "It is a major misleading of consumers. We can't get around this by introducing new legislation but by better enforcing existing legislation."

Independent hygiene inspectors were being asked for by Linda McAvan i, a British member of the S&D group. "Does the Commission really think now after everything we know from the last two weeks that the public can trust companies to be responsible of their own meat hygiene inspection?"

No risk to public health

The committee also heard from several experts. Url Bernhard, director of risk assessment and scientific assistance at the European Food Safety Authority, said that there was no risk for public health: "It's a fraud issue and it is misleading the consumer but up to now, it's not a food safety issue."

Paola Testori Coggi, of the European Commission's director-general for health and consumers, added: "On traceability, we have the most developed legislation in the world. Fraud was detected and the meat was traced. The system worked. The Commission has proposed a plan for increased controls including DNA tests on meat."