The European Commission has launched a public consultation, which aims to gather views for a possible revision of the EU marketing standards for agricultural products.
Marketing standards establish the quality of products that are marketed to consumers. For agricultural products, this covers freshness or size classification, presentation, labelling, packaging, etc., but product specifications may also touch upon process and production methods.
Marketing standards set minimum-quality requirements for products that are traded and sold to consumers and specify the characteristics of products that are sold using specific terms (e.g. ‘free range’ for poultry products).
Consultation
The public consultation targets operators in the food-supply chain such as producers, traders, retailers, and their associations, consumers, civil-society organisations, and national authorities.
It will “address the potential of marketing standards to increase the supply of sustainable products, and to streamline current legislation”.
Review of marketing standards
Announced in the Farm to Fork strategy, the review follows an overall evaluation process of the EU marketing standards laid down in the common market organisation, the ‘breakfast directives’ and Commission acts.
The ‘breakfast directives’ are a number of directives establishing rules on description, definition, characteristics and labelling of a number of agricultural and food products usually consumed for breakfast, hence the name.
Adopted in May 2020 by the Commission, the Farm to Fork strategy aims to accelerate our transition to sustainable food systems.
It includes the objective for marketing standards ‘to ensure the uptake and supply of sustainable products’.
The consultation is open for 12 weeks, from June 8 to August 31, 2021.