IDM | EDA Column MW Berchtesgadener Land Lights and shadows of origin labelling The national origin labelling initiatives in a global context Author: Alexander Anton, Secretary General, European Dairy Association (EDA), euromilk.org It all started off with a tweet of the French Minister of Agriculture on 14th March 2016: "Finally, the EU Commission has given its ok for testing the (compulsory) origin labelling for meat and dairy in processed products." At that time, the French government had not even fully started yet the official procedure of notification required by EU law. What was perceived then by many as a purely political communication exercise in the context of the milk crisis went viral and has turned into a tsunami of national initiatives across the EU to have an obligatory indication of the origin of the milk in processed products like cheese or yogurt. 42 · 10 2016 | international-dairy.com In the meantime, Greece, Romania, Portugal, Lithuania and Italy have been ‘inspired’ by the French initiative and notified their own national rules for such mandatory origin labelling. This summer waltz of compulsory origin labelling notifications in many Member States across the European Union might be the right occasion to bring some thoughts on the value and opportunities of a European and an international origin labelling framework – and on the disastrous consequences such labelling schemes can have. Hence, the labelling issue might be read both as an information to the consumer which aims to avoid any kind of possible misleading regarding the origin of the foods or as a standard which facilitates the easy and smooth movement of goods within the European and international Markets. The European harmonised legislation on the food information to consumer gathers the two approaches. On one hand the EU Regulation 1169/2011 excludes the possibility of consumer misleading as pointed out in article 7.1.a) and equally foresees the mandatory indication of origin "where failure to indicate might mislead the consumer"1. On this ground, the provisions of the above mentioned EU Regulation2 set out the basis for a voluntary origin EU framework, a sort of institutionalisation of food business operators’ reputation3 in case they may
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