mr president i want to refer to the issue of transparent and accurate food labelling and in particular i refer to poultry and pigmeat
right now meat can be transported from outside the eu into the eu substantially transformed and by that i mean encased in breadcrumbs or batter and then labelled and sold as eu produce
this is an absolute nonsense and the labelling is designed to fool the consumers
we need country-of-origin labelling so consumers are able to make informed choices
we also have the situation where pigmeat and poultry meat has been frozen then defrosted labelled and sold as fresh
not only is this an example of inaccurate labelling it is potentially dangerous for human health
i note that hilary benn the uk environment secretary and the shadow secretary have called for clearer labelling
i am sure that many across the eu would support this as nobody would want to fool consumers
i would ask the commission to deal with this matter as a matter of urgency
