The Parliament and the Council of the European Union have reached an agreement to strengthen consumer information obligations on honey, fruit juices and nectars, fruit preserves and dehydrated milk, through a series of rules that make up the so-called 'breakfast directives'. The deal was ratified this Monday in the Special Committee on Agriculture, and will allow consumers to have more detailed information about the origin and composition of these foods.
According to the Council of the European Union, these directives aim to "promote a transition towards healthier diets, help consumers make informed choices and ensure transparency regarding the origin of products." The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has expressed satisfaction with this new regulation.
These rules will benefit the beekeeping sector above all. Among other aspects, with this agreement, honey containers must include in the main visual field of the label the name of the countries of origin of the product, in descending order based on weight, as well as the percentage that each country represents in the mixture. .
Member States may decide that the obligation to indicate the percentage on the label only applies to the countries of origin of the four largest proportions that make up the mixture, provided that they represent in total more than 50% of the weight of the mixture.
This and other measures, such as the fact that the Commission will have the help of a platform of experts to develop methods to detect adulterations in honey and improve controls, will make fraud in these products more difficult.
The agreed text also adds three new juice categories for labels: 'fruit juice with reduced sugar content', 'fruit juice from concentrate with reduced sugar content' and 'fruit juice from concentrate with reduced sugar content' '. Manufacturers, on the other hand, may use the words 'contains only naturally present sugars' on the labeling of fruit juices. This will help the consumer be better informed.
In the case of fruit jams, the Council and Parliament have agreed to increase the minimum fruit content in jams and extra jams (100 g more per kg for jams and 50 g more per kg for extra jams). This change will help reduce the amount of sugar.
Finally, the use of treatments that allow obtaining lactose-free dehydrated dairy products has been authorized.
