Archive

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has signed up to the revised European Convention for the Protection of Animals during International Transport, a non-EU Council of Europe treaty that covers most European countries, including Russia. The reforms extend welfare rules to all species and include more detailed rules for cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and horses.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EURO 192 million will be spent on food quality and safety research this year under the European Union’s (EU) Sixth Framework Programme for research, says the European Commission. Projects tackle issues including traceability, contaminants in food, diseases affecting livestock animals, food allergies, obesity and nutrition.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has added an Italian salami to the European Union’s (EU) list of protected geographical designations, preventing certain foodstuffs from being marketed unless they are manufactured traditionally in their home region. ‘Salame d’oca di Mortara’ will now join Brussels’ existing 650 product strong list.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SUGGESTIONS from the European Commission that the European Union’s (EU) beef origin labelling scheme should be amended to allow made-in-the-EU declarations have been rejected by the EU Council of Ministers (agriculture). A majority of delegations opposed the idea, preferring to maintain national origin marks; proposals to allow the supply of meat from more than one Member State to minced meat production plants were also successfully opposed.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
RUSSIA is trying to force the European Union (EU) to swiftly adopt a single union-wide system for meat veterinary certificates, banning EU meat exports from June 1 over the issue, although the European Commission expects this to end soon.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has granted European Union (EU) competition authority clearance to US-based private equity investment group Carlyle Group acquiring full control of Spain’s Saprogal S.A. by from another American company, food giant ConAgra Foods Inc. Saprogal produces and supplies poultry products, pet food and animal feed mostly in Spain and Portugal, commanding annual sales exceeding Euro 250 million.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
ITALY has sparked off a dispute over use of the name Tokai for wine, saying that enlargement of the EU this year has effectively nullified an agreement reserving use of the name for Hungarian producers after 2007. Under a deal made in 1993 Italy and France were allowed to market wines bearing the name Tokai until 2007 after which Hungary would have exclusive use.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWITZERLAND has released a paper outlining where the world’s drinks producing countries agree over the long-running World Trade Organisation debate on an international register of protected wine and spirit terms. It claims all sides agree generic terms should be unprotected, member countries can decide on protecting geographical indications within their own systems and a register should “facilitate” protection.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ROMANIA’S drinks industry will have an eight-year transitional period, until 2015, for ending the use of prohibited hybrid vine varieties for quality wine production; it currently produces half its wine from such grapes. It will also be allowed to protect within the EU traditional names of certain wine and spirit products under an agreement with the European Commission helping the country to join the EU by the end of 2006.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced that it is granting Portugal’s Comissão de Viticultura da Região dos Vinhos Verdes (CVRVV) Euro 882,320 over three years to help promote its products within the European Union (EU). Matching funding will come from the Portuguese government and the Comissão itself, making the programme’s total budget Euro 1.76 million.…