According to the current EU rules, the indication of origin should be provided on foods whenever its absence is likely to mislead consumers as to the origin of that product. At present it is mandatory for beef and beef products (following the bovine spongiform encephalopathy crisis), fresh fruit and vegetables, wine, olive oil, eggs, honey and unprocessed fish and it has created consumer expectations. This is the reason why a set of provisions on origin labelling of foods has been introduced in the new Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers.
In particular, it frames the voluntary indications of origin, and also provides for the mandatory indication of country of origin or place of provenance for unprocessed meat of pigs, poultry, sheep and goats. Moreover it requires the Commission to examine the feasibility of extending mandatory origin labelling to other foods and foresees that the Commission’s reports from such examinations may include legislative proposals.
This survey will gather data from small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) for the Commission’s Report. The objective is to collect information and quantitative data on the characteristics of potentially affected SMEs and to assess how the considered options would impact upon them. This is therefore an opportunity for SMEs to provide valuable input and to influence the direction of future EU legislative initiatives on food origin labelling. This questionnaire is addressed to food business operators along the food supply chain, including producers of fresh/lightly processed farm products, processors/manufacturers of further processed food products, traders of farm/food products (including for import/export), retailers and caterers. This survey aims to cover businesses selling food products for final consumption as well as those foreseen for further processing.