Plans to make country of origin labelling mandatory on all European processed meat products moved a step closer this week.
MEPs have voted in favour of making it compulsory for all meat products to state where the animal was raised and slaughtered.
The measures, if given the green light by the European Commission, would require all processed products such as lasagne and meat pies to give clear information about the country of origin of the meat contained within them.
“This is essentially the processors being encouraged to simplify their supply chain and ensure the raw materials they receive are authentic and traceable. Put simply, this is what they should have been doing all along,” said SNP MEP Alyn Smith.
“We already label fresh beef, and from April this will apply to fresh meat from pigs, sheep, poultry and goats. So why not ravioli and lasagne?
“This will help to ensure stability between farmers and processors, and means consumers can easily choose to buy local produce instead of meat that’s been transported hundreds of miles.”
Conservative MEP Ian Duncan said the vote was a major step forward for transparency and consumer choice.
“We all remember the horsemeat scandal, which was down to fraud rather than a lack of labelling – but it highlighted the desire of consumers to have the fullest information that is practically possible about what they are eating and where it comes from,” he said.
Pauline Constant, from the European Consumer Organisation said transparent labelling would benefit both the consumer and the wider food industry.
“One should keep in mind the cost of lost consumer confidence. The sales of frozen ready meals dropped in the aftermath of the horsemeat scandal, costing industry a lot of money,” she said.
“A more transparent meat supply chain might be the price to pay to restore consumer trust.”
The drive for more transparency in the meat supply chain follows the horsemeat scandal of 2013.
The scandal kicked off when a Tesco economy beefburger was found to contain 29% horse DNA.
Investigations at the time found widespread food fraud, and the scandal escalated resulting in a number of branded foods – including Findus beef lasagne – being withdrawn from the market and traces of horse DNA were also found in public sector meals.
A UK Government review into the scandal found that a retailer had demanded a meat processor produce a 4oz “gourmet” burger for less than 30p.