Europe wants higher fines for food fraud

More unannounced controls

At the centre of the plans are more targeted controls. To finance those, more organisations will have to
contribute. “Europe has the highest food safety standards in the world.
However, the recent horsemeat scandal has shown that there is room for
improvement, even if no health risk emerged”, said the commissioner.

The new rules follow an approach that is more focused on managing risks, so authorities can
use their resources for the most relevant issues: for example a central system for tracking and managing animal diseases and for handling the
risk for public safety in a better way. This has to be combined with a better
identification and registration by farmers and veterinaries.

The EU also wants to obligate governments to
perform a minimum number of unannounced controls, to check if labels and
contents match.

Contribution obligation for players in the food
chain

A more expanded contribution obligation will
also be introduced. Soon more parts of the food chain, who at the moment carry
none of the costs, will have to contribute financially. An exception will be
made for micro-enterprises, so their competitiveness will not be affected.

The whole package of proposals is yet to be
approved by other European institutions, such as the Parliament and the Council.
It is expected to be in effect from 2016.