Last year, the Belgian Economic Inspectorate checked 469 supermarkets for compliance with mandatory country-of-origin labelling of fresh fruits, vegetables and meat. Half of them were found to be violating the rules.
“Insufficient transparency”
The investigation, conducted between March and December 2024, focused on fruits and vegetables (sold in bulk or prepackaged) and meat from pigs, sheep, goats, cattle and poultry (fresh, chilled or frozen). 235 supermarkets – slightly more than half – violated the regulations. “This shows that there is still insufficient transparency for consumers about the origin of products”, the Federal Public Service (FPS) Economy said in a press release.
