Draft amendments to the food labelling regulations propose approval of procedure and special requirements for the labelling of food products, as well as the list of food products for which it is mandatory to indicate the country of origin or place of origin.
If adopted, the labelling procedure would apply to different types of meat (both fresh or cooled), such as pork, beef, goat and lamb as well as poultry, honey, virgin olive oil and extra virgin olive oil.
Food market operators involved in production, sale and supply of the relevant food products would have to establish a comprehensive registration and identification system for these products.
The amendments would also impose special rules for marking of the origin of meat products (country where the relevant poultry and farm animals were grown (there would be different rules depending on the type of meat and poultry) and the information about the slaughter house).
Marking and labelling of virgin and extra virgin olive oil (UKTZED codes 1509 10 and 1509 10 20 respectively must contain the place of origin. A place of origin means a reference to the country of origin or place of origin, a protected designation of origin or a protected geographical indication.
The designation of origin referring to the country of origin must correspond to the geographical region in which the olives were harvested or in which the extraction plant is located, in which the olive oil was made from these olives.