Page 47 - The European Baking Ingredients Market Report 2022 - Volume 1

European Baking Ingredients Market Report 2022
Meat standards 47
POLICY

Enabling consumers

to know what standard

the products meet creates

an informed market for both

consumer and producer,

allowing producers to respond

to actual consumer

preferences.

standards, using the public morality caged production increasingly rare
argument allowed by Article XX to on supermarket shelves. Different
the General Agreement on Tariffs labelling schemes are at various
and Trade. stages of discussion in France ,
2
Denmark , Italy and across the
4
3
This presents a challenge to British EU as a whole . Typically, these
5
producers expected to maintain are voluntary, but where labels are
a standard which may not be introduced, many supermarkets
matched by cheaper imports. prefer to stock labelled meat and
Indirectly, this also impacts dairy products, since unlabelled
to standards that would be illegal in manufacturers using ingredients products are assumed to have
Europe. For example, egg powder such as egg powder. They may lower-welfare standards of
from eggs laid by hens in baren choose to guarantee that the production. Compassion in World
battery cages, which are already product ingredients have a high Farming and several other NGOs
illegal across the continent, will standard (e.g. “produced with are pressing for such labels to be
continue to be imported. Typically, free-range eggs”) or hope that the made mandatory and also to be
such production is cheaper, while consumer either does not notice or used for products with meat and
failing to meet principles that many does not object to a lower standard. dairy ingredients, including food
consumers expect. As imports have sold in hospitality, with appropriate
generally been subject to tariff Across both the EU and the UK, menu notation, similar to the
barriers, these imports have been Governments are responding to footnotes already widely used to
limited in scale. However, driven consumer concerns by officially indicate vegetarian or vegan dishes.
by the desire to show that Brexit sponsored labelling schemes, Products with multiple meat and
can work to benefit Britain, trade indicating the method of dairy ingredients should be labelled
deals – most recently with Australia production for the meat or dairy according to the lowest-welfare
– have been signed by Britain with product, so that consumers can ingredient, giving an incentive to
tariffs progressively reduced to decide which they prefer. This was “level up” to the standard of the
zero for sub-standard imports. By previously done throughout the EU higher-welfare ingredients.
contrast, the European Commission for shell eggs, as a result of which
is seriously considering not most consumers have opted for How should manufacturers
allowing imports produced at lower free-range or barn, with eggs from respond to these trends? From

www.ebimr.com