Dual food: Testing protocol compares quality across EU

16 Jul 2018 --- The European Commission has released a new common methodology for comparing the quality of food products across the EU to allow national consumer authorities to test the characteristics of food products sold with similar packaging across the Union. It has been developed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission's Science and Knowledge service and will help protect European consumers from misleading marketing about the food they eat and the products they buy.

All food products sold in the EU have to comply with strict safety regulations; consumers must be informed about key characteristics set notably in EU food labeling law and should not be misled by packaging.

National food safety and consumer protection authorities are responsible for ensuring that the food placed on the Single Market complies with the relevant EU legislation.

The testing methodology will help authorities identify if food products are marketed in compliance with EU law. The methodology is based on fundamental principles such as transparency, comparability, similar selection sampling and testing of products.

“All European consumers are entitled to a fair deal on the Single Market. The common methodology we developed together with member states, consumer organizations and stakeholders from the food supply chain will help shed an evidence-based light on the different compositions of identically branded food products across Europe,” says Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.

The methodology complements the actions announced in the Commission's New Deal for Consumers initiative which aims to:
- Clarify and strengthen consumer rights, including prohibiting dual quality practices which are misleading consumers;
- Empower qualified entities to launch representative actions on behalf of consumers;
- Introduce stronger sanctioning powers for member states' consumer authorities.

Věra Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, adds that the Single Market cannot be a double standard market.

“All EU citizens must feel that they are treated in the same way and are offered fair and clear information on the products they buy,” she says. “They cannot be misled by similar packaging. I encourage all national authorities to use it in the coming months so that we can put an end to this practice.”

The Parliamentary Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection have voted in favor of a report, compiled by Czech politician Olga Sehnalová, calling for tougher action on dual foods. This vote was non-legislative but will go before full Parliament in September.

While the contents of the report were debated, MEPs also recommended that manufacturers could add a logo to food packaging that shows consumers that the content and quality of the same brand is the same across all member states.

This gives consumers the right to know “at first sight” but also does not prevent manufacturers from customizing products for different markets.

In response to the issue of dual quality of food reported by some EU countries, the European Commission has taken several actions to ensure that consumers can trust the products they buy, regardless of where they live.

In addition to the methodology, other adopted measures include a set of guidelines on the application of EU food and consumer laws to dual quality products and a proposal to amend the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) under the New Deal for Consumers adopted by the Commission on 11 April 2018, to provide legal clarity when assessing potential dual quality cases.

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