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Brussels, 8 january 1998
Commission draft proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive amending Directive 79/112/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs
EURO COOP welcomes the Commission's proposal to require certain allergenic substances to be declared in the ingredients' list.
EURO COOP agrees that the current provisions of the Directive 79/112 do not give sufficiently detailed information to the consumer on the exact composition of these foodstuffs. It agrees that certain ingredients contained in foodstuffs are the cause of allergies or intolerances for European consumers and may, due to the lack of appropriate labelling, seriously jeopardize the health of those concerned.
EURO COOP agrees that the problem could be dealt with by reducing the 25% cut-off for compound ingredients to at least 5% and also by reducing to 0% for the listed ingredients which are known to cause hypersensibility reactions. Indeed, some EURO COOP members already have a 0% cut-off point and declare all ingredients.
EURO COOP agrees with the full list of ingredients that should always be declared as proposed by the Commission, but would like to see milk and milk products (lactose and proteins included) added to this list.
Finally EURO COOP recognises that the list has rightly focused on the most serious cases but wishes to underline that there are many other products which may cause hypersensibility reactions (e.g. : enclosed the Finnish consumer cooperative's list of spices). Therefore, consumer cooperatives across EU are pleading for further encouragement to inform consumer about those products on a voluntary basis.
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