European Union

  • TTIP vote derailed by massive public petitioning

    CAMPAIGNERS ARE celebrating after a planned vote at the European Union on the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) was postponed on Weds, 10 June.                     Food safety is a… Read More

  • Is the time ripe for GM crops

    EUROPE IS ploughing a lone furrow free of genetically modified foods, but are politicians to blame and do consumers deserve a choice?               In 2003 Farmers Weekly ran a cover story and five-page analysis… Read More

  • Foie Gras producer arrested for animal cruelty

    A FOIE GRAS producer has been arrested in France, charged with animal cruelty in a landmark case which could open the floodgates for similar trials to proceed.                     The Ernest Soulard… Read More

  • Glass recycling rate passes 70% mark

    LATEST GLASS recycling figures for the EU show also there is now far more glass recycled than ever before. Since the 1990s, recycling rates for glass have increased by a whopping 131% in Europe. Using recycled glass replaces virgin raw… Read More

  • New rules for pig meat inspection

    THE FOOD Standards Agency has started a six-week consultation on new rules for pig meat inspections which will come into force from June 2014.                     The new rules are set to… Read More

  • Groceries code adjudicator outlines powers

    FARMERS HAVE welcomed the new Groceries Code Adjudicator’s (GCA) powers to investigate, enforce and penalise supermarkets suspected of breaching the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCoP – Code).               The new GCA Christine Tacon… Read More

  • Ban on Union Flag meat label ‘not true’

    THE EUROPEAN Commission has issued a correction statement following in accurate reports of an EU plan to ban the Union Flag from British meat products.   A number of UK national newspapers reported that the EU would ban use of the widely… Read More

  • No return for the mack?

    FEARS OF overfishing may put mackerel’s comeback on hold as customers face a tough choice between eating healthily and sustainably.   What a difference two years make. This time in 2011, mackerel was riding on the crest of a wave… Read More

  • Reform for European fisheries policy

    THE EUROPEAN Parliament today voted to back a major reform of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The new proposals aim to cut fishing to sustainable stock levels, end dumping at sea (discards), and base long-term planning on sound scientific… Read More

  • Europe’s new resource efficiency manifesto

    THE EUROPEAN Commission has published its vision of what a resource efficient Europe will look like: more environmental reporting and fewer resource-intensive products.     In a world with growing pressures on resources and the environment, the Commission called for… Read More