Food safety transparency: breakthrough vote in EU Parliament

Reacting to today's European Parliaments plenary vote on the reform proposal for the General Food Law, Corporate Europe Observatory's agribusiness researcher Martin Pigeon said:

"Despite the opposition of conservative parties, the Parliament voted in favour of a global game-changer. Ending the secrecy around industry data used by the EU for granting market approvals has been a demand by independent scientists and NGOs for many years.

"This is not a tokenistic measure: at stake here is the possibility of finally enabling independent scientific scrutiny of EU food safety decisions. This measure can deliver long-term positive change on many different substance assessments. It is a direct outcome of millions of people throughout Europe mobilising around the glyphosate scandal.

"We look forward to the negotiations between the Parliament, European Commission and Member States for a final compromise on the text, but, after many years of work, getting a good data transparency legislation in food safety in the EU now seems within reach."

Contact:
Martin Pigeon, martin@corporateeurope.org, +32 (0) 289 309 3001