Study on the mandatory indication of country of origin or place of provenance of unprocessed foods, single ingredient products and ingredients that represent more than 50% of a food : executive summary

This study by the Food Chain Evaluation Consortium (FCEC) for DG SANCO under the leadership of Agra CEAS Consulting aims to provide evidence for the Commission to draft a report on the mandatory indication of country of origin, or place of provenance, of unprocessed foods, single ingredient products and ingredients that represent more than 50% of a food. The Commission must submit its report to the European Parliament and the Council by 13 December 2014. According to the Terms of Reference (ToR), the purpose of the study is to investigate: a. the need for consumers to be informed on the origin of foods falling within the scope of the three categories covered by the study; and, b. the operational feasibility of providing the mandatory indication of the country of origin or place of provenance, and an analysis of the costs and benefits of the introduction of such measures including the impact on operators along the food supply chain (additional costs, competitiveness), and implications for the internal market and international trade. In terms of the first point, the aim is to explore potential market failures that may currently be in place. These may be due, for example, to a disparity of information between producers and consumers which works to the detriment of consumers, hence the need to investigate consumer attitudes towards origin labelling. In terms of the second point, this study outlines the main issues with regard to the impact which would need to be explored further in a more detailed impact assessment. This study is not meant to provide an impact assessment as such. The scope of the study covers pre-packed foods sold to the final consumer (including catering), except foods for which vertical legislation already exists; as such, it extends over a large and diverse range of products. A broad classification of the three categories of food products has been followed for the purposes of the analysis.