Study on mandatory origin labelling for pig, poultry and sheep & goat meat

Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers provides for mandatory indication of country of origin or place of provenance for unprocessed meat of pigs, poultry, sheep and goats, as from 13 December 2014. The Regulation requires the adoption of implementing acts, to be drawn up following impact assessments and consideration of options for expressing the country of origin or place of provenance, in particular with regard to each of the following determining points in the life of the animal: place of birth; place of rearing, and; place of slaughter [Article 26 (9) of the Regulation].The Regulation includes the possibility to differentiate products from different origins at EU level, country level and also indicate origin from a particular region within a country.