The EU executive will issue new guidelines in September on how to stop food producers from marketing the same products with varying degrees of quality across different member states, reports Agra Facts.
Speaking in Slovakia last week, EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said that inferior-quality products sold on the single market were totally unacceptable, and the Commission is committed to putting an end to this "discriminatory" practice.
The executive is currently gathering information to establish the number of countries and products affected.
Double Standards
Czech agriculture minister Marian Jurečka said earlier this month that testing in the country and neighbouring states showed that lower-quality food products were being sold in some countries, even under the same name and packaging.
Differences in quality included substituting animal fats with plant fats, having lower meat content, adding sweeteners instead of sugar, or using artificial colours and flavourings instead of real fruit.
Several Eastern European countries, including Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, are now urging the EU to address this 'double-standard loophole', reports Balkan Insight.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
