Activities of Marijana PETIR related to 2016/2223(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Resource efficiency: reducing food waste, improving food safety (debate) HR
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on initiative on resource efficiency: reducing food waste, improving food safety
Amendments (60)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9 a (new)
Citation 9 a (new)
- having regard to the Special Report by the European Court of Auditors entitled ‘Combating Food Waste: an opportunity for the EU to improve the resource-efficiency of the food supply chain’ of 10 November 2016,
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Emphasises that farmers’ livelihoods depend on getting produce to the market and that loss of produce at farm level equates to loss of investment and income; points out in this connection that price volatility on agricultural markets affects production and farmers' incomes and can result in food going to waste, and that appropriate tools to address price volatility therefore need to be built in to the CAP;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Points out that farmers are already being hit by loss of investment and income owing to the effects of the Russian embargo, declining market shares, natural disasters, price volatility, and unfair trading practice within the food supply chain;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas almost 793 million people in the world today are malnourished1a, and more than700 million people live below the poverty line1b with incomes less than USD 1.90 per day, and therefore any irresponsible treatment of natural resources intended for food production and any food wastage should be considered morally unacceptable; _________________ 1a The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015, FAO, UN. 1bDevelopment Goals in an Era of Demographic Change, Global Monitoring Report 2015/2016, World Bank.
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Points out that food wastage is caused by a range of factors and cannot be attributed solely to agricultural policy and rural development;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Emphasises that unfair trading practices in the supply chain can result in food wastage; draws attention to Parliament's call for the Commission to establish a legislative framework providing an effective means of addressing such practices;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Welcomes the recent establishment of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste to allow stakeholders to share information on this issue; calls on the Commission to supply Parliament with a detailed schedule of the measures under way and the objectives and sub-objectives set, as well as a progress report on the work on a common methodology and on donations;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas a targeted measure, tailored to the operators and the step in the chain, is more appropriate to combating food waste, as the problems encountered are not the same across the board;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas the food catering sector and tourism generate around 12% of the total amount of wasted food in the EU1a; _________________ 1aFUSIONS, Estimates of European food waste levels, March 2016
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Highlights the importance of cooperation, for example via Producer Organisations or other bodies such as interbranch organisations and cooperatives, for increased access to finance for innovation and investment in treatment technologies such as composting and anaerobic digestion or further processing of products which could allow farmers to access new market and customers; points out in this connection that better sectoral organisation results in better production management and more effective action against food wastage;
Amendment 55 #
F. whereas there is no common consistent definition of ‘food waste’ nor a common methodology for measuring food waste at Union level yet, which makes it difficult to compare different datasets and to measure progress in reducing food waste; whereas in the FUSIONS project, food wasdifficulties associated was defined as ‘any food, and inedible parts of food, removed from the food supply chain to be recovered or disposed (including composted, crops ploughed in/not harvested, anaerobic digestion, bio-energy productiith collecting full, reliable and harmonised data are an additional obstacle in evaluating food waste in the EU; whereas there is no common, co- generation, incineration, disposal to sewer, landfill or discarded to sea)’11; _________________ 11FUSIONS Definitional Framework for Food Waste, 3 July 2014.nsistent definition of the concept of ‘loss’ either, nor a common methodology for measuring it at Union level;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas fruit and vegetables damaged by a natural disaster and fruit and vegetables which are destroyed or ploughed over on family farms owing to the loss of a market or low prices represent a loss of investment and income for the farmer;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Draws attention to the important role the programme for the distribution of fruit, vegetables, bananas and milk in schools plays in raising public awareness; calls on the Member States to make greater use of the opportunities afforded by these programmes;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas date marking on food products is poorly understood; whereas ‘best before’ labelling indicates the date after which an item of food may still be eaten but may not be at its best in terms of quality, and ‘use by’ labelling indicates the date after which an item of food is no longer safe to eat; whereas not even half of EU citizens understand the meaning of ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ labelling14; whereas the use of these concepts and the understanding of them vary from one Member State to another, but also, for the same product, vary between different producers, processors and distributors; _________________ 14 Flash Eurobarometer 425, ‘Food waste and date marking’, September 2015.
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas labelling concerning the full cycle of foodstuffs would help to improve the provision of food information to consumers;
Amendment 86 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Considers that donated food should be exempted from VAT and that the EU VAT Directive should be amended accordingly;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the donation of unsold food along the entire supplyfood chain leads to considerable reductions in food waste, while helping people in need of food;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
Ja. whereas European funds facilitate the donation of food, such as the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD), which enables finance to be provided for, among other necessities, storage and transport infrastructure for food donation bodies; whereas not enough use is made of these means by the Member States;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
Ka. whereas the European Commission is currently working on a clarification of European legislation on donations;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas countrimany Member States, such as Italy or France, have adopted legislation that facilitates food donation by excluding donor liability for food that is donated in good faith and known to be fit for consumption at the time of donation;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas countries such as Italy and France have adopted legislation that facilitates food donation by excluding donor liability for food that is donated in good faith and known to be fit for consumption at the time of donation;
Amendment 98 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Considers that when fruit and vegetables are damaged in a natural disaster or are destroyed or ploughed in on family farms because a market has been lost or prices are low, this amounts to a loss of investment and income for farmers;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N a (new)
Recital N a (new)
Na. whereas, owing to existing administrative barriers, major retail chains and supermarkets find it acceptable to throw away food close to the ‘best before’ date instead of donating it;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses the urgent need to reduce the amount of food waste in the Union at every step of the supplyfood chain, including production, processing, transport, storage, retail, marketing and consumption chain;
Amendment 110 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Believes that farmer-led initiatives can offer viable economic solutions and provide value for products which might otherwise go to waste, and highlights the potential of farmer-led social innovation projects such as gleaning and donation of excess foodstuffs to food bankaid associations;
Amendment 118 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Calls on the EU and the Member States to establish institutional and financial means of support for social shops and supermarkets;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls for a coordinated policy response at EU and Member State level that takes into account policies regarding waste, food safety and information, but also aspects of economic, research and innovation, environment, agriculture, education, and social policystructural (agriculture and fisheries), land use planning, education, and social policy; notes that the common agricultural policy and the common fisheries policy do not have the aim of combating food waste, but may contribute to it;
Amendment 123 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Notes that some wastage at farm level is also due toresults not just from the prole played by retailers in relation to retailer standards regarding product specifications, cancelled orders owingduct specifications imposed on suppliers but also from other practices such as the cancellation of orders in response to changes in consumer demand, and over- production as a result of requirements to meet seasonal demands.
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to put the financial support that already exists for combating food waste on a permanent footing; calls on the Member States to make better use of the opportunities offered in this area by the various European Union policies and funding programmes;
Amendment 140 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Notes that market standards contribute to food waste. Therefore, asks the Commission to promote research on the relation between marketing standards and food waste; calls upon the Commission and the Member States to influence the UNECE public standards with the aim of avoiding the waste of resources by preventing the generation of food waste.
Amendment 146 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Stresses the importance of tailoring distribution, conservation and packaging procedures closely to the features of each product and to consumer needs, in order to limit product wastage;
Amendment 148 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Supports those methods of reducing food wastage which have hitherto proved effective, for example selling food locally and short food supply chains;
Amendment 152 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to continue supporting projects and promotion-oriented educational campaigns that teach children from an early age to consume fresh, wholesome locally produced food, one example being the EAThink2015 project; considers that promotion of this kind should be extended to encompass educational institutions through schemes for delivering milk, fruit, and vegetables to such institutions;
Amendment 156 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Calls on the Commission, the Member States and stakeholders to improve the provision of information to consumers on how best to keep and/or use food;
Amendment 158 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Paragraph 8 c (new)
8c. Calls on the Commission to determine where and to what extent food wastage occurs among individual agricultural sectors and within given links of the food supply chain; calls on the Member States to exchange information and experience related to effective measures; calls on the Commission to propose guidelines based on proven data and best practice;
Amendment 161 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Paragraph 8 c (new)
8c. Stresses that the utilisation of by- products should be regarded as one means of combating food wastage;
Amendment 162 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 d (new)
Paragraph 8 d (new)
8d. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to coordinate their efforts as quickly as possible and put forward a framework for a Europe-wide solution to the problem of unfair trading practices in the food supply chain, proceeding from the recommendations set out in Parliament's resolution of 7 June 2016; believes that resolving this problem will improve the position of farmers, the weakest links in the chain, and, by lowering overproduction and the accumulation of surpluses, could help not only to stabilise prices and incomes, but also to reduce both food wastage along the entire chain and losses generated on family farms;
Amendment 163 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 d (new)
Paragraph 8 d (new)
8d. Calls on the Commission and the Member States closely to monitor food donations in order to make sure that the food is not siphoned off and sold on alternative markets, as this would prevent it from reaching those in need and discourage people in the trade from making donations, on account of the risk of this resulting in unfair competition;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on the Commission to work on a common definition of the concept of ‘loss’ at each step in the food chain, and a common measurement methodology in collaboration with the Member States and all the parties involved;
Amendment 169 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 e (new)
Paragraph 8 e (new)
8e. Points out that the EU provides funding to facilitate the donation of food, including under the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD), which is used, inter alia, to finance storage and transport facilities for food aid organisations; takes the view that Member States do not make sufficient use of the opportunities on offer in this area;
Amendment 170 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 e (new)
Paragraph 8 e (new)
8e. Calls on the Member States to support short food supply chains and in- home selling of agricultural products, thereby helping to reduce food wastage;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Commission to encourage competent authorities in Member States to adopt measures to control the safety of food from the point of view of health when and where necessary in order to gain citizens’ and consumers’ trust in policies which contribute to food wastage reduction;
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Welcomes the recent creation of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste, which enables information to be exchanged between the operators involved; calls on the Commission to provide Parliament with a precise list of the measures currently being taken and the objectives and sub-objectives pursued, as well as the state of progress of the work being done on a common methodology and on donations;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Encourages the Commission and the Member States to engage, in cooperation with stakeholders, in improving consumers’the understanding of ‘use by’ dates and ‘best before’ dates; asks the Commission to assess whether on the part of producers, processors, distributors and consumers by cuarrent EU legislation and current practice in use with ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates in different Member States are fit for purposeying out awareness- raising and education campaigns, with a particular focus on consumers; stresses the efforts already made by many operators in the chain on this issue, such as the running of information campaigns in shops or on the internet;
Amendment 211 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Calls on the Commission, as part of the evaluation that it is currently carrying out, to assess, in particular: whether current EU legislation and the use currently made in various Member States of the ‘best before’ date and the ‘use by’ date are fit for purpose; whether a revision of the ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates terminology, according to the Member States, should be considered to make it easier for consumers to understand them; whether it might be beneficial to remove certain dates for products where no risk to health or the environment exists; whether it might be advisable to introduce European guidelines on this issue;
Amendment 214 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Believes that food labels should contain information on the full cycle of the product with a view to providing information to consumers on each key event in the production cycle, such as the place and time of: birth, breeding and slaughter of the animal when it comes to meat, or farming, processing and production when it comes to other food products.
Amendment 235 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to continue to support projects and promotional and educational campaigns such as the EAThink2015 project, which teaches children to consume healthy, fresh and locally produced food from an early age; this type of promotion should be expanded to educational institutions through schemes to deliver milk, fruit and vegetables;
Amendment 243 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote and exchange successful practices of food waste reduction and resource conservation methods already used by stakeholders;
Amendment 259 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Calls on the Member States to ensure institutional and financial support to social supermarkets, as they are a key mediator in food donation;
Amendment 268 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Calls on the Commission to recognise the contribution of socially responsible initiatives, such as ‘Healthy Nutritional Standard’, whose objective is to provide better information on food to different groups of consumers with special food needs or preferences through voluntary and co-regulated food labelling in restaurants and tourism in order to reduce food wastage in that field;
Amendment 275 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Calls on the Commission to promote the creation in Member States of agreements stipulating that the retail food sector shall distribute unsold products to charity associations;
Amendment 279 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Commission to propose a change in the VAT Directive that would explicitly authorise tax exemptions on food donations; calls on the Member States to follow the Commission’s recommendations and to set a VAT rate that is low or close to zero if the donation is made close to the recommended ‘use by’ date or if the food is unsaleable;
Amendment 301 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to encourage innovation and investment in processing technologies in agricultural production in an effort to reduce food wastage in the food supply chain and to reduce losses in food production on family farms;
Amendment 304 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14a (new)
Paragraph 14a (new)
14a. Calls on the European institutions and the Member States to promote exemplary behaviour by public authorities in relation to combating food waste in public catering;
Amendment 315 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Stresses the importance of packaging that is appropriate for the product and for consumers’ needs, taking into account the functions fulfilled by the packaging throughout the distribution chain, in order to avoid food waste, and taking into account an approach based on the packaging life-cycle;
Amendment 326 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)
Paragraph 15 b (new)
15b. Stresses the importance, with a view to reducing waste, of ensuring that food is distributed and kept using methods which are appropriate to each product’s characteristics;
Amendment 327 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 c (new)
Paragraph 15 c (new)
15c. Calls on the Commission, the Member States and stakeholders to provide consumers with better information on methods for keeping and/or reusing products;
Amendment 332 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 d (new)
Paragraph 15 d (new)
15d. Stresses that recovering co- and by-products may be considered one way to combat food waste;
Amendment 334 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 e (new)
Paragraph 15 e (new)