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Bratislava – The Slovak Agricultural and Food Chamber (SPPK) joins the European Citizens’ Initiative End Fake Food, which is taking place across EU member states. This was announced by SPPK spokeswoman Jana Holéciová, and the initiative was also supported by SPPK head Andrej Gajdoš, reports TASR.
The aim of the initiative “End Fake Food: Origin on Label” registered by the European Commission on July 24, 2024, is to collect one million signatures from EU citizens who support the opinion that it is necessary to disclose the true origin of food on their labels. If successful, the European Commission will have to deal with the petition. The signature collection will last until September 21 of this year. Every EU citizen who is at least 18 years old can participate in the initiative.
Holéciová explained that the Slovak market is flooded with foreign food, not all of which comes from the EU. Every consumer is increasingly at risk of buying goods produced under lower production and hygiene standards than those valid in the Union.
“It is precisely for this reason that we are joining the European initiative End Fake Food: Origin on Label, which was created at the instigation of Italian farmers from Confederazione Nazionale Coldiretti,” Holéciová specified.
SPPK chairman Andrej Gajdoš specified that the SPPK wants to support the European initiative “primarily to protect the health of Europeans”
“We are not indifferent to the fact that low-quality food is also being imported into the EU. We often perhaps excessively deal with what we wear, what new achievements we acquire. But are we sufficiently interested in what we consume daily? Few even guess where the meat we had for lunch came from,” the SPPK chief explained the initiative’s intention.
Holéciová warned that products from third countries are multiple times cheaper precisely because they do not comply with the strict rules and regulations that operate in the EU. They are therefore also particularly attractive, competitively disadvantaging Slovak farmers and food producers. At the same time, they significantly burden the planet by creating a carbon footprint during transport to distant European markets.
According to the spokeswoman, food imports to Slovakia far exceed exports. The latest statistics indicate that the foreign trade balance of the Slovak Republic with agricultural and food products was passive in the amount of 2.23 billion euros from January to October 2024, increasing year-on-year by 20.7%. (January 31)
“We are not indifferent to the fact that low-quality food is also being imported into the EU. We often perhaps excessively deal with what we wear, what new achievements we acquire. But are we sufficiently interested in what we consume daily? Few even guess where the meat we had for lunch came from.” Andrej Gajdoš