EDA uses postponement of Farm-to-Fork strategy to highlight dairy’s crucial role in Europe

On 25 March 2020, the original planned date of publication of the European Commission’s Farm- to-Fork Strategy, the European Dairy Association (EDA) released a statement to highlight once more its important role in healthy diets for individuals, as well as for food security for Europe and globally, in ‘normal’ times as much as in this time of crisis.

The EDA believes the importance of open supply lines within the Union and across the borders is underlined in the current epidemic and that any calls for gastro-chauvinisme in today’s pan-European and global crisis are completely inadequate and irresponsible.

“The respect of the Single Market principles by all Member States is key for our (food) supply chains. Any barrier (like origin label schemes) of the movement of essential goods, like milk and dairy, must be much more seriously rejected in the post-crisis time by the European Commission. This said, voluntary information of provenience can add further value where this is rewarded by the consumer.”

Milk and dairy shelves were among the first affected by current shopping tendencies – and rightly so, stated the EDA, as milk and dairy is a most relevant part of all dietary recommendations across Europe and within a healthy and balanced diet.

“It provides a broad and unique range of essential micro- and macronutrients at affordable price, plus a wide choice for different tastes and needs. Any serious nutritional labelling scheme will have to acknowledge that milk and dairy is healthy by nature. And it will need to make sure that all products relevant to dietary recommendations – and that explicitly includes cheese – are a healthy part of a balanced diet by definition.

“Science clearly shows that reducing dairy in diets will not have further impact on environmental footprint, especially on CO2 emissions, but raise the cost of a balanced diet much further . In our Union, we – as all agri-food products – work on highest levels of safety, environmental, and social standards, and we support the idea that these European standards are further highlighted by policy makers, to further strengthen the high reputation of our EU produce.”

The EDA emphasised the need for food information to be science and fact based; any oversimplified information scheme would not reflect the complexity of food systems.

“Environmental information on foodstuff is already part of EU Commission’s new Circular Economy package. Alignment of both strategies in that area is an absolute necessity for creating a momentum of real change of our food systems. This need for alignment is, of course, also important for all other agri-food relevant initiatives within the Green Deal, like the biodiversity strategy.”

The EDA has said that it is grateful for the initiative of MEP Norbert Lins and his colleagues from the EP AGRI Committee to allow more time for the finalisation of the Farm-to-Form strategy.

“This strategy will shape the future of the EU agri-food landscape and must be based on a broad consultation and science-based reflection within the European institutions and with the stakeholders. Only a broad cooperation and alignment will ensure the best possible outcome and get us to our common goal: moving our food systems towards increased sustainability – economic, social/ nutritional and environmental.”

The EDA believes its paper ‘The Dairy Sector and the Green Deal’, published ahead of the European Commission’s Green deal in December 2019, shows that the journey of the European Green Deal will absorb a great deal of the Association’s energy in the years to come. The Green Deal transformation of Europe will demand a huge effort from agriculture and dairy and the EDA has said it wishes to focus on this challenge for the foreseeable future.