The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development adopted the report by Martin HÄUSLING (Greens/EFA, DE) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the labelling of organic pet food.
As a reminder, the purpose of this proposal is to establish specific labelling rules for pet food. These rules will allow pet food, in particular for cats and dogs, to bear the organic production logo of the European Union. Moreover, the organic production logo of the European Union will be mandatory for prepacked pet food labelled as organic.
The draft rules clarify that pet food can be labelled as organic if at least 95% in terms of weight of its agricultural ingredients are organic. The rules were proposed as a result of a new legislative framework for organic products which do not allow anymore for national rules for the minimum percentage of organic ingredients in organic pet food.
The committee responsible recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the proposal as follows:
Transitional measures
To prevent waste of products and packaging material and ensure a smooth transition, Members suggested that operators should be able to market all products already in stock. This means the large volumes of existing stocks of organic pet food could still be sold to consumers until those stocks are exhausted. The report proposed a transitional period of 6 months after this Regulation’s entry into force to be installed during which the mandatory use of the EU organic logo does not apply.
Special labelling
A new article has been introduced by Members requesting that special labelling provisions should be laid down to enable final consumers to identify organic ingredients used in products which consist mainly of an ingredient that stems from hunting or fishing, as long as all other ingredients are organic and only feed additives and processing aids authorised pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/848 on organic production and labelling of organic products are used.