Origin of food often unclear

The origin information on products in the supermarket leaves much to be desired. This is evident from a survey carried out by the Dutch Consumers' Association. The mandatory information is often missing or too vague.

Fruit and vegetable prices in the supermarket

The country of origin must be stated for unprocessed meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, olive oil and honey. This helps consumers who prefer to buy products from nearby. But the information is often unclear. For example, a large supermarket states in its online webshop that the cattle for their steak were raised in the Netherlands, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Slovenia, Belgium or Australia.

Sandra Molenaar, director of the Dutch Consumers' Association: "Of course, you can't do anything with a list of several countries. Does your steak come from Ireland, Italy, Germany or Australia? And often the origin information is completely missing. The rules do not apply to processed products, for example, if there is a little salt, pepper or marinade on the meat. The Consumers' Association, together with our European umbrella organisation BEUC, is fighting for stricter regulations. The European Commission is currently looking into this.

Consumentenbond.nl