Euro-MPs back new EU Food Safety Authority

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 25th Oct 2001

The European Parliament has today backed European Commission plans for a new European Food Safety Authority, which would provide scientific information and advice on how best to deal with food safety emergencies such as the BSE crisis and the Belgian dioxin scare.

Liberal Democrat Euro-MP for Yorkshire & the Humber, Diana Wallis has welcomed the plans as a breakthrough in restoring consumer confidence in the safety of European food.

"Assuming that it is given the necessary power and resources and can win the confidence of consumers, a European Food Safety Authority should help to take much of the politics out of food safety decisions," she commented.

"If a European Authority had been in place at the time of the imposition of the French ban on British beef, we might have been able to avoid the legal case currently before the EU Court of Justice."

Diana Wallis MEP added: "I am particularly pleased that, as part of the Commission's proposed Action Plan on food safety, the Parliament has backed Liberal Democrat calls for a fundamental review of EU food labelling laws, and, similarly, for small businesses not to be unnecessarily burdened by any new food safety legislation."

The Commission is expected to come forward with a legislative proposal on the establishment of a European Food Safety Authority in the course of next year.