Activities of Urszula KRUPA related to 2016/2223(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Resource efficiency: reducing food waste, improving food safety (A8-0175/2017 - Biljana Borzan) PL
Amendments (25)
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas one of the main reasons for wastage of food is its poor quality (a high amount of chemical substances added thereto: artificial preservatives and colouring agents, pesticides, antibiotics, flavour and aroma enhancers, stabilisers and emulsifiers that contribute to worse product quality and diseases);
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas food wastage has high social and economic cost, economic and environmental costs, as well as ethical consequences; whereas food that is lost or wasted contributes to climate change with a global carbon footprint of about 8 % of total anthropogenic global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and represents a waste of scarce resources such as land, energy and water8; _________________ 8 FAO, 2015. Food wastage footprint & climate change.
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas estimates show that 88 million tonnes of food are wasted in the EU each year, equating to 173 kg of wasted food per person; whereas the costs associated with this level of food waste are estimated to amount to around EUR 143 billion9; whereas about 80 million people in the European Union live below the poverty line; whereas according to the FAO 800 million people in the world suffer from hunger; _________________ 9 FUSIONS, Estimates of European food waste levels, March 2016.
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas food is lost or wasted at all steps of the supply and consumption chain; whereas estimates from the FUSIONS project indicate that the sectors contributing the most to food waste within the EU are households and processing10; whereas humans play a crucial role in these processes and whereas they should be educated about them to make them aware that any minor and improper action may result in food losses, small or large; _________________ 10 FUSIONS, Estimates of European food waste levels, March 2016.
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the waste management hierarchy established by the Waste Framework Directive12 (prevention, preparing for re-use, recycling, recovery and disposal) cannot be applied in full to food waste; whereas currently there is no specific hierarchy for the management of unconsumed food at EU level and whereas harmonised rules at EU level would bring substantial benefits when it comes to the issue of food wastage; _________________ 12 Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives (OJ L 312, 22.11.2008, p. 3).
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas date marking on food products is poorly understoofrequently not understood by consumers and whereas there is a lack of awareness of the importance of such labelling and of serious consequences when labelling is not followed; whereas ‘best before’ labelling indicates the date after which an item of food may still be eaten but may not be at its best in terms of quality, and ‘use by’ labelling indicates the date after which an item of food is no longer safe to eat; whereas not even half of EU citizens understand the meaning of ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ labelling14 and whereas they believe that both of them mean ‘not suitable for consumption’; whereas very often consumers are not able to read date marking that is placed in poorly visible areas and it is therefore overlooked, which in turn results in such products being discarded; _________________ 14 Flash Eurobarometer 425, ‘Food waste and date marking’, September 2015.
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the donation of unsold food along the entire supply chain leads to considerable reductions in food waste, while helping people in need; whereas supermarkets and gastronomic outlets could play a distinctive role in this process;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
Ja. whereas social and bottom-up programmes, for example food banks or eating places operated by charitable organisations, reduce food wastage and assist the poorest people, and therefore help to establish a responsible and aware society;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas, unfortunately, in many Member States, it is more expensive to donate surplus food that is fit for consumption than to send it for anaerobic digestion21, which is contrary to the public interest, given the number of people living in extreme poverty; _________________ 21 Comparative Study on EU Member States’ legislation and practices on food donation (2014), commissioned by the European Economic and Social Council.
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses the urgent need to reduce the amount of food waste in the Union at every step of the supply and consumption chain, taking into account that in highly industrialised countries food is wasted predominantly at the stages of sales and consumption, while in developing countries food begins to be wasted at the manufacturing and processing stages;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for a binding food waste reduction target of 50 % by 2030 and reiterates its call for a binding food waste reduction target of at least 30 % by 2025; calls for the introduction of legal provisions to make this objective feasible, including, but not limited to, tax regulations to simplify distributing food in the form of donations;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Urges the Commission to swiftly adopt a common methodology to measure food waste and make the data public; stresses that compiled data would make it possible to investigate better the issue of food wastage and to develop methods to combat it head-on;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls for the establishment in EU legislation of a hierarchy for the management of unsold food; calls for the establishment, as soon as possible, of a favourable environment for food donors in all EU Member States, as current legislation often requires donors to ‘subsidise philanthropy’ and effectively makes them disinclined to donate food that is fit for consumption;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls for price reductions on products whose expiry date is approaching, as this would make it possible, to a certain extent, to avoid large food losses;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Calls for the involvement of local authorities of EU Member States in distributing unsold goods which are still fit for consumption to citizens who cannot afford them;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses that food safety is paramount and that food waste reduction measures must not compromise current food safety standards; calls for a reduction in the use of chemical agents in the process of food manufacturing;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Encourages the Commission and the Member States to engage, in cooperation with stakeholders, in improving consumers’ understanding of ‘use by’ dates and ‘best before’ dates and in making these markings easy to understand and clearly visible to consumers; asks the Commission to assess whether current EU legislation and current practice in use with ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates in different Member States are fit for purpose;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote consumer understanding of food waste, food safety, and good practices in relation to their management and consumption of food; calls for the introduction of education programmes and campaigns to schools that would not only touch upon the issue of a balanced diet, but also make individual consumers aware of the need to appropriately store and prepare food and to use unconsumed leftovers; calls for the issue of food wastage and hunger, a serious problem today, to be properly addressed; points out the need for solidarity and the need to share with those most in need;
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote successful practices of food waste reduction and resource conservation methods already used by stakeholders; welcomes the establishment of food establishments where it is possible to leave food that is fit for consumption to those in need ('foodsharing') and calls for procedures to be simplified to make the establishment of such facilities easier;
Amendment 255 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Calls for a reduction in the transport of fruits and vegetables from distant countries, as the practice requires harmful chemical substances to be used and they lead to the loss of valuable nutritive values and diseases;
Amendment 262 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Calls for the promotion of seasonal fruits and vegetables in every Member State, as they do not require the use of chemical agents;
Amendment 263 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 c (new)
Paragraph 10 c (new)
10c. Calls for particular attention to be devoted to animal welfare, particularly with regard to protection against excessive stress, which results in low meat quality and leads to consumers' wasting it;
Amendment 265 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Welcomes the draft EU guidelines on food donation as a first step in the right direction; However, with a view to the barriers to food donation in EU legislation, believes that the donation of unsold food along the entire food supply chain needs to be promoted further by enacting legislative changesbelieves that it is necessary to amend EU legislation without delay in an effort to promote the donation of unsold food along the entire food supply chain; in particular, provisions on supermarkets and food outlets of all types need to be reviewed, as they discard huge quantities of food;
Amendment 276 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Commission to propose as a matter of urgency a change in the VAT Directive that would explicitly authorise tax exemptions on food donations; taxation of food donations is contrary to the public interest, and removing those taxes would reduce considerably the wastage of food that is still fit for consumption, and would, therefore, assist the poorest;
Amendment 295 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Calls on the Member States to create economic incentives for limiting food waste and to support food banks;