Together with Hungary, 20 EU member states have already requested the tightening of EU regulations on the marking of the origin of honey mixtures.
For years, our country has been advocating for the tightening of the European regulations for marking the origin of honey mixtures in order to protect consumers and beekeepers. Due to the slowness of the EU process, Hungary is tightening the domestic regulations under national competence, in the case of honey mixtures, it will be mandatory to indicate all countries of origin, moreover, in descending order of the weight of the honey used, said Minister of Agriculture István Nagy, according to the announcement of the Ministry of Agriculture (AM) on Thursday.
The minister reminded that the protection of both consumers and beekeepers is of prime importance to the Hungarian government.
"Unfair market competition caused by honey from third countries outside the EU, often of dubious origin, is a huge sales problem for Hungarian beekeepers in the EU market, to which we traditionally export 80 percent of our honey production," he added in the announcement.
István Nagy explained that the labeling of honey is regulated by the council's directive on honey at the community level. According to this, the country of origin where the honey was collected must be indicated on the label. However, in the case of a honey mixture from several countries, it is not mandatory to indicate the countries of origin, it is enough to indicate that it is a honey mixture from EU countries, non-EU countries or EU countries and non-EU countries.
Based on the experience of the past years, this marking method is used to cover up the real country of origin, as increasingly aware customers have already become sensitive to the reliability of the food's country of origin.
It is no coincidence that together with Hungary, in January of this year twenty member states jointly requested the tightening of the EU regulations on the marking of the origin of honey mixtures.
Since the review of the EU directive is still ongoing, the Ministry of Agriculture - after the necessary European Union approval process - amended the regulations of the Hungarian Food Code in such a way that all the countries of origin must be indicated in the case of honey mixtures, in descending order according to the weight of the honey used.
The new provisions will enter into force on August 11, starting from this date a six-month transition period begins, during which honeys labeled according to the previous rules can be put on the market and kept on the market until their shelf life expires. After that, the stricter rules apply to all honey mixes on the domestic market.
With the measure now in effect, consumers' right to fair information will be asserted, and it will be clear to the increasingly aware Hungarian consumers which are the reliable, high-quality Hungarian products on the honey market. This increases the consumption of domestically produced honey and helps Hungarian honey producers.
"At the same time, in order to restore the position of honey export, which is of central importance for Hungarian beekeeping, and to maintain European beekeeping and honey production, it is essential to tighten the honey labeling rules at the EU level, which is why the Ministry of Agriculture, together with allied countries, continues to urge the revision and amendment of the EU directive as soon as possible. Consumers have the right to know whether the honey mixture they want to buy contains Chinese, Ukrainian or even Hungarian honey," emphasized István Nagy, who also added that, in addition to advocating for the cleaning of the EU honey market, the Ministry of Agriculture provides special assistance to beekeeping through the Common Agricultural Policy 2027- in its support period lasting until 2018, as well as in the national support system.
MTI
