Hungary calls for tighter EU regulations on honey products
Hungary and 19 other EU member states have called on the European Commission to tighten regulations on marking the origin of honey products to better protect domestic products and producers, an official of the agriculture ministry said.
At a meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council (AGRIFISH) on Monday, the agriculture ministers of 20 member states called for the origin of content in blended honey to be marked on the product, the ministry said.
“Blends of questionable origin and quality, mostly from third countries, have been seen to pose serious danger to European beekeepers and to harm consumer trust in honey products. We are convinced that agricultural regulations on the protection of pollinators will be useless unless the EU also protects its own beekeepers and honey products,” agriculture ministry state secretary Zsolt Feldman said.
Inferior products will also harm the livelihood of local beekeepers and thus biodiversity, he said.
