Origin’Info, a new logo affixed to processed food products, will allow consumers from this summer to know the origin of the different ingredients that make them up (AFP/Archives/DENIS CHARLET)
Origin’Info, a new logo affixed to processed food products, will allow consumers from this summer to know the origin of the different ingredients that make them up, Bercy confirmed on Saturday.
By the end of the year, more than 10,000 references should display “Origin’Info”, according to the ministry.
A logo, blue or black, will be affixed directly to the packaging of food products, and in a very simple box, the manufacturer will indicate the three main agricultural materials of its product and their countries of origin.
Le Parisien revealed the very simple design on Friday evening. On an illustrative photo representing a Bolognese pasta dish, we can read “Wheat France”, “Tomatoes Italy” and “Beef France”.
However, participation in this initiative will not be compulsory. Companies that join it have to sign a charter. This “consensual framework” takes into account European regulations, underlines Bercy.
Eighty have already done so, the press release said. Among them are Fleury Michon, Bonduelle, D’Aucy, Lesieur, Panzani and Saint-Mamet, as well as most of the major distributors, Auchan however waiting until next year to implement this new feature.
“This is the meaning of history,” enthuses Olivia Grégoire, Minister Delegate in charge of Business, Tourism and Consumption, in Le Parisien, noting that this is “a first in Europe” .
“Origin’Info provides a concrete and clear response to a request from all consumers: to know where what we eat comes from,” she adds on Saturday in the Bercy press release.
Ms. Grégoire welcomes “the constructive spirit with which all stakeholders actively participated in the development of the charter” and “now invites all brands to join this approach”.
The press release notes that Origin’Info “will also make it possible to fight against certain misleading practices, detrimental to farmers, such as the sometimes abusive use of the French flag, when no ingredient in the product comes from France”.
The Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau “welcomes the co-construction work” carried out on Origin’Info, and the “synthetic, clear, readable and harmonized information” provided by the logo.
The agricultural sectors are indeed expecting “more transparency from food processing companies, in addition to already existing regulatory obligations”, he notes.
Two other pieces of information can complete this logo: the place where the product was processed, and a diagram in the shape of a pie chart symbolizing the relative share of each country in the composition of the dish.
However, and this disappoints consumer defense associations, participating companies will not be required to affix the logo with the information on the product packaging itself.
This information may appear on electronic labels on shelves, on brand drive-thru sites, or even be accessible only through a QR Code to be deciphered with the phone.
In Le Parisien, Ms. Grégoire justifies this last possibility by noting that certain ingredients can change country of origin over the seasons, such as strawberries in yogurts or tomatoes in tomato sauce.
The QR Code thus prevents the company from having to “regularly modify its packaging” or from “the information on the packaging being incorrect”, notes the minister.
© 2024 AFP
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