Europeans are increasingly interested in natural, local and seasonal products.
April 12/Brussels, Belgium/Europolitics -- Europeans are increasingly interested in natural, local and seasonal products. They want a farm sector and food that do not use or contain GMOs or residues of pesticides or chemicals. These are the main conclusions from the public consultations held by the European Commission between January 15 and April 10 on organic farming in Europe. The views expressed in over 45,000 replies to the online questionnaire as well as in about 1,600 free contributions from citizens, associations, public authorities or companies will now be analysed to feed into the ongoing review of the political and legal framework for organic agriculture in Europe, the European Commission said in a statement.
A legislative proposal on the organic sector’s reform is expected to be put forward by the commission’s DG Agriculture by the end of the year, according to sources. It will aim in particular at reinforcing and harmonizing the control systems for organic products in the EU as well as increasing transparency in rules applying to imported products. The reform also needs to set the threshold of tolerance and authorisation of the use of certain substances, such as vitamins, in organic farming as well as address the issue of processed products.