Latest from EU Member States

Product from Polish plant to blame for horsemeat contaminationin in Ireland

The source of the horsemeat contamination of Irish hamburgers was finally pinpointed, with raw ingredients from Poland identified as the culprit. Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has ordered close scrutiny of the Silvercrest plant, where equine DNA was found in burgers, for six months. There were three more positive tests found in readings of 7 per cent, 3.6 per cent and 1.2 per cent in three individual burger samples taken this month. All thee burgers contained products sourced from a company in Poland which has been supplying raw materials to Silvercrest in the past year. Irish Department of Agriculture then carried out further tests on the actual raw material, which showed significant levels of equine DNA – 4.1 per cent. Late last night, the results of further tests came through. All were positive for equine DNA – with even higher results than the 4.1 per cent, the greatest being over 20 per cent. The same Polish food component was responsible for the 29.5 per cent reading of equine DNA contained in one Tesco burger tested […]

Latest from Brussels

“CAP-as-you-wish Instead of Future-Proof Farming and Food Policy”

There have been massive protests by farmers in many European countries in recent months. Depending on the country, different agricultural policy issues have played a role. Hannes Lorenzen, President of ARC2020, on the state and prospects of EU agricultural policy. This interview originally appeared in the German magazine “Unabhängige Bauernstimme”. […]