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From consumer perspective this agreement changes nothing, explicitly stating that. It does not allow lower quality of products imported from Mercosur. All EU st
by ivan_gammel 9mo ago
From consumer perspective this agreement changes nothing, explicitly stating that. It does not allow lower quality of products imported from Mercosur. All EU standards for food safety remain applicable and EU may adopt stronger standards in the future.
Some stuff forbidden in EU is used in e.g. Brazil, but as long as residues are at safe level, it’s considered ok. European farmers are against this part, because their business model relying on only safe substances is threatened. However, it may be possible as well that EU regulatory pressure will push American farmers to adopt stricter standards for their exports.
- AdrianB1 9mo agoSafe level is a bad metric. Lately the safe level for alcohol consumption was set to zero, even if it was considered safe in the past to have some drinks.
- ivan_gammel 9mo agoThis is why this FTA doesn’t restrict EU on making it more strict. If new health risks will be discovered, they will come up with new regulations and farmers in EU may have an advantage of being already compliant.
- Saline9515 9mo agoNo one controls for the food quality imported in the EU. If you read consumer protection specialized papers, they very often find problematic products. Massive amounts of fake honey from China is being sold in the internal market with absolutely no repercussions. The only way to ensure food safety is to control the production sites, which Mercosur doesn't allow.
- ivan_gammel 9mo ago>If you read consumer protection specialized papers, they very often find problematic products. If nobody controls it, where all those papers come from?
- Saline9515 9mo agoPrivate consumer protection groups have no enforcement power and their action is a drop in the ocean. Honey is a good example, authorities don't control, NGOs and beekeeper unions provide tests and data, the EU gives 0 f*cks and allows the swindle to continue.
- ivan_gammel 9mo agoThis is misrepresentation of facts.
- Saline9515 9mo agoWhy is fake honey still so commonplace[1] in the EU if controls happen? Tests exists and are straightforward. The EU has been saying that they'll stop it[2], after a more than a decade of abuse, nothing happened because the fraud is so widespread but there are no systematic controls. [1] https://eng.lsm.lv/article/culture/food-drink/03.02.2025-beekeepers-raise-alarm-about-fake-honey-imports-in-latvia.a586230/ https://eng.lsm.lv/article/culture/food-drink/03.02.2025-bee... [2] https://ec.europa.eu/olaf-report/2023/investigative-activities/protecting-eu-revenue/no-money-for-fake-honey_en.html https://ec.europa.eu/olaf-report/2023/investigative-activiti...