HEALTH/CONSUMERS : FOOD FRAUD: COMMISSION WANTS TOUGHER PENALTIES.

• Position: European Commission

After setting up large-scale DNA testing, the European Commission will propose this spring to beef up the financial penalties applied to food fraud like the recent horsemeat scandal. Commissioner Tonio Borg made the announcement during a debate in the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment and Public Health (ENVI), on 28 February. "The tests carried out in the case of the horsemeat scandal revealed 1% fraudulent labelling. Some 6,600 tonnes of meat were taken off the market. [ ] We have to learn from these events. The Commission is...