Leaked EC Document Causes Speculation Over Future of EU Food Safety Policy Responsibilities
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According to a European Commission (EC) draft document originally seen and reported upon by Euronews, the responsibility for major parts of EU food safety policy may shift from DG SANTE—the health and food safety policy department of the EC—to DG AGRI, which is responsible for EU policy on agriculture and rural development, as well as DG JUST, which oversees justice, consumer rights, and gender equality.
Specifically, if the draft seen by Euronews comes to fruition, DG SANTE will lose oversight of pesticide approval, animal welfare, animal and plant health, plant varieties, and new genomic techniques to DG AGRI. Additionally, DG AGRI would gain control over other agrifood industry-, food waste-, and agricultural trade-related policies currently relegated to different EC departments.
Euronews also reported that DG SANTE would lose other, unspecified food safety issues to DG JUST.
The EC responded to Euronews’ reporting of the draft in question and confirmed its existence, but denied that it has any bearing on the future structure of the EC. The spokesperson said the document is an exercise of preparing briefing materials, organized transversally to ensure that EC departments collaborate on all components relevant to their policy fields.
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