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Consumption: Ultra-processed products, untraceable?
Consumption: Ultra-processed products, untraceable? – (France 2)
A question raised once again by the agricultural crisis: the ambiguity surrounding labels on products. A label of France or a flag on the packaging is not enough to guarantee the origin of the product. It is more difficult in the ultra-processed products category.
On French plates, ultra-processed dishes represent a third of the diet. Ham macaroni, bacon ravioli, hake with vegetables, what they all have in common: a large gray area at the core of their ingredients. On the label, for example, there are no details about the origin of milk, ham or fish, and this is perfectly legal. If manufacturers must indicate the origin of the meat for raw products, it is optional for processed products. Beef carpaccio which consists mainly of meat and olive oil therefore falls under the category of processed products and escapes this obligation.
EU and non-EU origin
According to Olivier Andrault, project manager of UFC-Que Choisir, the term “EU and non-EU origin” is deliberately vague and very practical for manufacturers. “A manufacturer can maintain complete obscurity about the origin of his products and hide from consumers an origin that is not necessarily salable,” he explains. In 2017, the government launched an experiment requiring manufacturers to indicate the origin of meat and milk in processed dishes.
