The Agriculture Ministry of the Catalan Goverment announces its support for the European project FoodTrace"

Following the Food Quality Law, approved last June by the Parliament of Catalonia, which establishes food traceability as a pillar of quality of Catalan farm and food products, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Government of Catalonia has made public its support of the European project FoodTrace", represented in Spain by IDtrack. The FoodTrace project has the mission to define a practical framework for the standards and methods of applying food traceability across Europe.

Barcelona, Spain (PRWEB)October 23, 2003. - Following the Food Quality Law, approved last June by the Parliament of Catalonia, which establishes food traceability as a pillar of quality of Catalan farm and food products, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Government of Catalonia has made public its support of the European project FoodTrace". This European Commission project has the mission to define a practical framework for the standards and methods of applying food traceability across Europe.

FoodTrace, represented in Spain by IDtrack (the European Association for Sure & Secure Identification), is holding a conference in Sitges, Barcelona, on 30th and 31st October to agree the outline of the recommendations which next year will be presented by FoodTrace to the European Commission. The Agriculture Ministry will participate officially at this summit, and will give its support to FoodTrace in order to contribute its experience in the application of traceability and to influence the detailed rules which will be established by the European Commission.

The traceability of food products is not only a guarantee of food safety, but also a way to assure that producers of food will be more efficient, and therefore more competitive.

Knowledge of all the stages involved in food production will permit a better segmentation of the offer and the selection of products which match the needs of specific consumers. This applies to all types of food products, both animal and vegetal.

With this in mind, it is important to realise that the Law of Land Orientation, approved by the Parliament of Catalonia unanimously in December 2001, makes extremely clear the importance of guaranteeing the traceability of production. Among its objectives, it establishes that the policy of rural development should assure the traceability of food products and that the quality and safety of livestock products has to be improved through a tracking system which guarantees traceability.

The guarantee of traceability is today a legitimate consumer demand, growing each day," commented Sr. Grau i Seris, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. An optimal level of food safety depends on the capacity to determine the components and the processes of production of all farm and food products, from the field or the farm all the way to the table. The European rule for reinforcing food traceability will have very positive effects since, as with every new legal framework and even more so due to the breadth of this subject, it demands a process of adaptation by all, for which it is fundamental to have the maximum possible information without delay. In Catalonia we have been working for a long time on activities such as the development of systems of electronic identification, among many others."

We are very happy to receive the support of the Ministry of Agriculture", said Robert Madge, the President of IDtrack, because it demonstrates the commitment of Catalonia to be in the forefront in the use of new technologies to protect food safety. Food traceability is an urgent subject, to comply with Catalan and European laws that demand traceability throughout the food chain by 2005 and in order to reduce the risk of a food emergency. Furthermore, food traceability will bring everyday benefits, because it will help consumers to choose food products according to their origin and ingredients."

The Ministry will support the European Conference on Food Traceability via the participation of Sr. Xavier Coll i Gilabert, director general of Farm Production and Rural Innovation, in the inaugural session on 30th October.

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For more information, contact IDtrack:

Press information: Mariella del Riego,

Email: pr@idtrack.org Tel +34 93 534 41 79

Summit information: Mathieu Dubuquoy

Email: foodtrace@idtrack.org Tel +34 93 205 47 78

www.idtrack.org

IDtrack is the European Association for Sure & Secure Identification, headquartered in Barcelona, Spain. Its mission is to communicate, guide and coordinate activities for the reliable and secure implementation of identification and traceability.