If EU attempts to put food safety policy on a surer footing are to succeed, monitoring of foods has to increase and powers of investigation must be strengthened, MEPs have insisted.
Speaking during a food safety debate yesterday, the socialist spokeswoman, Ms Dagmar Roth-Behrendt, said a new European food agency risked failure, as the European Commission did not appreciate key initiatives had to be taken separately.
The Commission had failed to understand the need for separate bodies to provide scientific advice, draft legislation and enforce controls. "Research is one thing: legislation and control are quite different," Ms Roth-Behrendt said.
The EU Food and Veterinary Office in Dublin, nonetheless, needed to be given investigative powers and incorporated into the European Medicines Evaluation Agency in London.
It should also be possible to ban certain foods from manufacture, as was allowed with veterinary medicines, she said.
With such radical reforms, Europe could go to the crucial World Trade Organisation millennium-round opening talks next month and not be accused of protectionism, Ms Roth-Behrendt added.
The Commission must go the extra mile if it was to succeed in restoring consumer confidence in European food, said the Munster MEP, Mr John Cushnahan (FG).
This necessitated adopting the US Food and Drug Administration as a model for a European agency, he said. It could take responsibility for inspection and enforcement in the areas of food hygiene, veterinary and plant health legislation.
"It should have responsibility for the rapid-alert system and the authorisation of GM organisms."
The Leinster MEP, Ms Nuala Ahern (Green), said the idea of an agency was good, but if it was to be funded by industry, she would have grave reservations.
Equally, going down the road of classifying foods like drugs was not welcome, as it smacked of licensing every piece of cheese and bread produced in Europe, she said.
There were food safety issues needing immediate attention aside from Mr Byrne's white paper. The animal feed directive needed to ensure that GM foods or sewage was not going into feeds.
Gaps in food legislation had to be closed to ensure all additives in foods were labelled, Ms Ahern added.
The Connacht MEP, Mr Pat "the Cope" Gallagher (FF), commended Mr Byrne's unequivocal commitment to restoring consumer confidence in food. It had to be backed by a register of animal food producers and by setting strict EU limits on PCBs (indicators of dioxin) in meat and fish, he said.
The Commissioner, Mr Byrne, said after the debate that the food agency was considered "more and more important" because of recent events, although he was aware some MEPs saw it as window-dressing. "I can assure them this is not the case," he said.
He accepted there were other food safety issues needing attention.
