EDA President Giuseppe Ambrosi: The European lactopshère has long since set carbon
zero objectives
Lukáš Víšek, EU Commission: EU-made
food will become a global sustainability
standard
Hester Maij, Corporate Director Public &
Regulatory Affairs FrieslandCampina: A
glass of milk cannot be compared to a
chair in terms of sustainability
Prof. Roel Jongeneel, Wageningen University:
The EU’s key challenge is not the
environment
ing sustainability. The EU has taken it all into
law so there won’t be a chance for later
politics and upcoming crises to change the
fundamental goal of climate neutratlity. The
Green Deal, he added, was made to speed
up all processes for climate protection that
have already been started, some of them
years ago as with the EU dairy industry.
The Green Deal and the Farm-to-Fork-
Strategy look at the whole food supply chain
incl. consumers‘ diet and food waste at this
stage. The dairy industry, Víšek stated, is in
a powerful position in midst these changes,
as it can reach out to farmers as well as to
consumers. The sector can demand milk
produced in a sustainable way and stimulate
demand for more sustainable products
from consumer side. The Commission will
develop Eco Schemes to help farmers adopt
rhe right practices, Víšek promised.
In the end, Víšek hopes, that EU food
will be high in demand worldwide for its
sustainability, helping manufactureres to
compete in the world market, and that EUmade
food will become a global sustainability
standard. He invited all involved stages
of the dairy chain to feed the Commission
with relevant insights (incl. labelling) for assessment
of the consequences of the Green
Deal that will be made science-based and
science-evaluated.
FrieslandCampina’s route to
sustainability
Hester Maij, Corporate Director Public
& Regulatory Affairs FrieslandCampina,
explained how F/C is pursueing sustainability.
The co-op active in 38 countries
around the globe has explicit targets that
were defined according to the UN climate
plan. For instance, F/C is the first dairy in
the world offering farmers a biodiversity
monitor that allows them to assess any
progress they made in this respect.
As dairy farms are highly individual,
there can’t be a sustainability policy that
fits all. Therefore, Maji said, legislation
must be customised. And the EU must
look at the overall picture including side
effects. Maji cited the target of 50% reduction
of pesticide use that could well
lead to higher mycotoxin levels in food.
Adressing the EU target of 25% organic
land by 2030, Maji took the Netherlands
as example: the total milk market has a
volume of €10 billion. If 25% of volume
sales should be made by organic dairy,
consumers would have to pay an annual
€250 million more for dairy products.
She, Maji said, can’t see a solution to this
dilemma. Maji added that Brussels needs
to look outside the EU – the dairy industry
has competitiors and needs a level playing
field. Pointing out to carbon labellig,
the F/C exec sees a difference: “A glass
of milk cannot be compared to a chair“.
With this Maji meant that milk brings a
whole lot of valuable nutrients which
must be appreciated as well. Maji favours
to bring together eco and nutrient scores
in one food label.
November/December 2021 ¦ international-dairy.com · 29
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