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Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety
Brona Carton, Head of Internal control and services of the Food audits and analysis Directorate, talks about the Farm to Fork Strategy. Since September 2020, her unit is responsible for the oversight of the BTSF initiative, working together with the Commission’s Consumer, Health, Agriculture and Food Agency (Chafea) for the management and implementation of the training courses.
How has COVID-19 effected the Farm to Fork Strategy ?
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought food security and safety to everyone’s attention. Not only is food safety linked to the origins of the pandemic, but the consequences of the pandemic resulted in panic buying, worries about shortages, and eventually a restoration of confidence in the resilience of the food supply chain.
The Farm to Fork Strategy is one of the non-COVID priorities that the Commission will continue to focus its attention on through the peaks and troughs of the crisis. No one has forgotten the panic when the shelves were empty at the beginning of this epidemic.
Food security is an important topic, and we will continue to prioritise this together with our actions on food waste and the circular economy. Of course, we, like everyone else, are adapting to the new normal and carrying out a large proportion of our consultations through online communications.
I am optimistic that we will be able to get our message across to a large audience and I am very optimistic about food security in the future.
What is the main idea behind Farm to Fork Strategy?
The Farm to Fork Strategy for sustainable food is an integral part of the European Green Deal. European food is famous for being safe, nutritious and of high quality - through the Farm to Fork Strategy; it should become the global standard for sustainability.
The strategy will provide new opportunities for all operators in the food value chain, with European farmers and fishermen leading the way in the transition to sustainability. The Farm to Fork Strategy will strengthen their efforts to tackle climate change, protect the environment and preserve biodiversity. Through awareness campaigns, consumers will be more convinced about the importance of sustainability, and will buy accordingly.
The strategy calls for a reduction in the use of chemical pesticides, fertilisers and antibiotics. The Commission will identify the measures needed to bring about these reductions based on a broad stakeholder consultation and dialogue. The Commission’s regulatory framework will need to reflect scientific evidence on the risk posed by chemicals such as endocrine disruptors.
The Farm to Fork Strategy will also contribute to achieving a circular economy and will work toward reducing the environmental impact of the food processing and retail sectors by taking action on transport, storage, packaging and food waste.
Lastly, the Farm to Fork Strategy will stimulate sustainable food consumption and promote affordable, healthy food for all. The Commission will help consumers choose healthy and sustainable diets and reduce food waste. It will explore new ways to give consumers better information about where food comes from, its nutritional value, and its environmental footprint.
How does the Better Training for Safer Food (BTSF) initiative tie into the Farm to Fork Strategy?
BTSF provides training on a myriad of topics that directly link into the Farm to Fork Strategy. Our whole raison d’etre is to make sure that food in Europe meets the highest safety standards, and very often, what is in people’s best interest is also in the planet’s best interest. We care about what pesticides are used, what the soil conditions are, how animals are raised and how food is grown, harvested, processed, packaged and stored. In short, we are involved in the whole process from farm to fork, and we are excited about contributing in a real way to maintaining the EU’s high standards.
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