“Consumers must not be discriminated and tricked, and it is outrageous that differing products are still being marketed under the same brand name in Europe”, Minister of Agriculture Sándor Fazekas said on Friday in Bratislava Castle, Slovakia, where he was attending an EU meeting on putting an end to the practice of dual food product quality with the participation of the heads of government of the Visegrád Group (V4, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia), representatives of every EU member state, and related EU politicians.

At the “Equal Quality Foods for Everyone” event, Mr. Fazekas held talks with several counterparts from other EU member states. Following the meeting, the Minister told public media that the meeting had been useful, because it had once again enabled him to put forward the fact that if the European Union has a uniform market, then it is a justified expectation that all products with the same brand name should be of equal quality.

“Foods in Central and Eastern Europe often contain more salt and less meat, more flavour enhancers and stabilisers, and often use palm oil instead of butter. This is the practice that the V4 wants to put an end to, and several other member states, including Slovakia, have now also joined the initiative”, Mr. Fazekas stated.

“Several interesting initiatives were discussed, including the fact based on a Slovakian proposal the food safety authorities of Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovenia will be working in harmony in future to search for possible solutions to the situation, in addition to which Hungary proposed the establishment of a multi-language website where consumers can share their own experiences, as well as putting forward their opinions and suggestions”, the Minister pointed out.

In reply to a question from the press relating to the possible amendment of the related regulations, Mr. Fazekas said: “We can see that the Brussels machine has sprung into action with regard to the issue, but rapid and effective measures are required within the field of legislation”.

“We expect the EU and the European Commission to take action”, he said.

In reply to another question, the Minister told reporters that for instance Greece and the Baltic States have also indicated that they view the practice of discrimination, which they are also affected by, as a problem, but there are also member states that have a more low-key approach and are keeping quiet because they receive good quality goods and so the problem doesn’t arise.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)