“The Hungarian Government expects the EU to take legal action in the interests of changing practices that result on differences in food quality”, the Ministry of Agriculture’s Minister of State for Food Chain Supervision said on Hungarian public television M1 on Monday.
Reporting on the comprehensive official food quality study published by the National Food Chain Safety Office (NFCSO) on Wednesday, Róbert Zsigó said that experts have examined and tested the quality, contents and labelling of 96 pairs of products distributed in Hungary and abroad (84 foods, 7 beers and 5 pet foods), and has discovered discrepancies in 71 cases.
According to the Minister of State, the study proves that it is often the case that the same product is distributed in Hungary in worse quality than in Western Europe.
Mr. Zsigó also highlighted the fact that according to current food law, the European Union regards differences in content as lawful within its common market, provided those differences are marked on product labelling.
However, according to the Hungarian Government the phenomenon may be lawful, but it is also most definitely unfair towards Hungarian consumers.
“The EU should take legal action to ensure that the same product can be purchased at the exact same level of quality in Austria, Germany and Hungary”, he stressed.