Status: 06/16/2023 1:36 p.m
The Bundestag is voting today on a law with which the Berlin traffic light coalition wants to ensure more transparency at the meat counter for consumers – but initially only for pork.
By law, the red-green-yellow federal government wants to ensure more transparency in the sale of meat. The Bundestag is to vote on it today. For the time being, however, the draft law only provides for rules on how fresh, unprocessed pork must be labeled. According to the Bundestag, other areas such as gastronomy and out-of-home catering as well as animal species such as cattle and poultry are to be added step by step.
Further information
Five levels for marking
Five labels are planned, which relate to how the animals were kept before slaughter: barn, barn and space, fresh air barn, run/free range and organic. For example, in the “Barn and Space” stage, pigs have at least 20 percent more space compared to the minimum legal standards. In the fresh air barn, the pigs should be able to constantly see what the wind and weather are like outside, for example by having one side of the barn open.
Help for farmers to convert the stables
In the “Auslauf/Freiland” stage, the animals should be able to go outside for at least eight hours a day. If the meat is labeled “organic”, the animals must have been kept in accordance with the EU organic regulation, which above all gives them much more space. So that the new rules for animal husbandry do not overwhelm farmers economically, another law is to stipulate how they can adapt their stables. The new state label will complement other labels, but will probably not replace them.
Further information
