Organic farming,
Demeter,
Nature & Progress, Label Rouge, PDO,
Blue-White-HeartWho’s the boss … You’ve probably already seen one or another of these labels and signs of quality while shopping. They have proliferated in recent years, alongside a growing awareness among consumers of the negative impacts of the current agrifood system.
Alain Bazot, president of UFC-Que Choisir, distinguishes three types. “ Official signs of quality and origin (SIQO), such as Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) or Label Rouge, whose specifications are drawn up by professionals and then validated by the public authorities, he begins.
Regulated mentions as “farm products”, “raised in the open air”, or even
“High environmental value”. Finally, the purely private procedures based on in-house specifications, more or less transparent, and on self-monitoring. It is for example Bleu-Blanc-Coeur or Who is the boss? “
Requirements that vary from one PDO and one Label Rouge to another
By their presence on the packaging, these different acronyms are intended to give consumers guarantees on the origin of products, preservation of the environment or the land. But do they keep their promises? It is to this question thatUFC-What to Choose and two Environmental NGOs –
WWF France and
Greenpeace France – tried to answer in two
analyzes published this Tuesday.
The first study, carried out by UFC-Que Choisir with the support of National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE), looked at PDOs and Label Rouge. Behind these official acronyms, the study points to very different realities, from one sector to another, according to the requirements set out in the specifications established by the producers. Of the twelve analyzed – eight PDO cheeses and four Label Rouge meats – the UFC Que Choisir has four that offer no guarantee of typicality or quality that these official signs are nevertheless supposed to provide.
Alain Bazot first dwells on PDOs, “an acronym supposed to guarantee that the product has been manufactured according to recognized know-how and in a specific geographical area”, he recalls. For three of the eight PDOs analyzed – Saint-Nectaire, Cantal and Munster – “entry-level productions turn out to be very little different from industrial productions without PDO”, the study concludes. “This does not mean that there are not, within these three sectors, producers who are looking to do better,” explains Alain Bazot. Overall, however, the specifications in certain sectors do not depend on criteria that are decisive in ensuring the typicality of the product. There are, for example, no formal requirements to only use local breeds of cows for the three PDOs that we do not judge to be level. “
Professionals left too free?
The UFC-Que-Choisir draws up the same observation on Label Rouge meats, which intends to guarantee consumers the superior quality of a product compared to the standard on the market. “As much as the specifications defined for Label Rouge chicken are free from criticism, the specifications for pork are content with minimalist requirements”, continues Alain Bazot. There are no specific breeds required, no guaranteed outdoor course for pigs, nor any animal slaughter age above the standard, points out the study.
Why such discrepancies? “The creation and revision of specifications depend on the sole initiative of professionals in the sectors concerned and the National Institute of Origin and Quality (Inao) cannot force them to make it evolve, begins Alain Bazot. The governance of Inao also poses a problem insofar as there is an over-representation of professionals. Finally, the controls to verify the conformity of the products are not very independent. “Gaps that the three associations call for to correct. “We ask that the public authorities revise the governance of these official signs by expanding the civil representation in the development and management of these labels”, specifies Alain Bizot.
A label High environmental value that stains?
For their part, Greenpeace and WWF have assessed the sustainability of eleven food approaches (labels, certifications, etc.), private or public. They sifted them through an analysis grid taking into account seven environmental issues (biodiversity, climate, air quality, etc.) and seven other socio-economic issues (farmers’ income, impact on human health, animal welfare, etc.). “Not surprisingly, the procedures which are based on the European regulation of organic farming [AB, Demeter, Bio Equitable en France…] are those which obtain the best results, indicates Arnaud Gauffier, director of the programs of WWF France. Whether on environmental and social aspects. »With a special mention for
Organic Fair Trade in France, which is doing well on both counts.
On the other hand, things go wrong for the procedures based on the common base of “ environmental certification “, like the High Environmental Value (HVE) label, a national regulation launched in 2012 and which the government wishes to highlight. “These approaches have those which have the weakest positive effects, both on the environmental and socio-economic aspects, points out Arnaud Gauffier. The less proven also since some combine, in their specifications, weak prohibitions with progress objectives. This is the case of
Agri Confidence, for example. This can be interesting to encourage the very late sectors to accelerate their ecological transition. But in no case can these labels be put at the same level with the organic farming approach, for example, which immediately imposes strong prohibitions on producers who want to be labeled. “
“That public support for labels depends on their real impacts”
This is the whole problem for the three associations. “Public support for labels must depend on their real impacts and not on their stated intentions,” insists Joseph d’Halluin, agriculture campaigner for Greenpeace.
This public support can take various forms. Greenpeace, WWF and UFC-Que Choisir fear in particular the way in which the government intends to allow farmers access to the eco-regime, a new device for the future
Common agricultural policy (CAP) which conditions the payment of part of European aid on the implementation of virtuous practices from an environmental point of view. “The government intends to treat HVE farmers and those labeled AB on an equal footing, an aberration as the requirements of these two approaches differ”, deplore Arnaud Gauffier and Joseph d’Halluin.
The concern of the three associations also applies to the” obligation to purchase 50% of sustainable products in public catering, including 20% organic, provided for by the Egalim law from January 1. “Some of these labels and approaches are starting to knock on the door of the state to be certified among these sustainable products,” indicates the director of WWF programs. This is already the case for the HVE. This, again, without revising the specifications of this label, is not acceptable. “
“Food and drink” on the sustainability of labels organized by sector
Among the eleven labels scrutinized by Greenpeace France and WWF France, Arnaud Gauffier, WWF program director, distinguishes a third category in addition to those based on European regulations for organic farming and those based on environmental certification.
This third category is “that of procedures organized by professional stream”, he specifies. These are the PDOs, the Label Rouge, but also Who’s the boss? Or Blue-White-Heart. “We are talking about hundreds of procedures whose specifications have very different requirements,” continues Arnaud Gauffier. Between the AOP Compté and the AOP Cantal, it is for example day and night both on social and environmental benefits [la première étant bien mieux notée que la seconde dans l’étude des deux ONG]. »The program director of WWF France then points out, like Alain Bazot, the vagueness generated by this proliferation of approaches launched by these sectors. “Within a label itself, depending on the product concerned, the procedures will not be the same at all,” he laments. Arnaud Gauffier nonetheless cites a few approaches that are doing well. Not only the AOP Comté, “but also Bleu-Blanc-Coeur in the milk sector, or C’est qui le patron who begins to integrate environmental criteria into its specifications based on societal issues ”.