The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations published a report titled ‘Thinking about the future of food safety: a foresight report’, looking at the future of food safety, and how global drivers such as economic growth, changing consumer habits and consumption pattern, alongside a growing population, can shape the future of food safety.

The report maps out important emerging issues in food and agriculture, such as new food sources and production systems, microbiomes, food fraud and the circular economy, with a focus on food safety outcomes.

The ESA’s 2021 annual activity report is now available for download here.

The report focuses primarily on the key milestones for the association in 2021 and briefly covers the most important issues dealt with in the different working groups. As in previous reports, we have made it neat and concise for you and our stakeholders to read through!

The European Snacks Association (ESA) has co-signed a cross-industry position paper calling upon European legislators to provide a progressive and forward-looking definition of packaging recyclability. The paper has been shared with key representatives of the European Commission working on the revision of the Packaging & Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD) which will be published in Q1 2022 before undergoing the usual legislative process.

The Commission wants to push forward measures to prevent packaging waste on the one hand; and promote the reuse, recycling, and other forms of recovering of packaging waste on the other hand. In this context, the question of the definition of recyclability is a critical one for flexible packaging. A narrowed definition could result in most flexible packaging not being considered as recyclable.

In order to improve the circularity of this type of packaging and incentivise innovation, the letter calls for a forward-looking definition of recyclability. The paper also advocates for the CEFLEX design for recycling guidelines for flexible packaging to be referenced in the PPWD.

The latest FoodDrinkEurope Data & Trends report is now available. The report confirms that Europe's food and drink industry remains the largest manufacturing industry in the EU with 4.5 million people employed, more than 289.000 companies and a total turnover of €1.1 trillion.

It highlights that more than 60% of EU food and drink exports are destined to the Single Market (worth €236 billion in 2020) and that the EU is the number 1 exporter and number 3 importer (behind China and the USA) of food and drinks in the world, with a positive trade balance of €67 billion.

This year’s edition also includes data on consumer expectations (especially regarding sustainability considerations), bioeconomy, the latest figures on the EU-UK food and drink trade, and an overview of the industry's contribution towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The Code of Conduct for Responsible Business and Marketing Practices is one of the first deliverables of the Farm to Fork Strategy and an integral part of its action plan. It sets out the actions that the actors ‘between the farm and the fork’, such as food processors, food service operators and retailers, can voluntarily commit to undertake to tangibly improve and communicate their sustainability performance. You can find here the final version of the Code.

ESA has been involved in this process since the beginning of the process and actively took part in one of the three thematic sessions (Promoting consumption patterns for healthy and sustainable diets). Building on this work and with a view to further demonstrate the sector’s ambition to contribute to the transition towards more sustainable food systems, the ESA Board approved the signature of the Code at its meeting of 15 June. The Code will be formally launched during a high-level “celebratory” event on Monday 5 July.

The secretariat has identified with the help of members several aspirational commitments inspired by the Code’s objectives and will ask for members’ inputs on a yearly basis to produce the mandatory monitoring report, reflecting what members have achieved and illustrated by concrete examples.