Food safety and the EU-Mercosur Agreement: risking weaker standards on both sides of the Atlantic

The EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is designed to increase the flow of goods among countries. In addition to reducing tariffs and quotas on meat and other goods, it includes measures to streamline food safety approvals in ways that could result in lower standards. Based on the published texts of the Agreement in Principle, if implemented, the FTA would:

• Limit precaution-based regulating in both the EU and Mercosur
• Limit food safety inspections
• Increase the risk of consumers purchasing contaminated foods and do nothing to prevent the re-export of rejected products.

Read more factsheets on the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement here.