Motion for a resolution | Doc. 15078 | 05 February 2020
Food ethics in Europe: a citizen's issue that concerns all of us
The Parliamentary Assembly adopted, as early as the 1970s, several resolutions and recommendations to encourage member States to legislate in the field of bioethics relating to the human body. It is necessary to continue this work and to extend it to the issue of human nutrition.
The quality of food is closely linked to agricultural production and processing methods. Agriculture and the agri-food industry are now at the centre of citizens’ concerns due to their environmental and health impacts, locally and internationally and as a result of trade.
Regulations are a legal response, nevertheless the question of food ethics still remains and must be subject to a specific reflection integrating multiple factors: a decent income for producers, quality for consumers, limiting waste, animal welfare, environmental impact and short circuits, as well as food education from an early age.
The subject of food ethics therefore concerns everyone and corresponds to a genuine civic demand: to guarantee the traceability of the products consumed; to be aware of the health and ecological footprint of food to make informed consumption choices; to be certain that the entire chain, from production to consumption, is sustainable and respectful.
Food ethics is more and more part of a set of European citizens' rights. Civil society is widely taking up the subject, with the emergence of associative actors such as the European Institute of Food Ethics. Because of its sensitive and topical nature, the Assembly must also consider this issue.