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European Commission releases new supply chain recommendations

The European Union’s (EU) legislative arm publishes its latest guidance on protecting the market’s food supply chain against current and future crises.

In July 2024, The European Commission released a new set of recommendations for the EU’s food supply chain. These recommendations outline how best the EU can protect its 27 member countries’ food supply against the various threats it is currently tackling and may face in the future.

The proposed guidance focuses on the EU working to build trust, promote collaboration, and continuously monitor food supply to address risks and vulnerabilities in food supply chains.

These general measures and preventive actions, recommended for all members and actors in the food supply chain, are crucial to achieving food sovereignty, strategic autonomy, and economic resilience.

These recommendations will form part of former Finnish president Sauli Niinistö’s upcoming report on Europe’s civilian and defence preparedness and readiness.

Stability at stake

In recent years, trade disruptions have impacted Europe’s food supply chain, following the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The European Commission states the food sector has shown its resilience and effectiveness during this time, putting forward consumers’ ongoing ability to access diverse and plentiful amounts of safe, nutritious, affordable, and sustainable food.

The European Commission says that the current situation and the efforts of everyone involved in the process should not be underestimated. However, it recognises that various risks and vulnerabilities could jeopardise the food supply chain’s stability.

In November 2023, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) published a report identifying 28 risk categories and nine main vulnerability factors. These risk categories include biophysical and environmental, economic and market, socio-cultural and demographic, geopolitical and institutional, supply chain performance and information and technology threats.

Since its release and based on its conclusions, a team within the European Food Security Crisis Preparedness and Response Mechanism (EFSCM) has been drafting recommendations to mitigate risks. The EFSCM’s goal is to establish a universal set of guidelines that can apply to all participants and act as a basis for potential comprehensive, tailored assessments detailing specific risks in the future.

The report also recognises that the EU’s legal framework, which encompasses the Common Fisheries Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy toolbox, remains crucial for enhancing food supply’s stability and sustainability.

New recommendations to address the EU’s food crisis

In its July 2024 document, the EFSCM published recommendations on ways to mitigate risks and vulnerabilities, including structural issues putting at risk food supply chains.

The report outlines two general principles to reduce risks, ten structural actions to enhance the food supply chain’s long-term stability, and six recommendations to improve readiness for crises.

These recommendations are:

Protecting the agriculture space

In March 2024, the Commission published a memo on its support package to farmers. The memo sets out its ongoing work to improve and strengthen the EU food supply chain. In it, the Commission states it has proposed reviewing specific provisions of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that pertain to conditionality and CAP strategic plans. It states that this aligns with its commitment to reduce administrative burdens for EU farmers.

The proposed changes are designed to lessen the regulatory requirements for EU farmers and allow them more flexibility in meeting specific environmental standards. Additionally, national administrations will have more flexibility in implementing certain regulations.

The Commission also sought to address recent concerns by submitting a reflection paper to the Council and the European Parliament. The paper outlined various measures to enhance farmers’ status within the food supply chain and was presented at a meeting with fisheries ministers in March 2024.

Preparing and responding to food security crises

The European Commission is the governmental arm responsible for proposing and enforcing legislation and introducing policies for the food and beverage industry. The expert group on the EFSCM published these new proposed recommendations.

Speaking to Ingredients Network, a spokesperson for the European Commission confirmed that it is important to note that while the work and recommendations of the EFSCM are taken into account by the European Commission in its work, this particular document (and indeed any document published by ESCM) does not represent the position of the European Commission.

The panel of specialists for the EFSCM convenes regularly and as needed in emergencies. For example, it held meetings in February 2024 to broach the potential impact of attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea on the supply chain, in September 2022 to tackle the spike in energy prices and inflation, and in March and May 2022 to evaluate the effects of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine on food security and supply in the EU.

EFSCM’s panel of experts consists of national authorities from the 27 member states of the EU who work in agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture, health policy, or food safety. The group also comprises 14 extra national authorities from non-EU countries, including EFTA, Western Balkans, and micro-states whose food supply chains are closely connected to the EU. There are 30 stakeholder organisations as members and 16 as observers. These representatives offer insights from all parts of the food supply chain, including input providers, packaging, and transport operators.