Giorgio Rusconi
Mondini Rusconi Law Firm
Title: Food Technology: Innovation before Legislation or Legislation before Innovation?â€
Biography
Biography: Giorgio Rusconi
Abstract
Mechanically separated meat (MSM)—which must be ret ailed in some kind of cooked form because of the risk of microbial contamination, in contrast to the higher price-fetching minced meat—makes it possible for producers to realize add ed profits from offals, a market estimated to be between €400 million and €900 million in size. EU r egulations distinguish MSM from cut or minced meat, but the distinctions are not always clearly delineated, given the nature of reduced meat products (RMP). In the recent Newby case (C-453/13), the EU Court of Justice determined that an industry innovation did not, in fact, create a new meat product because the final product met the definition of MSM. The decision signals that innovations in the processing of MSM will not result in new designations that fall under RMP if within the innovation basic definitions of MSM are already met. This is true even if the innovation produces something that is visibly very different in appearance from traditional MSM.
The reported case on MSM is one of various examples that can be made in the ambit of the discussion about the topic “Food Technology: Innovation before Legislation or Legislation before Innovation?”. Of course, progress and innova tion are subsequent to R&D activities whilst new legislations are subsequent to public consultations, comitology and political debates. On this respect, is legislation far behind innovation? And how this gap can be narrowed?