Agriculture Minister István Nagy held talks with the EU’s Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides and discussed issues such as food-waste, GMO-free agriculture, animal welfare and lab-grown meat which will feature on Hungary’s agenda for its upcoming EU presidency in the second half of this year, the ministry said on Tuesday.
At the meeting in Budapest, Nagy discussed the issue of “the anxiety of European farmers” and called for “credible and plausible solutions” for them, the ministry said in a statement.
As regards food-waste, the minister unveiled Hungary’s plan to host an international conference in October to discuss good European practices and programmes. He called it a great achievement for Hungary that food-waste in domestic households had dropped by 27 percent over that past six years.
On the issue of GMO regulations, Nagy underlined Hungary’s full rejection of GMO products, noting that the protection of the GMO-free agricultural sector is enshrined in the country’s basic law. “We expect a fierce debate on the new EU regulations,” he said.
As regards lab-grown meat, Nagy said that “there is a sweeping rejection of this product in Hungary”.
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