The Chamber Does Not Support the Obligation for Catering Businesses to Provide Meat Origin Information

The Ministry of Regional and Agricultural Affairs has introduced a draft amendment to the regulation governing food information requirements for unpackaged food sold without pre-packaging. Among other things, the amendment aims to oblige catering businesses to provide customers with physical information (e.g., on menus or boards) about the country where fresh, chilled, and frozen beef, pork, goat, lamb, and poultry (including minced meat) used as ingredients was raised. The Chamber proposed that this amendment be removed from the draft, arguing that it would create excessive bureaucracy for businesses.

Over-Regulation
The Chamber supports the goal of promoting the use of local meat in Estonia but does not endorse the proposed requirement for catering businesses to provide meat origin information in physical form.

The Chamber believes it is unjustified for the state to impose additional bureaucracy, costs, and administrative burdens on businesses in the name of consumer education. Consumers can make informed choices in other ways, such as asking about food origins at catering establishments. Furthermore, catering businesses can already voluntarily share information about ingredient origins with customers.

This requirement should not be a legal minimum standard applicable to all. Moreover, state intervention is entirely unnecessary since the issue does not pose any risks to life or health. The amendment is also inconsistent with the government's coalition agreement, which aims to reduce bureaucracy.

Additionally, this requirement is an independent initiative by Estonia and does not stem from European Union legislation. Similar obligations have not been introduced in neighboring countries such as Latvia, Lithuania, or Germany.

Insufficient Impact Assessment on Businesses
According to the Chamber of Commerce, the potential impact of this proposed change on businesses has not been adequately analyzed, especially considering existing obligations, tax increases, and inflation. If a restaurant’s menu includes 15 different dishes containing fresh meat, frequent changes in ingredient availability may require almost daily updates to physical menus. The draft and its explanatory memorandum do not clarify whether information on the origin of offal (e.g., liver and heart) and blood must also be provided.

Self-sufficiency levels for meat vary: according to Statistics Estonia, in 2023, Estonia’s self-sufficiency rate was 61% for poultry, 77% for pork, and 118% for beef. This indicates a continued need for imported meat. However, in the Chamber’s view, the proposed amendments would not have significant enough benefits to help livestock farms invest in new production facilities to increase self-sufficiency.

Thus, the Chamber proposed removing the requirement from the draft that obliges catering establishments to physically display the country of origin of fresh, chilled, and frozen meat (including minced meat) used as an ingredient in unpackaged food.