Food, environment and health: what could happen with the Mercosur-EU agreement

Mercosur: it is obvious that the ‘invasion’ risk of uncontrolled products, without the safeguard clauses, is likely to exacerbate the risks to our health. But the real problem is that in the European Union there are ‘derogation’ authorisations that allow prohibited substances to be used by member countries to compete unfairly with their neighbours. So before lashing out at Mercosur, perhaps we need to put things in order in Europe

Quick Take — Mercosur: why we move forward

The Commission wants to apply it provisionally at the urging of Germany whose industry, faced with the fact that it can no longer buy cheap Russian gas and the invasion of Chinese products (e.g. cars), is in great difficulty and needs outlets.

France, with its agriculture, which is also in great difficulty, especially on the livestock and meat fronts, on the other hand, is opposed and disappointed.

Quick Take — Flood revives concerns over rising food prices in Europe

The winter larder is depleted as rains devastate crops in Spain, Portugal, France and Morocco…

“It is very difficult to replace some parts of the winter vegetable basket, especially those from Spain and Morocco, so I think we will see the effects very soon, and later on, we will probably also see effects on fruit, and then also on meat, dairy… and olive oil.” Central banks have begun to recognise the influence of extreme weather on inflation dynamics… Financial Times

Of course Sicily should also be considered.

Quick Take — Mercosur: MEPs vote in favour of referring the agreement to the EU Court of Justice

A treaty that, according to its critics, will disrupt European agriculture.

It should allow the EU to export more cars, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America, while facilitating the entry of South American beef, sugar, rice, honey and soya into Europe.

For its detractors, this will disrupt European agriculture with cheaper imported products that do not necessarily meet EU standards due to insufficient controls.

Quick Take — Mercosur: pesticides and hormones in food?

amicarbazone herbicide, chlorothalonil fungicide, novaluron insecticide and growth hormones in meat? It would seem so, although 1) the precautionary principle, i.e. any food may only be placed on the market if it does not present a health risk, and 2) the obligation to indicate the country of origin on the label should be respected

Milena Gabbanelli, Corriere della Sera 19 January 2026

P.S.: Brazil’s JBS is the third largest producer of food and the first of meat in the world.

Our relationship with FOOD over the last 100 YEARS has changed a lot: how?

How has our relationship with food changed over the last hundred years? In the first episode of the docuseries “What We Eat”, produced together with @foodunfolded with the support of EIT Food and co-funded by the European Union, we retrace the evolution of our relationship with what we eat, which has been turned upside down in just one century