French President François Hollande has demanded EU labelling requirements for meat in ready meals.

“These last few days have seen a lot of questions asked and, not to put it more strongly, fraud, because there was no labelling,” he told the country’s food producers.

Earlier this month, following a meeting between industry and government, it was announced France’s laws on food labelling and traceability would change. No concrete details of the plans have yet been announced.

Since then, Intermarché and Carrefour have announced they are to source all their beef in France.

Intermarché already has an extensive processing and manufacturing capacity: half the total sales volume comes from the retailer’s own facilities. For the past 35 years it has operated abattoirs and food manufacturing sites across its range.

The volumes involved are substantial. Intermarché meat subsidiary Jean Rozé slaughters and processes 120,000 tonnes of beef a year, while a company
spokesperson told just-food its meat-based ready meals manufacturing output is 43,000 tonnes a year.

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With effect from March, the multiple’s Jean Rozé-branded ready meals will carry a 100% French beef label that will start appearing on-pack next weekend.

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