Latvia is one of a limited number of EU Member States that smoke fish and other products using traditional methods that rely on wood smoke. These countries benefit from derogations in EU law concerning smoked products, provisions that have the effect of promoting more modern methods that use artificial ingredients in smoking processes. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is concerned about a possibly genotoxic danger for consumers’ health from the ingredients and processes used in producing smoked products. At the end of June 2024, an EU Regulation entered into force regarding the use of smoke flavouring of primary products and deleting them from the Union list of authorized smoke flavourings.
Through the derogations, Latvia together with other EU Member States has achieved a longer transition period for the use of smoke flavouring on fish and other products, for 5 years until July 1, 2029, during which time companies would still be able to use traditional smoke flavourings. But these exemptions are now at risk. Latvia’s Ministry of Agriculture announced that it opposes an EU plan to remove such derogations, arguing that such a move will weaken Latvia’s competitiveness in the European market for smoked fish and other products. The wood-smoke methods now at risk not only benefit producers in terms of cost, but according to industry news reports they also create consumer demand for “traditionally smoked” products which would suffer if that description could no longer be used on products.
Working with counterparts in other affected EU member states, Latvia’s Ministry of Agriculture is trying to persuade the EU to protect its producers from potentially adverse regulatory changes caused by removing the time advantage in the derogation. In a statement, the Ministry of Agriculture said that Latvia does not support the European Commission’s sudden wish to revise derogations, granted to traditionally smoked meat and fish products that are intended for export to other Member States. The ministry is actively working to retain the currently enforced traditional smoking derogations for Latvia: traditionally smoked pig meat, hot smoked poultry, hot smoked sausages and game, and traditionally hot smoked fish. Among the EU Member States, Latvia was the first to point out to the EC that it was not necessary to revise traditional smoking norms in respect of Latvian smoked produce “because consuming traditional smoked products does not harm human health.”