Progress on traceability and animal welfare dialogue
Europe’s tanners and livestock and meat traders met on February 20 during the Lineapelle exhibition in Milan in a follow-up meeting to a first encounter in October.
The two groups have set themselves the task of achieving traceability of all hides and skins up to the abattoirs they come from. They aim to have this in place by 2030.
European industry bodies COTANCE and UECBV have now agreed to map existing certification and audit systems in the livestock value chain and to understand how these standards can link up with a potential traceability system for leather, hides and skins.
They acknowledged the success in Spain of the SELAMBQ Project, an initiative aimed at tracing, tracking and identifying the causes of specific skin defects that impair the quality of Spanish entrefino leather.
COTANCE and UECBV reaffirmed their cooperation in a number of areas mentioned in the Green Deal the European Commission published in December. They agreed to convene again at the next Lineapelle (September 23-25).
