The Committee for Examining Food Standards, chaired by Yoel Briss who heads the Regulatory Authority, determined after examining the Israeli food standards in recent months, that European standards is acceptable to adopt in Israeli food factories' line production.
This move is another sign of the Jewish State's decades-long shift toward a capitalistic mindset and was made as a reaction to rapidly rising food costs. The new edict means that Israeli companies may now facilitate both the import of a wider variety of food brands to Israel and produce food products faster and less costly for sale to the Israeli public. The former standards that are now set to be canceled were highly limiting for producers and contributed to the high cost of production. The new standards will help facilitate the import and production of a wider variety of products and foreign brands, such as chocolate products, canned vegetables of all kinds, pasta, rice, crackers, dried fruits, jams, frozen vegetable products, spices, dry soups, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, tea, dairy products ice cream and more.
As of now, the Israeli standards will remain 'on the books' long enough to gauge whether their cancellation would lead to a complete lack of regulation, which will endanger public health. Also, regarding the Israeli standards that the committee considered a health necessity, an outline for further improvements to the regulations will be implemented.
Good news! #Israel is far too small to insist on maintaining its own arcane set of standards. From Jan 1, 97 standard requirements will be dropped for importers. #food #bureaucracy #redtape https://t.co/axcON3Yoj2
ā Daniel Rosehill (@danielsrosehill) September 28, 2022
Prime Minister Yair Lapid explained that "the government has made it a point to cut excess regulation in order to ease the cost of living and open the market to competition. Following the government's policy, the Regulatory Authority will work in full cooperation with the various government ministries for the sake of the citizens. The process of adapting standards to the European standard will lead to a lower cost of living And the opening of the food market to competition - we will continue to act for the benefit of the citizens of the State of Israel so that they can consume diverse, safe food at competitive prices."
Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman added that: "We continue to take additional steps to lower the cost of living and treat the problem from the root, and today we bring great news with the cancellation of the strict food standards that are unique to Israel as part of the import reform. Adapting Israeli regulation to what is accepted in the developed world is the key to increasing competition and lowering prices for the consumer. There is no need to invent the wheel and add bureaucracy with unique and unnecessary regulation."
#Israel amends regulation on import and export of products.
ā Chemycal (@EuroChemicals) August 3, 2022
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Israel's food industry is considered a monopolistic enterprise as practically all locally produced food products are created by just a handful of companies. For example, while there might be ten brands of canned tuna in the country, including foreign brands, all of them are canned in the same facility which is owned by the sole license holder for tuna. The system itself is antiquated and stems from Israel's founding socialist roots. The late Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin started the nation on its journey toward a more capitalistic mindset in the early 1990s. Undoing a massive bureaucracy has proven challenging in the years since, however, today Israel is considered an economic powerhouse with a thriving middle class.
A massive reform of the Israeli food standards is on the horizon, as Prime Minister Lapid announced Wednesday night that some major adjustments to the food import market are coming on January 1.#Israel | #Economy | #YairLapidhttps://t.co/BYQdoYx7w7
ā The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) September 29, 2022
Minister of Economy and Industry, Orna Barbivai also noted that: "The revolution in the import of food products is on the rise, today we took another significant step in the fight against the cost of living. As part of the import reform, the unique standards added over the years in Israel will be removed from food products. This is a significant step to increase competition, lower import costs, and encourage more global retail chains to enter Israel. I thank the Prime Minister, the Ministries of Health and Finance, and the Chairman of the Regulatory Authority for their cooperation and determination to advance the issue. Happy New Year."
Until now, a foreign company wanting to enter the Israeli market would have to partner with an Israeli company. This arrangement is why Ben & Jerry's, owned by Unilever, is not the same corporation as Ben & Jerry's Israel, which licenses the name and manufactures the same ice cream locally. The new regulations would allow companies like Unilever to set up shop on its own, and market and sell as it wishes.
