French Hospitality in Europe
FHE
FHE a pour objet la défense et la promotion des intérêts de la profession française des CHRD (hôtels, cafés, restaurants, traiteurs, monde de la nuit) sur le plan européen et international.
ID: 950590618723-41
Lobbying Activity
6 Jul 2017
French Hospitality in Europe (FHE) wishes to thank the European Commission for the opportunity to comment on the draft regulation aiming to reduce the presence of acrylamide in food.
French Hospitality in Europe (FHE) is the umbrella association of UMIH (Union des Métiers et des Industries de l'Hôtellerie) and GNC (Groupement National des Chaînes Hôtelières), professional organizations leaders in the hospitality industry, which represent 90% of hotels, cafés, restaurants and nightlife establishments, the 4th largest private employer in France.
FHE would like to present two feedbacks on the draft regulation:
1) Concerning the obligation on the blanching and condition of frying of potatoes and the selection of potato varieties:
The blanching of potato is a culinary process that precooks the french fry and provides a slower coloration during the 2nd baking. The potato is blanched in water, cooking oil or steam. Usually, restaurateurs blanched potatoes before baking them, it is part of the cooking process; non-blanched potatoes tend to burn more quickly and are less tasting.
In France we have a “Guide de Bonnes Pratiques Restauration” (Guide of good practices for restaurateurs - validated by the french Ministry of Health), that provides a guideline for restaurateurs, there is a chapter on cooking (p 89 to 91) that explains the conditions of frying to avoid the risk of burning the product. Moreover, restaurateurs have been trained to those culinary processes: they know the interest of blanching potato and they know that burnt French fries are not healthy and not tasty for the consumer.
Also, in France we have a regulation [décret n°2015-505 du 6 mai 2015] on the “Fait Maison” (=home made) applicable to restaurants. The text imposes to buy raw product with no blanching. It is only after receiving the products that the cook can proceed the blanching. The generalization of the blanching via a regulation seems not an efficient solution.
Annex II part A 1., FHE is not favorable :
- to integrate a culinary process like the blanching or frying of potatoes in a regulation because culinary processes or recipes evolve frequently and do not need to be fixed in a regulation, especially as they are already provided in a reference guide of good practices.
- we are not favorable on the provision on the mandatory choice of the potato varieties (i.e potato that contains less sugars). The restaurateur needs to choose the variety of the potato according to the recipe he wants to elaborate, the choice of the product belongs to French cuisine that is in constant evolution, we have to preserve it to avoid killing French creativity in the kitchen.
2) Concerning the proposed obligation to display in the kitchen and use a colour table to check that bread for sandwiches is not over-toasted
Same observation, FHE is not favorable to integrate the reference to a colour guide in the regulation, the restaurateur can refer to the guide of good practices.
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