The European Commission has marked the Sustainable Food System Framework Initiative as “Abandoned” as of 26 March 2026. In practice, this means the planned next steps in the process will not be pursued, and the previously foreseen additional feedback opportunities will no longer take place. The feedback and comments collected to date remain available only as reference material for the future.
IMPORTANT: The content, concepts and materials published by IGI FOOD LAW constitute the intellectual property of IGI FOOD LAW and are protected under copyright law. While inspiration is welcome, we kindly ask for ethical use of our materials and respect for IGI FOOD LAW’s copyright and know-how.
The initiative was intended to establish a horizontal framework for a sustainable food system in the EU. Its objective was to introduce general principles, objectives, requirements and responsibilities for all actors in the food system, as well as more specific rules on, inter alia, sustainability labelling of food products, minimum criteria for sustainable public procurement of food, and governance and monitoring mechanisms.
In the preparatory documents, the initiative was presented as a proposal for a Regulation to create a common foundation for future EU food policy and to strengthen the coherence of actions under the Farm to Fork Strategy.
From a practical perspective, this means that a comprehensive, cross-cutting legislative act on sustainable food systems at the EU level is not expected to be adopted in the near term. This does not mean that sustainability in the food sector is no longer on the EU agenda. Rather, it indicates that, at this stage, it will not be pursued through this specific legislative initiative. As a result, businesses should not currently expect the introduction of a single, horizontal regulation within this framework that covers sustainability aspects across the entire food system, such as common rules on sustainability labelling or minimum criteria for public procurement.
IMPLICATIONS FOR BUSINESSES
For food producers and other market operators, this primarily means that sustainability-related requirements will continue to be addressed in a sectoral and fragmented manner, rather than through a single overarching regulatory instrument.
IGI FOO LAW – FOOD LAW EXPERTS
