Food Safety

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Food Safety

• Prof. Dr. Matthias Horst
• German Federation for Food Law and Food Science

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Food Safety

• The situation in the EU, US etc.
• Great variety of safe and wholesome foods at
  affordable prices to make healthy choices
• High level of Food Safety
• Persistent wide spread concerns about Food Safety

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Food Safety
a

• permanent
• national
• EU
• global
• Challenge for the
• food chain
• legislation (national, EU, Codex Alimentarius)
• control authorities
• scientific comunity
• consumers

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Food Safety Basic principle of EU Food Law for
almost 45 years

• based on three pillars
• Legislation
• European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)
• Control

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Food Safety

• EU-Legislation
• comprehensive but not complete
  harmonisation still gaps (e.g.
  irradiation) quantity impressive
  quality poor, to a large extent (e.g. health
  claims)
• Member States still tend to impose additional
  legislation.
• Lack of transparency and coherence.
• Need for better regulation.

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Food Safety

• General Food Law
• Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002
• Aim
• high level of protection of human health and
  consumers interest
• ensuring the effective functioning of the
  internal market
• Improvements
• common definitions (e.g. food)
• basic requirements for the food chain
• (Feed and Food)
• From Farm to Fork
• EFSA
• Rapid Alert System, crisis management,
  emergencies procedures

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Food Safety

• General Responsibilities
• Food and Feed business operators throughout the
  entire food chain compliance with food law
• Member States enforcement of the law
• Commission co-ordination and monitoring
  of the national control systems

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Food Safety

• Obligations and specific responsibilities of the
  business operators
• system of traceability
• in the case of unsafe food
• withdrawal from the market
• information of the authorities
• public recall (if necessary)
• co-operation with authorities and other parts
  of the food chainquestions e.g.
  definition of unsafe foode.g. need for
  informing about the offer of unsafe food?

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Food Safety

• Obligations of the legislator(s) and authorities
• Precautionary principle
• Public consultation
• Public information
• Rapid Alert System
• Emergency measures
• Crisis management

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Food Safety

• Assessment1. Majority of food safety issues
  covered by
• EU Food Law2. Need for consolidation and
  qualitative improvements better
  regulation
• 3. Need for careful impact assessment for a new
  legislation4. Problems arising from
  complementary and/or additional national law

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Food Safety

• 5. Different quality levels of
  enforcement/control in
• the Member States
• different levels of consumer protection
• unequal competitive conditions
• 6. Commissions task Monitoring the national
  enforcement strategies

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Food Safety

• EFSA
• Cornerstone of EU Food Safety system
• Mission (in brief)
• Providing independent scientific advice on all
  matters with a direct or indirect impact on food
  and feed safety, covering all stages from primary
  production, animal feed to the supply of food to
  consumers.
• Establishment laid down in General Food Law
  Regulation.

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Food Safety

• Tasks
• The scientific evaluation of risks (risk
  assessment)
• The collection and analysis of scientific data
• Safety evaluations of dossiers put forward by
  industry for Community level approval of
  substances or processes
• Identification of emerging risks
• Scientific support to the Commission particularly
  in the case of a food safety crisis
• Direct communication to the public and other
  interested parties of information concerning
  matters within its remit

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Food Safety

• What EFSA can do
• Increase consumer confidence in EU risk
  assessments
• Co ordinate better between Member States
• Contribute to better communication in food crises
• Advance science of risk assessment
• Help resolve differences of view at the
  scientific level

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Food Safety

• Vision of EFSAs role
• The point of scientific excellence
• The scientific authority with undisputed
  international reputation
• The most authoritative source of knowledge

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Food Safety

• Assessment
• Still a young institution
• Good reputation
• Need of political acknowledgement and support
• Crucial scientific independence

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Food Safety

• Conclusions
• Crucial importance for
• consumers
• food chain
• politics (legislators, authorities)
• NGOS
• media
• EU Food Safety policy
• consistent concept
• tools to match well known problems as well as
  future challenges
• permanently under development
• part of global policy

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Food Safety

• Area of responsibility for the academia
• challenge for research and teaching
• science and jurisprudence
• Issue of scientific, legal, political aspects
• to be balanced in an appropriate way

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Thank you