What do Food Safety and Fair Trade Stand for? Reconciling the Twofold Objective of EU Food Law Daniele Pisanello* The Article analyses on an operative ground the recently adopted reforms in the field of Official Controls on Foodstuffs in order to highlight some shortage of coherence within EU Food Law. Being aimed at pursuing a number of different objectives, a high level of protection of human life and health, the protection of consumers’ interests, including fair practices in food trade, mod...

EFFL 1|2006 Editorial 1 Editorial The idea to set up a European journal on food and feed law originated from a practical necessity. The free movement of goods should, in the European Union, actually no longer encounter difficulties. As far as international trade in food and feed is concerned, this, however, only applies to a limited extent. For, in practice, numerous trade hurdles still exist. Anyone for example, who has ever attempted to market iodic table salt all over Europe has, in this resp...

The Codex Alimentarius Commission I. The Codex Alimentarius Commission: some critical issues in two paradigmatic cases At its 21st Session, in July 1995, the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) approved a standard concerning the maximum levels of residues for five growth-promoting hormones and for bovine Somatropine in meat. The decision was made after a secret majority vote and the standard was approved with 33 delegates in favour, 29 opposing and 7 abstaining.1 The European Communities opposed...

Free Movement of Enriched Foodstuffs and Food Supplements I. Introduction As is known, one of the European Community’s main tasks is to promote the economic activities of the Member States by abolishing the existing obstacles to the free movement of goods (see Art. 3, para. 1 lit. c) and Art. 28-30 of EC Treaty). In this regard, the free movement of foodstuffs in the European Union is a very important economic aspect. Differences between the food laws of the single Member States may impede the...

Mad about the Food Supplements I. Introduction Everyone who remembers the birth of Food Supplements Directive 2002/46/EC on 10 June 20021 may recollect that Art. 15 of the directive obliged all member states to comply with the directive as of 1 August 2003 at the latest. The German legislator was in no such hurry. Although recent national plans to regulate food supplements and fortified foodstuffs date back to 1997 and a respective German draft ordinance was already put forward on 15 October 199...

Food Safety: Science, Politics and the Law I. The conceptual problem regarding diverse scientific fields When we talk about food safety, we frequently refer to different concepts. Some authors have made the effort to elaborate lists with dozens of definitions. 1 This diversity of concepts is principally due to the fact that food safety is studied within different disciplines and to the multiplicity of interests that converge on it. According to Sage, food security is superimposed onto agricultur...

Country Reports Food Supplements – The Legal Situation in Austria With the enactment of 1 July 1975 of the Food Law, BGBI 1975/86, the term “consumption product” (“Verzehrprodukt”) was introduced for the first time. It was a new and – measured against the other European legal regulations – singular term, moreover the consumption product was defined not as a sub-category of foods but as a product sui generis. In accordance with § 2 of the Food Law, foods (nutrients and delicacies) ...

EFFL 2|2006 Editorial 67 Editorial What is the shelf life of EU regulatory approaches to food? Since the first directive on colours came into force in the early nineteen sixties, the life cycle of the prevailing regulatory approach has come full circle twice. Initially, the European legislator tried to create the conditions for an internal market in food products by laying out a level playing field for the businesses concerned. The ‘levelling’ was undertaking by means of harmonisation of foo...

Nanoparticles in Food and Cosmetics – Scientific and Legal Aspects I. What are Nanoparticles? Nanoparticles (NP) are small particles of about 100 nanometers (nm)1 or less. They are therefore considerably smaller than human cells e. g. red blood cells (approx. 7000 nm) and even than cell organelles as mitochondria (at least 500 nm) and much smaller than a human hair which is about 80 000 nm wide. The main difference to conventional material, often named bulk material, is beneath the smaller siz...

I. British food administration and regulation The British administrative, judicial and regulatory structure is regionalised: There are three independent legal jurisdictions within the UK: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. There are four administrations: UK/England, Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland, based in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. English legislation is produced through the overall UK authority whereas the other administrations routinely legislate separately t...

I. Introduction The market for foods has changed considerably in recent years. Caused by the technological progress achieved, there has been increasing success in adding further characteristics to foods over and above the simple nutritional function, which in the widest sense are comparable of having a potentially favourable influence on the bodily functions of the human being. Involved in this process are not only the novel foods, which cover a wide range of products. Also classical nutrition p...

Admissibility of Fortified Foods and Drinks in the Netherlands I. Introduction On 2 December 2004 the European Court of Justice ('The Court') ruled in Kellogg's1 that the Dutch exemption scheme concerning admissibility of fortified foods and drinks formed an unjustified infringement of Art. 28 EC. To comply with this judgment the Minister for Public Health (hereinafter the 'Minister') amended his policy. This report contains a brief overview of the current state of affairs regarding fortificatio...

I. Introduction On the 15 December 2005, the Spanish Parliament approved the law project on sanitary measures on tobacco smoking and on the regulation of the sale, supply and consumption and advertising of tobacco products, giving birth to what has been denominated as the "anti-tobacco law".1 With the approval of this polemic law, Spain has passed from being one of the most permissive states in the European Union, in this matter, to becoming a country with one of the most restrictive legislation...

The Danish Legislation on Fortified Foodstuffs Fortified foodstuffs are food with vitamins, minerals or other nutrients added. The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration are responsible for the overall administration of the Danish legislation on fortified food. Until now there is no specific harmonised legislation on fortified food. In the European Union this means that national legislation can be adopted provided that it is in compliance with the free movement of goods. However the European ...

EFFL 3|2006 Editorial 135 Editorial The driving forces for changes in the food industry and in consumer behaviour are globalisation, advanced technology, the development of economic possibilities and the growth of the population in the respective region. Globalisation, in particular, has become the epitome for changes in the food sector. However, globalisation is no new phenomenon. The beginnings of trade via the Silk Road from China to Europe as early as 130 BC can also be viewed as a sign of g...

The New Community Regulation No. 510/2006 and the Italian “Sanctioning” Decree I. Preamble The famous Regulation (EC) No. 2081/92,1 which in nearly 15 years of application has lead to the registration of all designations of origin and geographical indications of more than 700 European agricultural products, has been abrogated and replaced by Regulation (EC) No. 510/2006,2 which came into force on 31 March 2006. As is well known, the Regulation (EC) No. 2081/92 has already undergone several c...

I. Introduction A “Risk” is thereby the function of the probability of an adverse health effect and the severity of that effect, consequential to a hazard.1 The term hazard is generally used in a further sense and describes each product or procedure, which can have a detrimental effect on human health.2 A legal definition of “hazard” is included under Art. 3 No. 14 Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002; accordingly, a “hazard” is a biological, chemical or physical agent in, or condition of, f...

I. Introduction Over the past few decades, concepts in nutrition have changed significantly. We are moving from the concept of “adequate nutrition” to one of “optimal nutrition”. That is, the emphasis has shifted from survival through hunger satisfaction and food safety to our present emphasis on the potential of foods to promote health in terms of both improving wellbeing (mental and physical conditioning) and reducing the risk of diseases.1 With an ever-increasing ratio of people over ...

I. Introduction Organic farming regulation is a recent issue in European legislation. Since the 1980s, the Common Agricultural Policy has taken into consideration organic production methods within the framework of rural development measures. However, a systematic set of rules was introduced by Regulation (EC) No. 2092/91 on organic production of agricultural products and indications referring thereto on agricultural products and foodstuffs.1 Fifteen years after the enforcement of this Regulation...

Country Reports An Update on Food Supplements A long awaited “Décret” on Food Supplements was published on 25 March 2006 (“Décret” 2006-352 of 20 March 2006). This text is not only aimed at transposing into French Law the Directive 2002/46/EC, but covers also the entire sector of food supplements. Implementation texts (“Arrêtés”) dealing inter alia with detailed procedures and with lists of substances and conditions of use will follow. However, the basic rules laid down in the �...