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Latest issue / 4 January 2012 / John Hammond, Head of Information & Legislation, Campden BRI
Food legislation is highly complex and impacts on all aspects of the food industry from production, packaging to distribution and marketing. Food laws are a vital element in industrialised and developing countries alike, ensuring the food that consumers purchase and eat is safe and has been marketed honestly.
It is the role of government and its agencies to protect the population from both harm and unfair practices. This is achieved through properly enforced food control measures based on comprehensive, well-defined regulation covering the quality and safety of food and its transparent and honest presentation to the consumer.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and World Health Organisation1, food control is defined as:
“A mandatory regulatory activity of enforce – ment by national or local authorities to provide consumer protection and ensure that all foods during production, handling, storage, processing and distribution are safe, wholesome and fit for human consumption; conform to safety and quality requirements; and are honestly and accurately labelled as prescribed by law.” (more…)
Issue 2 2010 / 12 May 2010 / Kathryn Anne-Marie Donnelly, Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research - Nofima
Traceability is gaining importance in order to satisfy legal, consumer and supply chain demands. Traceability of seafood is now recognised as being of particular importance due to the harvesting of wild fish. The Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research (Nofima) covers all food sectors and links in the value chain and plays a central role in various international food traceability and standardisation activities, especially related to seafood traceability.
Production of seafood has undergone considerable change during the past century. New food production practices, handling and processing techniques have been developed to meet the increasing consumer demand for reliable and consistently safe supply of various food products. Consumers are giving markedly more emphasis to high quality, sustainability and safety of seafood products. This has resulted in an increasing development of systems to improve information flow and thereby seafood traceability. Development of integrated systems for information exchange in food supply chains has gained considerable importance. (more…)
Issue 4 2008, Past issues / 3 December 2008 / Kath Veal, Business Manager Regulatory Services, Leatherhead Food International
Global regulatory food advice is one of the core areas of expertise at consultancy and research firm Leatherhead Food International. The regulatory advisors work within three teams specialising in United Kingdom, European (EU) or International regimes. Working with not only generic EU controls, but the detail of individual member states regularly illustrates the lack of harmonisation within Europe and our global coverage gives us a strong awareness of the challenge of international trade.
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Issue 3 2008, Past issues / 18 August 2008 / Carol Wallace, Principal Lecturer, University of Central Lancashire and Sue Powell, Co-ordinator for the North West Teaching Public Health Network
All businesses need to make sure that they operate within the law for a wide range of measures, including health & safety, environmental issues, weights and measures, et cetera. For food businesses, it is crucial that the food sold does not endanger public health, therefore adequate control systems must be in place. In the UK and EU, food safety requirements are clearly identified in legislation so it is important that all food businesses are aware of and keep up to date with changes in food safety laws.
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Issue 4 2007 / 16 November 2007 / Huug De Vries, Project Co-ordinator, NovelQ
The European Commission’s (EC) strategy in the past ten years has been changed from stimulating and supporting scientific projects in specific research areas towards more integrated research projects. The term ‘integrated’ refers to multi-disciplinary approaches to address and find answers for complex research questions. In 2000, the definition of the Lisbon Agenda – focused on three per cent innovation rates in Europe, thereby increasing the European competitiveness – has added another dimension, namely a new balance in supporting basic science up to applied research and demonstrations with the goal to achieve successful market implementations of scientific findings[1].
As a next step, the concept of European Technology Platforms has been launched. Here, the industry has been asked to take the lead in defining the European R&D agenda for the area in which they are active. Recently, the concept for the European Institute of Technology (the EU version of MIT in Boston, USA) has been presented. Strong footholds – either as virtual networks or physical centres – should arise that further strengthen innovations in Europe. The recently published EC Green Paper “European Research Area: New Perspectives” provides information for debates on joining forces in Europe. (more…)
Issue 3 2006, Past issues / 11 August 2006 / Hilde Cnossen and Heereluurt Heeres, TNO Quality of Life, Food Legislation Affairs
Food legislation is a complex matter. Since the publication of the White Paper on Food Safety in 2000, a considerable number of Regulations, Directives and Guidelines on the safety of food and feed – including ingredients – have been published. For companies involved in food and feed and ingredients production, trade and transport, it is not always easy to keep information about food and feed legislation up to date. Moreover, it is not that simple to apply and to interpret this legislation.
Food Law
Recently the General Food Law (Regulation 178/2002/EC), shortly GFL, entered into force. This regulation lays down (among other points) the general principles and requirements of food law.
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