Different Actors, Different Factors – Science and Other Legitimate Factors in the EU and National Food Safety Regulation

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Szajkowska
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Market Mechanism ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Safety Regulation ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Safety Measures ◽  
Risk Managers ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Food Safety Regulation

According to the principle of risk analysis established by Regulation 178/2002, food safety measures in the EU and Member States must be based on scientific risk assessment. Apart from science, however, decision makers should take into account other legitimate factors, such as societal, ethical or traditional concerns. The extent to which risk managers can deviate from scientific evaluations in considering these factors depends on how much discretion is conferred on public authorities. This article compares the discretion at both national and Union levels of food safety regulation in the context of the internal market mechanism by analysing the standard review applied to food safety measures by the European judiciary.

Food

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 560-566
Author(s):  
Jennifer Träsch
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
European Union ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Risk Communication ◽  
Safety Regulation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Legal Position ◽  
Food Safety Regulation

In 2006 the Hungarian system of food safety regulation was described as “chaotic” , fragmented and lacking accountability. Now, five years later and almost seven years after Hungary's accession to the European Union (EU) it is time to take stock again. Food safety regulation has undergone a “threefold change” and follows a separated model. Competences for risk assessment, risk management and risk communication are well distributed and the Hungarian Food Safety Office (HFSO)/Magyar Élelmiszer-biztonsági Hivatal (MÉBiH) fits into the overall structure now. But there are still problems concerning its legal position, weak status and especially insufficient independence.This report shows the evolution of the Hungarian system and highlights the brand new developments and the current situation, challenges and organisation of the HFSO.

Risk Assessment in the European Food Safety Regulation: Who is to Decide Whose Science is Better? Commission v. France and Beyond…

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 1259-1274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Szawlowska
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
The Other ◽  
Spongiform Encephalopathy ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Safety Regulation ◽  
Regulatory Decision ◽  
Remedial Actions ◽  
The One ◽  
The Eu

The outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (hereinafter BSE) in Europe has brought about serious tensions and fears – not only among consumers, but also among the national and European authorities responsible for risk management. Faced with the incapacity of the existing system to control the situation, on the one hand, and the need to restore consumers’ confidence on the other, the EU and national regulators felt obliged to repair the weaknesses as soon as possible. However, remedial actions undertaken at the time of the BSE crisis were not always the product of thorough consultations and they were often not well coordinated. Thus, they became a source of disagreement among the various actors in play. The case Commission v. France, which I will examine more closely in this paper, illustrates such a conflict among the national and European scientific authorities. The judgment was delivered in 2001, but the problem of the successful integration of science into the regulatory decision-making process of the EU still remains unsettled. In this paper I will present suggestions as to how the situation could be influenced by the outcomes of recent reforms of European food safety law and the establishment of the European Food Safety Authority.

The Administrative Ordering of Nature and Society – Precaution and Food Safety at the Molecular and Global Levels

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaap C. Hanekamp ◽  
Jan Kwakman ◽  
Roel Pieterman ◽  
Paolo F. Ricci
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Safety Regulation ◽  
Risk Regulation ◽  
Safety Testing ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Food Safety Regulation

Responding to public fears and the loss of confidence in the aftermath of several food safety crises in the 1990s and 2000s, more and more regulatory laws have increasingly been affected by the precautionary principle. To clarify how those developments can have adverse consequences, we discuss two very different cases. First, at the molecular level we discuss the problems the system encounters by strictly applying the linear no-threshold (LNT) at low doses model, which was adopted in response to fears about the effects of ionizing radiations. Second, at a global scale, we discuss the problems associated with the precautionary regulation on Illegal, Unreported and Unregistered Fisheries that came into effect January 1, 2010. The technical aspects of food safety testing and their impacts are perhaps unknown to policy makers but they do dominate safety decisions. Both examples show that strict application of the precautionary principle produce deleterious side effects, which go against the very policy values that the precautionary regulation should protect. We show, in particular, that overly precautionary food safety regulation may harm food security. We conclude in the EU and other Western nations, problems of food security are much more relevant to human health and life expectancy than food safety. We recommend that current food safety regulation based on the precautionary risk-regulation reflex should normatively be re-evaluated with a complete regard for the values of food security – both within and outside the EU.

A Macromarketing Perspective on Food Safety Regulation

2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tino Bech-Larsen ◽  
Jessica Aschemann-Witzel
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Safety Regulation ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Trans Fats ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
Safety Regulations ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Marketing Systems ◽  
Food Safety Regulation

This article discusses the implementation and diffusion of mandatory and voluntary food safety regulations from a marketing systems perspective, and specifically applies this framework to an analysis of the antecedents and implications of the Danish 2003 ban on trans-fatty acids (TFAs). The analysis is based on reviews of published material and on interviews with food marketers, nutrition experts, and policy makers. It is established that the ban was implemented due to scientific proof of health risks associated with the intake of TFAs but also as a result of aligned interests and efforts of the major stakeholders in the Danish food marketing system. Adding to the literature on diffusion of regulatory initiatives, the analysis shows that the Danish ban on trans-fats had—and still has—an important impact on trans-fat regulation in other European and overseas countries. In the final section, insights from the analysis are used as a starting point for a discussion of how public authorities, food marketers, and macromarketing researchers can apply the marketing systems perspective when designing, managing, and studying future cases of food safety regulation.

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