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General Food Law

Policy Position

FDF welcomed in principle the development of EU General Food Law Regulation 178/2002, to provide an “umbrella” for EU food law, much as the Food Safety Act had done for many years for the UK. It has proved necessary to draft guidance on the practical aspects of such provisions as traceability requirements; the meaning of compliance with food safety requirements; and responsibilities for withdrawal/recall notification. FSA published Guidance Notes (pdf, 84kb) in July 2007 and these will be kept under review.

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Background

EC Regulation 178/2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law (and establishing EFSA) is directly applicable to Member States. UK implementation has introduced some new enforcement powers and penalties.

The Regulation lays down the definitions, principles and obligations covering all stages of food and feed production; provides a basic framework for the development of more detailed and sector specific legislation; and provides the legal basis for the EFSA. Importantly, it establishes the basic principle that the primary responsibility for ensuring compliance with food law rests with the food business.

The EC published Guidance (pdf, 251kb) on implementation of the key requirements, including the import and export of food and feed; compliance with food safety requirements; traceability; and product recall/withdrawal and notification. It seeks to distinguish between what businesses need to do to comply with the legal requirements and what they can do by way of best practice. The Commission indicated that it would review this guidance and FSA consulted formally (in July 2005) to inform its input to this process. As yet, a review has not been undertaken.

The Commission has also published a leaflet on the key obligations of food and feed business operators under EU food safety legislation, which summarises the obligations as follows:

Key obligations of food and feed business operators

• Safety: Operators shall not place unsafe food or feed on the market.
  
• Responsibility: Operators are responsible for the safety of the food and feed which they produce, transport, store or sell.
  
• Traceability: Operators shall be able to rapidly identify the immediate supplier and immediate recipient of the product: ie one up and one down traceability.
  
• Transparency: Operators shall immediately inform the competent authorities (in the UK, FSA and relevant enforcement authority) if they have reason to believe that their food or feed is not safe.
  
• Emergency: Operators shall immediately withdraw food or feed from the market if they
  
• Prevention: Operators shall identify and regularly review the critical points in their processes and ensure that controls are applied at those points: HACCP.
  
• Co-operation: Operators shall co-operate with the competent authorities in actions taken to reduce risks.

Also of relevance to compliance with general food law obligations are FSA’s Guidance Notes on Preventing and Responding to Food Incidents published in April 2008.

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