Food safety and traceability

UE legislation on food safety has the objective to ensure a high level of consumer protection as regards food products, through the adoption of a coherent set of norms regulating the process “from the farm to the table”: each production and transformation process, packaging, distribution, has to comply with health criteria and ensure that food is not polluted or contaminated,  or deteriorated, but also that the consumer is properly informed about the ingredients (with special attention to those being potentially allergenic) and about the origin. All food products being imported by extra-EU countries have to comply with the same safety levels and labelling rules: this is the reason why some producers who have no access to the European Market (e.g. meat producers from the United States, who cannot sell it Europe since it contains hormones, not allowed here) are making pressure on the WTO. With regard to these limitations, it is to be underlined that there is a serious problem of controls at the external frontiers on extra-EU products, since the import levels are increasing, as regards raw materials and finished products: producers have to make conformity declarations, but this is not sufficient and laboratory controls are necessary, even if expensive and time-consuming. This is very important both for a correct competition with EU producers and for consumer protection.  

In the EU hormones are not allowed in the agriculture and breeding; the use of pesticides and antibiotics is strictly regulated, as well as the addition of additives in food products; there are many prescriptions as regards the hygiene of production plants and processes.

Furthermore, to protect consumers, EU legislation expects a monitoring and control system, but most of all the traceability, that is the obligation to label foods so that it is always possible to trace back the production process and to identify the subjects, the origin etc. The production and trade of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) is subject to individual authorization procedures.

The EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) has been established in Parma and has tasks like co-ordination, scientific support and implementation of new procedures. At Community level, there is a rapid alert system for emergencies (e.g. whenever a harmful food product is circulating o the market).

There are still many aspects on which consumer organizations expressed worry and dissatisfaction, most of all as regards the effective implementation of these measures, namely in the new Member States, which are now doing their conformation and modernization process.

This system is really important to ensure consumer confidence and, as a consequence, an effective development of the Internal Market, with transparency and correct competition really guaranteed.
 

• Labelling

• Traceability