The contemporary governance of food safety: taking stock and looking ahead
Main Article Content
Keywords
food safety, legislation, EU WTO, chemical contamination, microbiological safety
Abstract
The food safety sector has grown extensively during the last two decades. Both in Europe and in the United States, we can observe a surge of regulatory activity on the one hand, and institutional proliferation accompanied by technological expertise for the purpose of monitoring, on the other hand. At the same time, mechanisms have been installed to allow a faster and more effective reaction to food-related infection outbreaks. Where do we stand today with respect to food safety regulation? And what are the main challenges faced for the future? This is the question addressed by this article. We first consider the European food safety legislative system, as this has emerged over the last years. The European system represents the first comprehensive food safety regulation framework that is tailored to modern challenges. The second section considers the governance structures operating at national and international levels as well as in the private sector for dealing with food safety. The third section compares the different approaches to food safety in two key sub-sectors, namely chemical contamination and microbiological safety. Based on this analysis, we outline in the concluding section the main challenges facing the food safety sector in the future.
References
Billy T.J. (2002) HACCP – a work in progress.Food Control,13,359–362.
Boutrif E. (2003) The new role of codex Alimentarius in the context of WTO/SPS agreement.Food Control,14,81–88.
Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). (1997) Principles for the establishment and application of microbiological criteria for foods.CAC/GL,21.
Dreyer M., Renn O., Borkhart K., Ortleb J. (2006) InstitutionalRe-Arrangements in European food safety governance. In: Food Safety Regulation in Europe – A Comparative InstitutionalAnalysiseds Vos E., Wendler F. Intersentia, Antwerpen, 9–64.
EFSA. (2007) Opinion of the scientific panel on contaminants in the food chain on a request from the commission related to potential increase of consumer health risk by a possible increase of the existing maximum levels for aflatoxins in almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios and derived products.EFSAJournal,446, 1–3.
European Commission (2000) White Paper on food safety, Brussels, CEC (COM 99, 719).
European Commission – DG JRC IPTS. (2005) ‘‘Final Report –food supply chains dynamics and quality certification’’, DG-JRC and Institute for Prospective Technological Studies(Seville IPTS).
FDA. (2000) ‘‘Action levels for poisonous or deleterious substances in human food and animal feed’’ http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/lrd/fdaact.html#afla
Food Manufacture. (2005) Costs to rise with tougher BRCstandard.Food Manufacture,80, 10.
Havelaar A.H., Nauta M.J., Jansen J.T. (2004) Fine-tuning food safety objectives and risk assessment.International Journal of food Microbiology,93, 11–23.
Henson S. (2006) ‘‘The role of public and private standards in regulating international food markets’’, Paper prepared for theIATRC Summer Symposium ‘‘food regulation and trade: institutional framework, concepts of analysis and empirical evidence’’, Bonn, Germany, May 28–30 2006.
Joppen L. (2003) Battle of the codes.Food Engineering andIngredients,28.
K ?onig A. (2006) Governance of food safety in the EuropeanUnion. In: Global Governance of Food and AgricultureIndustriesed. Carruth R.A. pp. 152–153, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.
Lindner L.F. (2007) Regulating food safety: the power of alignment and drive towards convergence. Innovation; the European Journal of Social Science Research,21, 133–143.
OECD. (1999) ‘‘Regulatory reform and international standardisation’’, OECD Working Papers TD/TC/WP (98)36/FINAL, OECD.
Poli S. (2004) The European Community and the adoption of international food standards within the Codex Alimentarius Commission.European Law Journal,10, 613–630.
Post D. (2006) The precautionary principle and risk assessment in international food safety: how the world trade organisation influences standards.Risk Analysis,26, 1259–1273.
TEEC (2003).Evaluation of the food labeling legislation: framework contract for evaluation and evaluation-related services. DG-SANCO, Brussels.
UNCTAD. (2007) ‘‘The rise and implications of voluntary private standards for access of developing countries to key export markets’’, background note Joint UNCTAD/WTO InformalInformation Session on Private Standards.
van Waarden (2006) Taste, traditions, and transactions. In: What’s the Beef? The Contested Governance of European FoodSafetyMisc: ed Ansell C., Vogel D. MIT Press, Cambridge,35–60.
Article Sidebar
Article Details
