Sofie van der Meulen, Gilles Boin, Ioanna Bousoula, Nicola Conte-Salinas, Valeria Paganizza, Francesco Montanari, Vicente Rodriguez Fuentes, Bernd van der Meulen

European Food and Feed Law Review, Volume 10 (2015), Issue 1, Page 2 - 13

To cover up the horsemeat fraud, criminal food business operators tempered with their bookkeeping. This adversely affected the traceability of horsemeat and beef alike. This article assesses to what extent national food safety authorities in seven EU Member States issued recall orders to deal with this situation. Since no measurable food safety problems have been found, several countries consider that the conditions of Article 19 of Regulation 178/2002 have not been met. In some of these countries recalls orders, nevertheless, were issued based on national food law that has a wider scope. Other countries consider disruption of traceability sufficient justification to invoke Article 19.

Gilles Boin

European Food and Feed Law Review, Volume 8 (2013), Issue 4, Page 247 - 258

A draft law modifying the French Consumer Code was prepared by the government1 and is currently examined by the Parliament. Certain provisions, if they are adopted, will be of great interest for the food industry. In the context of the horsemeat crisis, the purpose of this draft is to increase and facilitate the sanction of frauds and unfair commercial practices, and to give more powers to the control services to supervise the market. This is a legitimate objective. However, it should not be the occasion to deprive, or to discourage, the food industry from defending its positions in a matter of high regulatory and technical complexity. Readers of this review know that food labeling, food composition, etc. are not the easiest fields of law to deal with. Sometime, what seems to look like a lack of conformity or a fraud could turn into a question of legal interpretation if we take into consideration all the sources of law (French and EU laws, codes of practices, case law precedents, etc.) and the necessary compatibility between them. Increasing sanctions and powers of control is legitimate, but it should be accompanied by the protection of the rights to defend. This second part is the weak part of the draft law. The draft law is not adopted yet. We are at the very beginning of the legislative process, and it will probably be modified and will have to be completed by implemented decrees. Hereunder is a flavor (not exhaustive) of what could be expected in the future.