On the tenth anniversary of the adoption of Regulation 178/2002, this contribution focuses on European Union emergency measures adopted by the European Commission under Article 53(1)(b) of that Regulation concerning food or feed imported from third countries which constitutes a risk to human or animal health or the environment. It recalls the reasons why this legal basis for emergency measures was required, analyses the different types of measures adopted by the European Commission in responding to different risks and the procedures used and provides a critique of emergency measures from the perspective of risk analysis.