Gundula Kjaer

European Food and Feed Law Review, Volume 13 (2018), Issue 4, Page 343 - 344

Antonio Menditto, Fabrizio Anniballi, Bruna Auricchio, Dario De Medici, Paolo Stacchini

European Food and Feed Law Review, Volume 12 (2017), Issue 5, Page 406 - 412

Within a package of measures adopted by the European Commission to modernise, consolidate and simplify the legislation covering the food chain, Regulation (EU) 2017/625 – amending certain EU legal acts and repealing certain other EU legal acts currently governing official controls and related matters – integrates into a single comprehensive legislative framework the rules applicable to official controls (OCs) and other official activities performed to ensure the application – along the food production chain – of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products. A number of new/revised terms, definitions, and provisions, introduced in the recitals or the legislative part of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, are noteworthy to human and veterinary public health. Among the 58 terms defined in the Regulation, the novel term ‘Union agri-food chain legislation’ (third recital) designates a concept which includes all the Union rules whose correct application has to be verified by Member States’ competent authorities according to the provisions set out in the Regulation itself. The introduction of this comprehensive legislative framework, relevant to the overall management of official controls (OC) in the EU, has made it necessary to adapt/replace or introduce certain (subordinate) terms and related definitions in the legislative part of Regulation (EU) 2017/625. In this paper, a selection of these terms – i.e. ‘operator’, ‘goods’, ‘animals’, ‘competent authorities’, ‘official control’, ‘rating’, ‘other official activities’, ‘official certification’, ‘hazard’ and ‘risk’ – will be further considered and discussed for their relevance to public health. The ‘Union agri-food chain legislation’ framework may represent a conceptual milestone in the pathway to the realisation of the ‘One Agri-Food Health’ holistic approach aiming at protecting, along the agri-food chain, health of humans, animals and plants, animal welfare and the environment.

Wahyu Yun Santoso, Sunarto, Edhi Martono, Harry Supriyono

European Food and Feed Law Review, Volume 12 (2017), Issue 6, Page 491 - 498

Food security is an important issue at present, moreover when it affects the National concept of food sovereignty. Among several food issues, transgenic foods is one main issue to be taken into account since the distribution of transgenic foods has considerably increased alsongsid in proportion to the elevation of people’s consumption volume. This paper aims to describe and explain the normative concept available in Indonesia on providing a framework for transgenic foods. By exploring the legal framework, it will show the ongoing and relevant discourse of legal issues in transgenic food. Several regulations are available to regulate the transgenic food in Indonesia, however lack of implementation as well as law enforcement have acted as its main obstacles.

Luis González Vaqué

European Food and Feed Law Review, Volume 12 (2017), Issue 6, Page 482 - 490

Mariya Baranovych, Tetiana Drok

European Food and Feed Law Review, Volume 12 (2017), Issue 6, Page 499 - 506

The system of state control over food products and feed, as well as animals’ health and welfare, belongs to the high-priority areas in Ukraine where harmonisation of the local regulations with the EU laws takes place. Since the Law of Ukraine “On Basic Principles and Requirements for Safety and Quality of Food Products” was adopted in 2014, some basic principles of the European state control system in food area have already been implemented in Ukraine. However, to ensure maximum efficiency of the state control system and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) between the EU and Ukraine, the adoption of the sectoral law was needed. So, the Ukrainian Parliament recently adopted a new Law of Ukraine “On State Control over Compliance with Legislation on Food Products, Feed, By-Products of Animal Origin, Animals’ Health and Welfare”, which has been supported by European experts and the European Commission. Thus, Ukraine made an important step to implement a risk-based approach and a system of state control equivalent to the European one. This article covers key ideas and principles of the new Ukrainian regulations and outlines the possible impact of the new rules on business operators.

Daniele Pisanello, Margherita Brunori

European Food and Feed Law Review, Volume 12 (2017), Issue 6, Page 526 - 528

Michele Mariano Arpaia

European Food and Feed Law Review, Volume 12 (2017), Issue 4, Page 335 - 342

Felt as a human need to be protected from the beginning of history, this paper briefly outlines the path that led to the birth - at the international level - of the right to food safety, by retracing the development and framing especially the turning point with the recall of the international food principles in the World Trade Organization agreements.

Ignacio Carreño

European Food and Feed Law Review, Volume 12 (2017), Issue 4, Page 321 - 325

Bernd van der Meulen

European Food and Feed Law Review, Volume 12 (2017), Issue 5, Page 392 - 405

Under EU medicinal law, substances presented as having properties for treating or preventing disease are medicinal products by virtue of their presentation. EU food law prohibits attributing to any food the property of preventing, treating or curing a disease. However, if certain conditions are fulfilled, it is allowed to make health claims for foods. Authorities in the Netherlands take the position that the EU prohibition on medicinal claims for foods is redundant because all products with such claims are medicinal products by virtue of their presentation. Thus, claims not (fully) authorised are enforced as infringements on medicinal law. The author systematically and comparatively analyses the food law prohibition on medicinal claims in relation to the concept of medicinal product by presentation. He argues that the presentation criterion is structural in nature and depends on the overall impression an averagely well-informed consumer acquires regarding a product. The prohibition on medicinal claims is behavioural in nature. It is possible to promise consumers too much regarding beneficial properties of a food without actually making them believe that the food is a medicinal product. The author argues against the Dutch interpretation and in favour of an interpretation adhered to by most other EU Member States.

European Food and Feed Law Review, Volume 12 (2017), Issue 6, Page 539 - 562