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Food safety and quality concern increasingly both consumers and the entire food sector involved. The European Union has implemented specific legislation for food products in order to monitor food safety and quality, protecting each country's culture, history and local economy at the same time. Moreover, Europe's heritage is being enriched, by establishing quality schemes such as Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). Europe's interest and concern regarding food safety proved also by Framework Program 5 Horizon 2020 continuous funding.Food traceability as well as food authentication constitute inseparable parts of food safety and quality. This systematic review presents innovative research technologies which are used in Europe for food traceability and authentication and published within the period 2010–2018. Moreover, information about the method used, the country of origin, the food type and the level of food process, are provided.This paper offers a new possible approach regarding the combination of the existing definitions of food traceability and authentication, as far as food provenance is concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) is a pathogenic bacteria able to grow at refrigerated temperatures, widely distributed in the environment. This bacteria is susceptible to contaminate various food products of which refrigerated ready-to-eat foods (RTEF) may pose a risk for public health. In Europe, food business operators (FBOs) shall ensure that foodstuffs comply with the relevant microbiological criteria set out in the Regulation (EC) N°2073/2005. Food safety criteria for Lm are defined in RTEF throughout their shelf-life. FBOs should implement studies to demonstrate that the concentration of Lm does not exceed 100 CFU/g at the end of the shelf-life, taking into account foreseeable conditions of distributions, storage and use, including the use by consumers. However, this last part of the cold chain for food products is the most difficult to capture and control. For this purpose, the European Union Reference Laboratory for Lm (EURL Lm) launched an inquiry to its National Reference Laboratory network and reviewed the scientific literature from 2002 to 2020. The outcomes were integrated in the technical guidance document of the EURL Lm to assess shelf-life of RTEF which resulted in the recommendation to use 10 °C as the reference temperature to simulate the reasonably foreseen storage conditions in domestic refrigerators. • Evaluation of domestic refrigerator temperatures in Europe. • Update of EURL Lm technical guidance document on shelf-life studies. • Impact of storage temperature of food on shelf-life studies related to Lm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The adverse relation between dietary trans fatty acid (TFA) intake and coronary artery disease risk is well established. Many countries in the European Union (EU) and worldwide have implemented different policies to reduce the TFA intake of their populations. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the added value of EU-level action by estimating the cost-effectiveness of 3 possible EU-level policy measures to reduce population dietary TFA intake. This was calculated against a reference situation of not implementing any EU-level policy (i.e., by assuming only national or selfregulatory measures). Design: We developed a mathematical model to compare different policy options at the EU level: 1) to do nothing beyond the current state (reference situation), 2) to impose mandatory TFA labeling of prepackaged foods, 3) to seek voluntary agreements toward further reducing industrially produced TFA (iTFA) content in foods, and 4) to impose a legislative limit for iTFA content in foods. Results: The model indicated that to impose an EU-level legal limit or to make voluntary agreements may, over the course of a lifetime (85 y), avoid the loss of 3.73 and 2.19 million disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), respectively, and save >51 and 23 billion euros when compared with the reference situation. Implementing mandatory TFA labeling can also avoid the loss of 0.98 million DALYs, but this option incurs more costs than it saves compared with the reference option. Conclusions: The model indicates that there is added value of an EU-level action, either via a legal limit or through voluntary agreements, with the legal limit option producing the highest additional health benefits. Introducing mandatory TFA labeling for the EU common market may provide some additional health benefits; however, this would likely not be a cost-effective strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a regime of harmonized permitted health claims under Regulation 1924/20061 (the Claims Regulation), differentiating commercial communications from others has become a challenge in the food industry. The Flexibility Principle, laid down in Recital (9) of Regulation 432/2012,2,3 plays a key role here, allowing for the use of a wording different from that expressly authorized. The use of health claims referring directly to the brand name of a product (Brand-specific Claims), instead of the specific nutrient or other substance subject of the authorized claim, is expressly prohibited in the recommendations on general principles on flexibility of wording for health claims4 (Flexibility Guidance). This article examines the legality of such outright prohibition in the light of EU law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food safety has been a growing concern among European Union ( EU) citizens over the last decades. Despite the fact that food has never been safer, consumers are considerably uncertain and increasingly critical about the safety of their food. The introduction of new principles, such as the primary responsibility of producers, traceability, risk analysis, the separation of risk assessment and risk management provided a more transparent, science-based system in Europe, which can help to restore consumers' lost confidence. The present EU integrated approach to food safety 'from farm to fork' aims to assure a high level of food safety within the EU. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Parliament and the Council Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 modifies existing food labelling provisions in the European Union to allow consumers to make informed choices and to make safe use of food, while at the same time ensure the free movement of legally produced and marketed food. It entered into force on 12 December 2011. It shall apply starting from 13 December 2014. Following an informal working practice, the Commission's Health and Consumer Directorate General has published a document ["Questions and Answers on the application of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers"] in order to provide answers to a series of questions concerning the application of the Regulation. This document aims at assisting all players in the food chain as well as the competent national authorities to better understand and correctly apply the above-mentioned Regulation. However, it has no formal legal status and in the event of a dispute, ultimate responsibility for the interpretation of the law lies with the Court of Justice of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers an overview of the competitive impact of the joint purchasing agreements (JPAs) or buying alliances in Europe's food chain. It explores the role of JPAs in the European Union (EU) competition law, case law, and the decisions taken by the European Commission, analyzing whether this offers a ground to pay closer attention to the formation and operation of the large buyer alliances in the grocery retail industry. It also explores how case law and decisions are distributed in the dimensions of buyer power as well as downstream market power.

The so-called Hygiene Package is the EU's legal linchpin for ensuring the production of safe food within and outside the Union. This legislation aims to cover a vast array of food products and processes; from basic, commonsensical rules on the storage of fresh fruit and vegetables to the complex standards for animal slaughter and hygienic carcass handling. In addition, the Hygiene Package applies to a broad variety of different food business operators - from major international companies with huge production output and regulatory resources to farming families producing solely for local markets. Of course, all food, irrespective of the commodity concerned or the nature of its production, must achieve the same level of safety. However, a concern over the threat of excessive and disproportionate hygiene standards for small businesses, including, but not limited to, those in the artisanal and traditional food sectors, is also to be found in the Hygiene Package's provisions. So-called 'flexibilities' exist throughout the Hygiene Package to guard against this risk of over-regulation. These flexibilities cannot and do not represent carte blanche exemptions from the Hygiene Package and must continue to satisfy the overall principles of food risk regulation as set down in the EU's General Food Law. This article examines the extent to which the flexibilities foreseen by the Hygiene Package really enable a proportionately tailored regulatory regime for small-scale food business operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most fundamental notion underlying ten years of reform of EU food safety law has been codified in Article 14(1) of Regulation (EC) 178/2002: food shall not be placed on the market if it is unsafe. This notion has been elaborated in most of the rest of EU food law, first and foremost in the other paragraphs of Article 14. This contribution analyses Article 14 and argues in favour of a text-conform interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Switzerland is not a Member State of the European Union and European Law is not applicable in Switzerland. However, several legal provisions in Swiss law contain references to European Regulations and Directives. Other Swiss provisions are transcripts of European regulations, the so called "autonomous adaptation" of European Law into Swiss Law. In this way Switzerland has been able to adopt most of the content of European Food Law, but it was also able to choose from the European provisions or to interpret and correct them. In 2010 Switzerland started to revise completely its Federal Act of 9 October 1992 on Foodstuffs and Utility Articles (Foodstuffs Act, FSA). One aim of this revision is the adoption of the principles of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 which have not been implemented in Swiss Food Law yet. The message and the draft of the revised act were published in May 2011. This revision can be seen as an acknowledgment of the achievements of the European General Food Law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers news briefs related to the European Union (EU) food policy in Europe. Health claims that have been officially banned in the EU are being advertised due to its submission to the Article 13 generic list. The European Commission will possibly include some elements on food from cloned animals in the second Novel Foods proposal. Despina Spanou, chairman of Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, recommends the food industry to use the media in handling obesity.

This article is an overview of the recent EU law regulating fortification. The addition of nutrients into commonly eaten foods has been a common practice for many centuries. The practice is now known as "fortification" and is regularly used by European food manufactures, as well as worldwide. Prior to the new EU regulation Member State rules on the voluntary addition of vitamins and minerals to foods varied widely. In some States it was allowed, without restriction, to add vitamins and mineral to the food, if the addition did not pose any risk to health. In others, the addition or the enrichment was only allowed if it could be demonstrated that there was a nutritional need. These differences posed problems for free movement of goods in the EU. Foods produced in one Member State did not meet the standards applicable in other Member States. The purpose of EC Regulation 1925/2006 is to harmonise this area of the law so as to remove technical barriers to the free movement of goods but at the same time to set a high level of consumer protection across the Union. The Regulation covers the addition of vitamins and minerals and of certain other substances to foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of fermented foods is one of the oldest food processing technologies known to man. Since the dawn of civilisation, methods for the fermentation of milks, meats, fish and vegetables have been used to produce safe foods with distinctive organoleptic properties. Microbial food cultures (MFC) with a technological impact on food are called "starter cultures". They may be present as natural microflora in the food, or as a result of the intentional addition of the microorganisms in an industrial food fermentation process. MFC that are used for their beneficial effect on consumers' health are called probiotics. Probiotics are always intentionally added to the food as they have been carefully selected and studied to guarantee that they provide a proven beneficial effect to consumers. They may be used in both fermented and non-fermented foods such as food supplements. This paper aims to provide an overview of the European regulatory framework which governs the use and labelling of commercial microbial food cultures intentionally added in a food manufacturing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article evaluates the agrofood trade specialization patterns of Southeastern European (SEE-6) countries with the European Union (EU-15) in the period 1995-2007. Agrofood trade specialization stability and duration are investigated by main agrofood products groups according to the degree of product processing and the dynamics in demand growth by EU-15 markets. Excepting Serbia and Montenegro, and to a lesser extent the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the SEE experienced an increasing trade deficit in agrofood products with the EU-15. SEE-6 agrofood exports to the EU-15 markets are highly concentrated in bulk raw commodities with a lack of export specialization for higher-valued processed consumer-ready food. The most recent SEE agrofood export deconcentration is due to new emerging competitive niche products as a result of the SEE agrofood sector restructuring. Except in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, SEE agrofood export specialization is toward the most dynamic demand growth products by the EU-15 markets. Regression and survival analyses confirm that EU integration increases stability and duration of agrofood trade specialization on the EU-15 markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The EU is currently struggling to implement coherent coexistence regulations on genetically modified (GM) and non-GM crops in all member states. While it stresses that any approach needs to be “proportionate to the aim of achieving coexistence”, very few studies have actually attempted to assess whether the proposed spatial ex ante coexistence regulations (SEACERs) satisfy this proportionality condition. In this article, we propose a spatial framework based on an existing landscape and introduce the concept of shadow factor as a measure for the opportunity costs induced by SEACERs. Our empirical findings led us to advance the proposition that flexible SEACERs based on pollen barriers are more likely to respect the proportionality condition than rigid SEACERs based on isolation distances. Particularly in early adoption stages, imposing rigid SEACERs may substantially slow down GM crop adoption. Our findings argue for incorporating a certain degree of flexibility into SEACERs by advising pollen barrier agreements between farmers rather than imposing rigid isolation distances on GM farmers. The empirical questions of proportionality and flexibility have been largely ignored in the literature on coexistence and provide timely information for EU policy makers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Proposal for the Provision of Information to Consumers is best known for its aim to tackle obesity by providing clear information to consumers. However it is also being used as a way in which to address what has been described as "an missed opportunity" by the European Court of Justice in the Lidl, Italia case to set out the different responsibilities of food business operators through out the food chain. This article analysis these new proposed provisions and its potential impact on the laws of the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to assess the competitiveness of the European food industry from an economic and legal perspective. Knowledge of its present competitiveness and improvement opportunities are lacking. To close this knowledge gap, we measured the competitiveness of eight subsectors, benchmarked them with four leading world economies, assessed the effect of differences in legal requirements, and predicted future developments using scenario analysis. International economics indicators supplemented with data on legal issues from a survey conducted by leading experts were used to measure competitiveness. The results show that the EU food industry's competitiveness is weak. The legal system was positively evaluated compared to the U.S. system, but major improvements are possible. The recommendations are to improve economies of scale, economies of scope, ICT-based supply chain management, and exploit cultural differences through innovation, within a more flexible and streamlined legal framework. [Econlit. Citations:F14, L66; Q13]. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the food sustainability challenges facing the 27-nation member European Union (EU). It describes the evolution of sustainable development policy in Europe against the background of the EU's evolution and diverse membership, with particular reference to agriculture and food. It argues that while sustainability challenges in agriculture have received considerable policy attention, those facing the powerful manufacturing and retail segments of the food industry have barely been addressed. Given the scale and complexity of issues encompassing the food industry and its environmental, social, economic, and health effects, public health analysis and policy auditing should be "rethought" on the basis of an ecological public health perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The roles of business relationships and B2B communication in selected European agri-food chains are analyzed. Using survey data from 1,026 farmers, food processors and retailers in two commodity sectors (meat and cereals) and five different EU countries (Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland, Poland), we test the empirical relevance of several theory-based determinants of relationship goodness. This is undertaken for the overall dataset and separately for different supply chain stages (farmer-processor versus the processor-retailer relationship) and for the individual countries. The estimation results, derived from structural equation modeling, suggest that the most important contributor to good business relationships is effective communication, with its two components, adequate communication frequency and high information quality, being equally important. The existence of personal bonds and an equal power distribution between buyers and suppliers are the second most important goodness-of-relationship determinants, while in addition the embeddedness of an agri-food enterprise in the local economy seems to contribute positively to good business relationships. The analysis also reveals that the relative importance of these determinants differs across the two considered stages of supply chain relationships and between the countries investigated. Agri-food business managers seeking to improve their supplier or buyer relationships need to consider the crucial role of effective communication and the positive contribution that the existence of personal bonds can make to the development and maintenance of sustainable relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers opinion on the changing scientific peer review process in Europe. Basic questions have been posed about the scientific advisory process in Great Britain as a result of successive food safety crises. The main issues have been the composition and remit of advisory boards and how their information was used by the British government. The European Union institutions have taken efforts to improve the quality and credibility of scientific evidence and peer review used in their decision making. Reforms include the creation of independent scientific committees, the creation of independent risk assessment agencies for both food and medicine and the introduction of a Commission-wide policy for the collection and use of expertise.

This article examines the European food industry's cross-border expansion and how that trend is affecting food tastes and consumption habits across the European Union. Through the examination of market dynamics, current food trends, consumer behavior, and the growth in private label products, the article attempts to explain the changing dynamics of the market. By highlighting these changing dynamics a potential clash between commerce and culture is identified and explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Program was introduced as a mandatory measure in the EU in the 1990s. Despite its impact on the food industry, only limited literature addresses the issue of cost and benefits of HACCP at the firm level in Europe. This paper illustrates the results of a pilot study on case studies in Italy, UK and The Netherlands, providing a first assessment of the order of magnitude of costs of compliance and a qualitative illustration of the main benefits perceived by producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cites a study which aims to give an overview of the research activities planned for acrylamide in the Heat-Generated Food Toxicants (HEATOX) project, a project funded by the European Union. Aim of the project to identify, characterize, and minimize the possible health risks from heat-generated food toxicants; Effort to give recommendations on how to minimize the formation of heat-induced hazardous compound in food products; Development and validation of new or optimized analytical methods both for analysis of toxicants in foods and for analysis of biomarkers in tissues.

The article reports that the health claims being rejected by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) over functional foods that claim to increase the immune system has stopped some companies in its tracks. The European Union (EU) regulation 1924/2006 ensures that health claims on food products are backed by science-evidence. Lucia De Luca, EFSA spokesperson, points out that the regulatory body simply works within the EU regulation, that requires scientific evidence to support health claims.