EU legislation: General Food Law

If you want to export food products to the EU, you have to take into account that food safety is the most important requirement. The EU has laid down numerous regulations and directives that aim to guarantee that only safe food enters the EU market. The basis of the EUs food safety legislation is the General Food Law which introduces requirements on safe food, responsibilities, traceability, labelling and packaging . Product Food: (Un)processed substance intended to be consumed by humans, including drinks and any substance incorporated in the food at any stage of production. Requirements Relate to safety, hygiene, composition, labelling and traceability. Why To ensure food safety to EU consumers and protect them from misleading information. How to comply Consider implementing a food safety management system, since EU buyers often require this as a documented proof of compliance.

For EU authorities, companies, and consumers safety is the most important ingredient of their food. To ensure food safety, the EU has laid down strict safety requirements for all food imported into the EU. Above all, your products must meet safety requirements that are at least equal to those required in the EU. Complying with the food safety requirements is not as simple as it may sound. The EUs food policy is comprehensive and one of the strictest in the world. The policy covers not 1 just safe food, but also animal health, animal welfare , plant health and extends to food hygiene. It ensures that food is traceable throughout the food chain, from the farm, where the food is grown, to the tables, where the food is consumed by EU consumers (so-called farm-to-fork approach). As such, all actors in the food supply chain, including producers and exporters in developing countries, are involved in making sure that only safe food enters the EU market.
Which products fall under the concept of food? Any processed, partially processed or unprocessed substance or product intended to be, or reasonably expected to be, consumed by humans. This includes drinks, chewing gum and any substance, including water, intentionally incorporated into the food during its manufacture, preparation or treatment.

The EUs food policy consists of two elements that together assure food safety: 1. 2. Legislation on the safety of food; Food control.

This document provides information on the structure of the food safety legislation and a more detailed description of its underlying principles. More information on food control can be found in the CBI document EU legislation: food control.

Apart from fishery products food and feed of animal origin do not fall within the scope of the CBI product groups. These product groups are therefore not included further in this document.
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EU legislation: General Food Law

Outline of EU legislation
The basis of the EU food safety policy is Regulation (EC) 178/2002, also known as the General Food Law. The General Food Law lays down general definitions, principles, obligations and requirements which apply to all food brought on the EU market. These general principles form a horizontal framework. They are supplemented by: 1. Horizontal legislations:

These legislations apply to a wide range of food products to assure a specific type of consumer protection. For example, the EU considers consumer protection necessary in the case of pesticide use and the use of antibiotics and hormones, the addition of colourings, vitamins and minerals, and products intended to come into contact with food (food contact materials), such as plastic packaging. Specific labelling legislation enables EU consumers to facilitate identification of ingredients to which they may be allergic and to know for sure what nutrition claims like low fat and high fibre actually mean. 2. Vertical legislations:

These legislations cover particular food products that due to their product-specific characteristics require specific safety precautions. Examples are: baby food, coffee extracts, fresh fruit and vegetables, fishery products, frozen food, honey, olive oil, sugars and wine. More information on aforementioned and other supplemental legislations, refer to the CBI database where you can find documents providing information on these topics.

General principles
Behind all the legislations that the EU established to guarantee food safety lie five main principles. Those principles are anchored in the General Food Law and reflect the EUs philosophy on safe food. Understanding these principles may help you to optimise your potential to gain access to the EU market. It is important to keep these principles in mind, when preparing your business for export to the EU. Principle 1: Food safety Safety is the most important ingredient of food exported to the EU. But when is food considered unsafe? When the EU is determining if a food is unsafe, it takes into account: the normal conditions of use by the EU consumer and at each stage of production, processing and distribution; the information provided to the consumer (e.g. through labelling). Either way, the EU considers food to be unsafe when it is: injurious to health: Injuries relate to probable immediate, short term and long term effects on health (including on future generations), probable cumulative toxic effects and particular health sensitivities of a specific category of consumers (e.g. children); unfit for human consumption: When the food is unacceptable for human consumption according to its intended uses, due to contaminations caused by extraneous matter, putrefaction, deterioration or decay.

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EU legislation: General Food Law

Based on these two criteria, a food can be appointed unsafe even when it complies with all supplemental safety legislations established by the EU. This for example happens in cases where new hazards are found for which no legislation exist (yet). In other words, despite compliance with specific legislations, official food control agencies can withdraw a product from the market, if they have reason to suspect the food is unsafe.
Rapid alert system to combat food safety problems at an early stage In order to combat problems from potentially unsafe food at an early stage, the EU operates a rapid alert system (RASFF) to avoid exposure to food poisoning by EU consumers. When a threat is spotted, alerts go out across the EU. It may be sufficient to stop a single batch, but, if necessary, all shipments of a particular farm, factory or port of entry will be stopped. Products already in warehouses and shops can be recalled as well. More information with illustrative examples of notified threats can be found in the CBI document EU legislation: Product safety for food products (cases).

Principle 2: Responsibilities All actors active in the food supply chain (production, processing and distribution) have to ensure that food under their control meets the EU safety requirements at all times. This is an important requirement for food business operators. However, the EU can not regulate the activities of food business operators active outside the EU. So, how does this affect your activities? In principle, it is your EU importer who is responsible that the food he brings on the EU market complies with all relevant EU legislations. Ensuring food safety at the final market is evenly important as ensuring safety at the beginning of the supply chain (e.g. at the production stage). This implies that you are expected to use appropriate hygiene practices that assure that potential biological, chemical or physical hazards are prevented, eliminated or brought down to an acceptable level of safety (which means in line with the limits laid down in EU legislation). More information can be found in the CBI documents Supply chain management EU legislation: Hygiene (HACCP) and HACCP- Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point.
Additional requirements of EU Member States Food destined for a particular EU Member State, must also comply with national legislation. EU Member States have the power to lay down more stringent requirements when there are no EU legislations covering the issue. Therefore, check with your EU importer if such additional requirements exist.

Many EU importers will require you to have your products and/or processes certified by an independent, but accredited, party. Certification is considered one of the best assurances of food safety. More information can be found in the CBI documents Food safety management systems and Certification. Principle 3: Traceability Traceability means that the origin of a food or food ingredient can be retrieved through all stages of production, processing and distribution. This means that all food actors active in the EU must be able to demonstrate through documentation from whom they bought the food and to whom they supplied it. To fulfil their own obligations, most EU importers require documentation from their suppliers, which shows from whom they retrieved their

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EU legislation: General Food Law

supplies. This implies that it is important to have a record keeping system in place to provide the information when requested by EU importers. More information can be found in the CBI document Traceability of food. Principle 4: Precautionary principle Science is the essential foundation on which the EU bases decisions on food. In deciding what to do, the EU applies the precautionary principle. An independent agency based in Parma in Italy, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), provides scientific advice when EU legislation is being drafted and when EU policymakers are dealing with an existing or emerging food risk. The precautionary principle means, that it will act without waiting for scientific certainty if the scientists say there is at least a potential danger. For you, as a producer/exporter, this means that a product which you are exporting or about to export to the EU can be prohibited, when new available research indicates potential hazards. Principle 5: Presentation To allow EU consumers to make informed decisions about the food they buy, the EU has laid down requirements on how food must be labelled, advertised and presented (including their shape, appearance, packaging and packaging materials used). Above all, information presented to the consumer may not be misleading. As a result, even if all requirements regarding packaging and labelling are met, your products could be withdrawn from the EU market, if it is considered misleading to consumers. More information can be found in the CBI document Food labelling.
International food standards There are some international quality or safety standards that are used as references in international trade. Compliance with such a standard can make the difference between being able to find markets in the EU and not being able. The most relevant ones are those developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). More information can be found in the CBI document International quality standards on agricultural products: UNECE standards and Codex Alimentarius.

Related documents Please find below an overview of other legislative and non-legislative requirements that are of relevance. Some of the requirements are shortly highlighted in this document. More details however, can be found in the CBI database under the following document titles: Legislation: EU legislation: Hygiene of food (HACCP) EU legislation: Food control EU legislation: Food labelling EU legislation: Product safety for food products (cases) Non legislation: Certification Food Safety Management Systems HACCP- Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point International quality standards on agricultural products: UNECE standards and Codex Alimentarius

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EU legislation: General Food Law

Traceability of food

Last updated: July 2012 This document was compiled for CBI by CREM B.V. Disclaimer CBI market information tools: http://www.cbi.eu/disclaimer

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