University of Twente Student Theses
Is our food safe? An Assessment: on the European Union food safety policy, concerning the safety of meat & animal-derived food products in the EU
Bonilla, Pawel (2015) Is our food safe? An Assessment: on the European Union food safety policy, concerning the safety of meat & animal-derived food products in the EU.
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| Abstract: | Since the 1990’s BSE food safety crisis across the EU, a new food safety policy was formulated in order to improve the former European food and hygiene regulatory structure. The current EU food safety policy consists of three interrelated components namely: (I) legislation on the safety of food and animal feed and food hygiene; (II) scientific assessment and communication on which to base policy decisions and (III) regulatory measures of enforcement and control at EU level. To guarantee the safety of meat and animal-derived food products in the EU, the food safety policy uses: General Food law (GFL) Regulation 178/2002 and Hygiene Package (HP) Regulations 852/853/854/2004. By design, these regulations are the core foundation to food and hygiene safety in the EU. From GFL the European Food Safety Authority was established who has an important task in the scientific assessment of food and hygiene safety in the EU. In addition these regulations stipulate the regulatory measures of enforcement and control at EU level for the regulatory regime. Even though the present EU food safety policy was a major improvement in contrast to the former policy, itnevertheless failed to guarantee the public health in the EU, as numerous major food safety crises demonstrated. Consequently this raises the question whether these events were just incidental or systemic in their procedures and how this could have happened. A qualitative content analysis, guided by four regulatory assessment criterion was conducted; to assess from a public administration perspective if the EU food safety policy is effective or ineffective in order to guarantee the safety of meat and animal-derived food products in the EU. The research findings show that the EU food safety policy is partially effective in achieving its primary goal. On the other hand, there are also several important deficits concerning General Food Law, Hygiene Package and the regulatory regime unit; the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). These deficits are ambiguous or unclear provisos; in addition to not enough transparency and expertise, which could unnecessarily, endangers the life of the general public in the EU if they are not improved. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 88 social and public administration, 89 political science |
| Programme: | European Studies MSc (69303) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/67003 |
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