Legal Foundations For A Just Eu Food System

EU food policies, most recently articulated through the Farm to Fork Strategy, take sustainability as their normative compass. In doing so, the EU presents sustainability as a unitary value without addressing the potential normative conflicts intrinsic to it. In addition, the EU food policy reform does not provide a clear path to systemic change. The goal of this article is to make recommendations for a transformation of the EU food system, by reflecting on the implications of a systems approach to EU food governance and a critical review of the normative framework that guides this transformation. To start, the article surveys the predominantly non-legal food systems literature and analyses what food systems thinking implies for the legal conception of the EU food system. Next, the article analyses the current food legislation and the foreseeable legal proposals under the 2019 Commission's Green Deal from a food system perspective. The article finds that a) systems thinking is not yet taken serious in the ongoing legislative reform and that b) the current normative framework is insufficiently clear on its normative foundations.

This volume presents the viewpoints of academics, food lawyers, industry and consumer representatives as well as those of EU policymakers on the first ten years of activity of one of the most prominent European agencies. Its broader purpose, however, is to discuss the future role played by EFSA within the rapidly-evolving area of EU food law and policy. By revisiting and discussing the milestones in the history of EFSA, the collection provides forward-looking views of food leaders and practitioners on the future scientific and regulatory challenges facing the European Union. In particular, by presenting a critical assessment of the agency’s activities within its different areas of work, the book offers readers a set of innovative tools for evaluating policy recommendations and better equips experts and the public to address pressing regulatory issues in this emotive area of law and policy. Despite its celebratory mood, the book’s focus is more about the future than the past of EU food law and policy. Each chapter discusses how EFSA’s role has evolved and identifies what it should have done differently while presenting an overall assessment of how the agency has discharged its mandate.

International Food Law and Policy is the first interdisciplinary piece of academic literature of its kind with a comprehensive, reader-friendly approach to teaching the major aspects of food regulation, law, policy, food safety and environmental sustainability in a global context. The sections are grouped by continents and focus on a range of cross-disciplinary subjects, such as public health, international food trade, the right to food, intellectual property and global regulatory aspects of food production. With its systematic approach, this book will be a valuable resource both for professionals working in food regulation and anyone interested in the subject. It provides a solid foundation for courses and master’s programs in environmental management, food law, policy and regulation, and sustainable development around the world.

In recent years, food law has taken on an increasingly prominent role in political discourse, with calls for a more sustainable food system challenging the legal status quo. A thorough legal perspective is thus indispensable for grasping the complexities of the EU food system and political quests for change. In the first monograph of its kind, Hanna Schebesta and Kai Purnhagen offer an authoritative and comprehensive overview of EU food legislation. Drawing on the authors' experience researching and teaching in the field, EU Food Law explores how political paradigms have shaped the development of laws in a variety of domains, including food technology, food safety, food information, food quality, nutrition, and sustainability. The book begins with insightful analyses of the historical foundations of EU food law and two existing umbrella frameworks: the General Food Law Regulation and the Official Controls Regulation. The book then presents an in-depth discussion of the food law acquis before contextualising EU law against international food law. Schebesta and Purnhagen have created the definitive resource on EU food law, offering a balanced treatment of the subject across eighteen carefully structured chapters. This volume is essential reading for students, academics, and practitioners alike.

Chapters written by foremost international experts in their fields Editors’ notes written for classroom use and background information Figures and tables providing illustrations of important concepts Case studies delivering practicality and in-depth analysis to current events A special chapter on Covid-19 and its implications for the food system

Two worlds that in academia remain largely separated are brought together in this book in a unique way; the world of food safety law and the world of the right to food. Key features include: (1) an up to date reflection of the status quo on food law related research written by those who are at the forefront of research in the functional field of food law; (2) a collection of contributions from all continents of the world; and (3) covering human rights, international law, European law and non-European law dimensions. This book is written as a Liber Amicorum in honour of Professor Bernd van der Meulen, who was the Chair of Law and Governance at Wageningen University (2001-2018), and established food law as an academic discipline in the Netherlands. In 29 contributions the functional field of food law is discussed. The contributors are researchers and academics from around the globe, and are above all friends who have worked with Bernd during his time at Wageningen University. In this book, they share their latest insights, research and thoughts on this fascinating and highly relevant field.

This book provides a broad conspectus on the application of EU and international regulation of the food sector on English law. It is aimed at practitioners and students of this vital and emerging branch of law, which has become an important part of current political and legal debate. It is written not just for lawyers as a statement of current law, but is also aimed at all those involved or interested in the food industry who wish to familiarise themselves with how the law is applied practically in this jurisdiction. The book commences with a short conceptual framework for the study of food law. It then provides a comprehensive and up-to-date account of current English law, explaining fully the detailed processes by which both international and national law and EU decision making have impacted upon most aspects of the production, sale and consumption of food in England. The book explains and assesses the operation of the current law by describing in detail the roles of Government, the Food Standards Agency and local enforcement authorities in the making and enforcing of laws concerning food. The work contains full outlines of the developments in the most significant areas of food law. It concentrates specifically on topics such as food labelling and advertising, quality and compositional requirements, geographical food names, genetic modification, organic production, animal welfare and also the role of law in tackling poor health, obesity, and diet-related disease. The book, though primarily designed as a law text, goes beyond the usual confines of such works. It sets out to explain and describe the impact of successive food crises, such as BSE and the use of horsemeat in beef products, on food safety and transparency requirements. The book considers and assesses how the existing rules on the chemical and biological safety of food impact on our law, and concludes with a review of the developing legal issues concerning the environmental impacts of current and proposed food law, in particular the relationship between food law, climate change and food security.

Food law is a rapidly developing area, with interest being driven at the consumer, handler and farm level. This introductory textbook provides an overview of the concepts necessary for an understanding of food law and regulations, providing the non-specialist reader with a more comprehensive understanding of food systems from production to consumption. Food Systems Law first introduces the US legal system and then moves on to explain the Federal Regulation of Food systems, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and the Farm Bill, the single most important piece of legislation which impacts the way in which federal resources are used within the food industry. The following chapters provide concise explanations of key topics including food safety, food labeling, organic certification and food waste, with examples from US law and policy included. Importantly, the book also addresses key topics which overlap with food law, such as environmental, health and agricultural law. This textbook is geared towards a non-legal audience, particularly students of interdisciplinary food studies and food science who are taking food law courses, as well as those studying agricultural law, food policy and environmental law. It will also be of interest to professionals working in the food industry and those who want to learn more about how food is regulated.

Globalisation and technological innovation have been fuelling the need for increasing levels of trust in private actors, such as companies or special interest groups, to regulate and enforce significant aspects of people's daily lives: from environmental and social protection to the areas of food safety, advertising and financial markets. This book investigates the trust vested in private actors from the perspective of European citizens. It answers the question of whether private actors live up to citizens' expectations or whether more should be done as to the safeguarding of citizens' interests. Several cross-cutting studies explore how private regulation and enforcement are embedded in EU law. The book offers an innovative approach to private regulation and enforcement by focusing on the specific EU context which, unlike the national and transnational ones, has not yet been widely explored. This context merits a stand-alone analysis because of the unique normative framework of the EU, as a particular polity itself but also in relation to its Member States. With an overall analysis of the main aspects of private regulation and enforcement across different policy fields of the EU, the book adds a missing tile to the mosaic of public–private governance studies.