EU food safety regulation in the aftermath of the BSE crisis

Until the outbreak of the BSE crisis, many of the Community's rules relating to food safety regulation were mainly created on an ad hoc basis and/or developed in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice. The BSE crisis, however, clearly demonstrated that where important political interests are at stake, this ad hoc approach is not sufficient to guarantee an effective and legitimate food safety policy and decision-making free from manipulation and capture. Therefore, the Commission has drastically revised its food safety policy. This article discusses the main elements of the new policy followed by the Commission. It analyses the new principles developed by both the Commission and the European Court of Justice. In conclusion it discusses the remaining challenges and gives some suggestions to further develop the emerging concept of Community food safety regulation. © 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers.