How the EU is dealing with illegal food sold online during the COVID outbreak

How the EU is dealing with illegal food sold online during the COVID outbreak

September 18, 2020

This article was first published at IHS Markit (subscription required), 3 September 2020 The internet has become a platform for selling food across the globe. This phenomenon has even increased with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some malevolent operators use the current crisis as a business opportunity and have freed themselves from the EU food legislation, as Katia Merten-Lentz, partner at international law firm Keller and Heckman, and associate Caroline Commandeur write. More and more…

European Commission report on feed additives, their ingredients and traceability

September 4, 2020

The report finds that official controls in EU Member States on feed additives and their pre-mixtures, function largely well in context of the established risk-based control systems. However, it also outlines some areas for improvement such as the assessment of feed business operators’ hazard analysis and critical control points’ systems, the assessment of operators’ tests on homogeneity and measures to minimize unavoidable carry-over of certain feed additives, the follow-up of non-compliances, official controls on retained…

REFIT of the Nutrition and Health Claim Regulation: Outcomes and perspectives

August 21, 2020

This article was published on Food Navigator on the 6th of August. What does the EC’s fitness and performance check on Nutrition and Health Claims regulation suggest? On 20 May 2020, the European Commission completed the REFIT [1] Evaluation of the Regulation (EC) n°1924/2006 on Nutrition and Health claims (the NHCR). Even though the EU Commission concluded that the Regulation remains ‘fit for purpose’, it is clear from the report [2] that the NHCR…

Food Hygiene Regulation to be updated before the end of the year

August 7, 2020

Annexes I and II of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 lay down the general hygiene provisions that food business operators must comply with to ensure food safety throughout the food chain. The European Commission is empowered to update and adapt those Annexes, taking into account, among others, scientific advice (article 13). On this basis, the European Commission recently initiated a revision of the Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 to include new safety provisions related to the prevention…

Spotlight on Nutrient Profiles

July 24, 2020

In May, the European Commission published its ‘from-farm-to-table’ strategy which aims to introduce ‘nutrient profiles’ by Q4, 2022. The objective of nutrient profiles is to place limits on certain nutrients i.e. fats, sugars and salt that can be contained in foods which simultaneously claim certain health benefits. The introduction of the strategy is long-awaited and has been both contentious and politically charged. This article was published in Les Marchés on July 3rd, 2020 (French read…

You said Novel Food? For AG Bobek, whole insects intended for human consumption should not be considered ‘novel’

July 10, 2020

According to the Advocate General Bobek, whole insects intended for human consumption which are to be consumed as such, fall outside the scope of the Novel Food Regulation. In the case C‑526/19, the Advocate General delivered his Opinion and explained why, in his view, whole insects would not be Novel. He noted that: “While there is little doubt that whole animals, including insects, are indeed now covered by the new Regulation 2015/2283 [the Novel…

Organisms created through mutagenesis to be subjected to the same regulations as GMOs

June 26, 2020

In February, France’s Council of the State ordered a modification of the country’s Environment Code. The move was in response to the European case law which had ruled that organisms obtained through some mutagenesis techniques to be tolerant to herbicides are to be subjected to the same regulations as applied to genetically modified organisms. Katia explores the context of the decision as well as the legal practicalities. This article was published in Les Marchés…

New EU origin labelling rules

June 12, 2020

Since April 2020, new EU rules have taken effect requiring food businesses to label foods with the country of origin or place of provenance of primary ingredients. In this article Katia explores the new requirements. In summary, if the origin or provenance of a product’s primary ingredient is different to the origin or provenance currently indicated on the label of a food, food businesses may now have to provide additional information on packaging regarding the…

Adjusted EC Work Program for 2020 and new proposal Europe’s moment: Repair and Prepare for the Next Generation

May 29, 2020

This week, the European Commission published its adjusted Work Program for 2020 in reaction to the Covid-19 crisis. As explained in the Communication accompanying the adjusted work program, to date, the Commission has adopted 291 decisions and other acts since the beginning of the crisis. Almost all of these were neither planned, nor were featured in the Commission Work Programme for 2020. The adjusted Work program will prioritize the actions needed for the European Union…

The judicial framework of food fraud