New: European Food Law Handbook

Just published:

European Food Law Handbook, by B. v.d. Meulen and M. v.d. Velde (Wageningen, Netherlands)

2008, 632 pages, hardback

The first decade of the twenty-first Century has witnessed a fundamental reform of European food law. We have now come to the point where modern EU food law has taken shape. This 'European food law handbook' is written in the perspective of food law embedded within general EU law. It highlights the consequences of this combination and provides insights in both substantive and procedural food law.

This handbook analyses and explains the institutional, substantive and procedural elements of EU food law, taking the General Food Law as a focus point. Principles are discussed as well as specific rules addressing food as a product, the processes related to food and communication about food through labelling. These rules define requirements on subjects like market approval for food additives, novel foods and genetically modified foods; food hygiene, tracking & tracing, withdrawal & recall. The powers of public authorities to enforce food law and to deal with incidents are set out. Attention is given to the international context (WTO, Codex Alimentarius) as well as to private standards.

The 'European food law handbook' is produced in co-operation with the European Institute for Food Law and is relevant for practitioners and scholars both with and without a background in law. It is ideal for education purposes.