ABSTRACT
Access to a sufficient amount of safe food is one of the basic human needs. While the very personal act of eating mainly takes place in private households (Meier, 2004), many aspects of the production and processing of food and the control of these processes have been brought from the private to the public forefront. There has always been an urge for governmental control of certain aspects of the food system. With the advent of the industrial revolution, food adulteration has become an issue of systematic regulation by the state (Tannahill, 1973). Since then, the realm of the state and of private actors in the market (i.e. firms and consumers) has constantly been changing. The BSE crisis in Europe, the associated revision of European food law and globalization are driving forces that have lead to a heated debate on the division of coercive (state) and voluntary (market) aspects of food safety regulation. In addition, as argued by Reich (1994), the enlargement of the European market has modified legislation, shifting the focus from a credulous consumer to one who is critical and of average sophistication.
