ABSTRACT
This chapter is dedicated to discussing the EU mandates to promote food safety in the area of Agriculture and the Internal Market in collaboration with several international organizations and to the analysis of the EC “White Paper on Food Safety”, adopted on 12 January 2000, with the goal of improving the level of health protection for food consumers in the European Union. The White Paper set out proposals for: (i) an action plan with a wide range of measures to improve and bring coherence to the Community’s legislation, covering all aspects of food products from “Farm to table” with over 80 separate actions; (ii) the establishment of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) based on the principles of independence, scientific excellence and transparency in its operations, mainly risk assessment; (iii) the development of a Community framework for national control systems indicated to be a joint task for the Commission and the Member States; (iv) the promotion of a dialogue of the Commission, together with the new EFSA, with consumers to encourage their involvement in the new food safety policy.
