Shortcomings of the new European food hygiene legislation from the viewpoint of a competent authority

The new European food hygiene law is very complex, difficult to overview, often confusing in detail and characterized by a lot of fundamental shortcomings. There are contradictions, parts that are not well coordinated with one another, impractical provisions, and other deficiencies including technical failures. Moreover, it is not corresponding to the needs of consumers, food business operators, and competent authorities. The dissatisfying legal situation overburdens all parties involved and causes massive uncertainty. This article presents a broad selection of examples for inadequate provisions, discusses their consequences and suggests improving measures for the future. The examples cover differences between the European food law and the Codex Alimentarius, the frequent occurrence of fuzzy terms in the legal texts, the fundamental but inconsistent definition of "retail", the excessive guideline-favouring policy, the unsatisfying financing strategy for official controls, technical faults concerning HACCP, inconsequently regulated competences, shortcomings in connection with the ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection as well as with the Trichinella controls, loopholes concerning health and identification marking, discrepancies between the provisions for the official controls and those for the food business operators, inadequacies concerning the microbiological criteria, formal judicial shortcomings, and different language versions of the regulations. Consequences of this situation are, amongst others, deficiencies in consumer protection due to non-effective official controls and wrong and therefore ineffective HACCP systems. The intended simplification of the European food law, which was a major objective of the recent comprehensive revision, has just as little been reached as an increase of food safety and a standardized food safety level in all member states. Furthermore, problems in international food trade may arise because of the differences with Codex Alimentarius. Immediate action to improve the European food hygiene law is needed urgently.