Abstract
This chapter focuses on the application of the Novel Foods Regulation to high-pressure-treated foods. It highlights some other EU requirements applicable to HPP. The chapter first describes the general requirements for foodstuffs set out in the so-called EU General Food Law. We then analyze the provisions of the Novel Foods Regulation applicable to HPP in more detail. The relevant provisions regarding hygiene of high-pressure-treated foodstuffs and their labelling are discussed. Finally, the Directive concerning pressure equipment is presented.
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Notes
- 1.
OJ 1997L 43/1.
- 2.
Art. 1(2)(f) NFR.
- 3.
Directive 97/23/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 May 1997 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning pressure equipment, OJ 2002L 31/1.
- 4.
Art. 1(3) GFL.
- 5.
Art. 3(2 and 3) GFL.
- 6.
Food safety is defined by Codex Alimentarius as “assurance that food will not cause harm to the consumer when it is prepared and/or eaten according to its intended use” (Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene, CAC/RCP 1-1969).
- 7.
Art. 14(2) GFL. For a detailed analysis, see van der Meulen (2012).
- 8.
Art. 19(1) GFL.
- 9.
Other examples are food additives, food supplements, and genetically modified foods.
- 10.
This separate reference to food ingredients shows that the Novel Foods Regulation predates the General Food Law and its definition of food (Art. 2 GFL). Food ingredients fully fulfil the GFL definition of a food. The additional reference to ingredients in the NFR therefore no longer has added value.
- 11.
Art. 1(2) NFR.
- 12.
As referred to by the European Court in Joint Cases HLH Warenvertriebs GmbH (C-211/03) and Orthica BV (C-299/03 and C-316/03 to C-318/03) v Germany, [2005] ECR I-5141, para. 88.
- 13.
Case C-383/07, M-K Europa GmbH & Co. v Stadt Regensburg, [2009] ECR I-115.
- 14.
Art. 13(2) NFR refers to the old procedure set out in Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the commission (OJ 1999L 184/23). This decision has been repealed by Regulation 182/2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers, OJ 2011L 55/13.
- 15.
Decision 2001/424, OJ 2001L 151/42.
- 16.
GM food and feed are now regulated separately in Reg. 1829/2003, OJ 2003L 268/1.
- 17.
OJ 2005L 338/1.
- 18.
Art. 2(a) Reg. 2073/2005.
- 19.
OJ 2004L 226/3. This Regulation is part of the so-called “Hygiene Package”—a body of EU law laying down hygiene rules for foodstuffs in the EU. The other acts include Reg. 853/2004 laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin (OJ 2004L 226/22) and Reg. 854/2004 laying down specific rules for the organization of official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption (OJ 2004L 226/83).
- 20.
Art. 3 Reg. 2073/2005.
- 21.
Directives issued by FSIS are not binding sources of law. They provide official communications and instruction to agency staff in carrying out their tasks.
- 22.
Art. 8 GFL.
- 23.
OJ 2011L 304/18. Food information in this context is a concept broader than labelling and encompasses all types of information to the final consumer, including modern technology or verbal communication (Art. 2(2)(a) Reg. 1169/2010).
- 24.
Art. 8(1)(a) NFR.
- 25.
HPP can cause both compositional and structural changes. For example, when used with oysters and lobsters, there are structural changes that cause the release of the organisms’ shells. These structural changes are not deleterious, nor do they seem significant as understood in the NFR.
- 26.
Art. 9(1) Reg. 1169/2011.
- 27.
Annex VI Reg. 1169/2011.
- 28.
OJ 1997L 181/1.
- 29.
See Annex VI Dir. 97/23.
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Kurowska, A., Szajkowska, A., van der Meulen, B. (2016). EU Regulatory Approach to High-Pressure Processing. In: Balasubramaniam, V., Barbosa-Cánovas, G., Lelieveld, H. (eds) High Pressure Processing of Food. Food Engineering Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3234-4_30
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