Eight commandments for securing competitive food supply chains in the European Union

Abstract

The objective of this chapter is to identify the main legal barriers to the competitiveness of the European food industry and to suggest ways to improve the legal system. Prior studies by Wijnands et al. (2007, 2008) and Poppe et al. 2008) have shown that competitiveness of this industry is under pressure. In the light of the above, we propose a second overhaul of European food law, after the tremendous legal efforts which have been made as a response to food scares at the turn of the century. This reform consists of eight improvements of European food law and aims at empowering stakeholders upstream in food supply chains. These improvements would not only contribute to the competitiveness of the EU food supply chains through alleviation of various forms of administrative burdens, but also restore the power equilibrium between stakeholders within the food chains as well as between businesses and consumers, and reduce the burdens connected to pre-market approval of food and feed and zero-tolerance standards. These focal areas partly overlap, as the improvement of one area may positively or negatively affect another. Within the proposed second overhaul of European food law, the interests of all stakeholders should be considered, while at present consumer concerns seem to eclipse all other existing interests.