There are plenty of laws in the food industry that have to be obeyed by manufacturers, suppliers and other companies involved. In addition to food laws, numerous standards have been established in order to minimize the risk for consumers following the principle of food law that only safe products may be placed on the market.
Law and quality standards are governed in various regulations, guidelines and recommendations like LMHV (hygienic regulation) – but also in European quality standards like HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) and the Health Claims Regulation. The requirements food manufacturers have to fulfil are accordingly extensive.
This is to consider:
European Regulations apply to all member states of the European Union and are legally binding in every part. Guidelines are also binding, however only in terms of the determined aims. Every single member state is obliged to the transposition into national law which then regulates how to achieve the very aims. On the other hand, resolutions are not generally binding and more aiming to a certain target group like a particular member state or a food supplier. Although recommendations and statements are not legally binding, they matter in political decisions and support courts and authorities in the interpretation of legal provisions.
Food supplements are subject to an additional regulation (in Germany abbreviated as NemV). Even though supplements don’t need to be authorized like medicines, they still have to fulfil a variety of legal requirements that wouldn’t apply to usual food.
The compliance with the laws and quality standards has to be strictly monitored throughout the entire product development and manufacturing process with a prior check of all raw materials. The manufacturer is in charge of creating a safe product which will be controlled by authorized sample collection and analysis. Therefore, the food control administration will either request the products from the manufacturer or collects the samples in (stationary) retail.
When you’re about to develop your own supplement and feel panic and fear coming up facing the law jungle ahead of you, don’t worry, we got your back and gladly help you navigate through this.
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