E.U. grabs food safety by the horns.

Abstract

With no single agency responsible for establishing and enforcing food safety standards across the European Union9s (E.U.9s) 15 member states, national governments are frequently at each others9 throats. Last week, the European Commission proposed a slew of measures aimed at strengthening and harmonizing its scientific analyses of European food safety issues. The centerpiece would be a new European Food Authority--a permanent scientific advisory body with its own research budget and scientific staff--and a scientific secretariat to coordinate advice from scientists who serve on E.U. advisory panels.