Progress with the global harmonization initiative

Abstract

The need for global harmonization of food safety regulations is growing with every new food safety incident. To be able to control food safety adequately, there must be a sound legal basis. Regrettably, often that basis has not been well developed or is not in existence. With regulation based on sound science, it is unlikely that incidents will be eliminated, but it will help to reduce the number and severity of food safety incidents. Regulations, however, will never stop incidents that have been created with criminal intent, although some legal measures may help. An example may be a global regulation for tamper-evident packaged food. Currently, as a direct result of the threat of bio terrorism, countries have been developing regulations on tamper-evidence for example for baby food and products sold at airports.