The European Union and the Regulation of Food Traceability: From Risk Management to Informed Choice?

Abstract

The European Union (EU) embarked on a major reform of its regulation of food safety and its food law from the mid to late 1990s, in an effort to ensure a safer and more trustworthy food supply after the political fallout from the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and infected products across the continent. The EU’s regulation of food has been driven to varying degrees by the need to integrate the European market, from agricultural production subsidy and production management controls, to the harmonization of food standards around the principle of mutual recognition, to food safety and hygiene standards. In the case of BSE, the management of the single market was seen to have failed. Furthermore, the rise of public concerns over food safety resulted in a period of ‘contested governance’, signalling ‘a pervasive sense of distrust that challenges the legitimacy of existing institutional arrangements’ (Ansell and Vogel, 2006:10). This distrust went beyond policy disagreement to embrace deeper concerns about the ability of the prevailing institutions and processes to manage risk in the food supply. This contested governance over food safety coincided with a more general review by the EU of its governance arrangements, and the reform efforts around food safety became tied up in the EU’s political efforts to renew its legitimacy in the eyes of the European publics. The food safety focus led to a reform of the EU’s risk analysis institutions for food safety and the European Commission’s responsibilities around food law, with a revision of the general principles of food law. In short, the reforms for food safety were part of a wider political management effort to rebuild both consumer and citizen trust in the European institutions and processes for the longer term. Within these reforms food traceability appeared as an important element for the operation of risk management. The European market is subject to the pressures of economic globalization, including the challenges of international economic competition, globalizing trends in food sourcing and in food consumption through the mass fast food industry, all underpinned by the neo-liberal reform of international trading rules. Yet, there is a strong pressure to valorize and protect regional varieties of food cultures, habits and customs, both from European producers and processors, and from consumers. Furthermore, the regulators of the European market are pressed to respect the growing ethical concerns of citizens for the preservation of the environment, animal welfare, social justice and solidarity and