Foodlaw-Reading

Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK

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Food Law News - EU - 2019

Commission Press Notice, 12 December 2019

RAPID ALERT - Protecting EU consumers from unsafe food: EU's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed

Commisssion Questions and Answers: Protecting EU consumers from unsafe food: EU's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed

A copy of this document is available on this site (click on image).

What is the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF?)

The EU has one of the highest food safety standards in the world – largely thanks to the solid set of EU legislation in place, which ensures that food is safe for consumers. A key tool to ensure the flow of information to enabling swift reaction when risks to public health are detected in the food chain is RASFF – the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed.

Created in 1979 and celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, RASFF enables information to be shared efficiently between its members (EU Member State national food safety authorities, Commission, EFSA, ESA, Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Switzerland) and provides a round-the-clock service to ensure that urgent notifications are sent, received and responded to collectively and efficiently. Thanks to RASFF, many food safety risks have been averted before they could have been harmful to European consumers.

Vital information exchanged through RASFF can lead to products being recalled from the market. A robust system, which has matured over the years, RASFF continues to show its value to ensure food safety in the EU and beyond.

How does the system work in practice?

The process starts with the notification by a member of the RASFF network of the existence of a serious, direct or indirect, risk to public health linked to food or feed. This information reaches the European Commission (as manager of the system), which in turn verifies the notification and immediately transmits it to the network's other members.

A common template is used to provide all relevant and useful information including identification of the product, the hazard(s) found, the measure(s) taken as well as information on tracing the product.

Upon receiving this information, other member countries check if they are concerned. If the product is on their market they are able to trace it using the information in the notification. These members report back on what they have found and what measures they have taken. This allows a transparent and mutual flow of information between RASFF members. In case of products from the EU, the Member State from which the product originates also reports on the outcome of its investigations with regard to the origin, distribution and cause of the problem identified. This allows other member countries to take rapid action if and when needed.

For the complete set of questions and answers, see the pdf document shown above.


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