Regulating and Managing Food Safety in the EU

This book analyses EU food law from a regulatory, economic and managerial perspective. It presents an economic assessment of strategies of food safety regulation, and discusses the different regulatory regimes in EU food law. It examines the challenges of food safety in the internal market as well as the regulatory tools that are available. The book’s generic theorising and measurement of regulatory effects is supplemented by detailed analysis of key topics in food markets, such as health claims, enforcement strategies, and induced risk management at the level of the organizations producing food. The regulatory effects discussed in the book range from classical regulatory analysis covering e.g. effects of ex-ante versus ex-post regulation and content-related versus information-related regulation to new regulatory options such as behavioral regulation. The book takes as its premise the idea that economic considerations are basic to the design and functioning of the European food supply arena, and that economic effects consolidate or induce modification of the present legal structures and principles. The assessments, analyses and examination of the various issues presented in the book serve to answer the question of how economic theory and practice can explain and enhance the shaping and modification of the regulatory framework that fosters safe and sustainable food supply chains. ​ ​

“It focuses on an economic assessment of strategies of food safety regulation and discusses the different regulatory regimes in EU food law. … The contributions serve to answer the question of how economic theory and practice can explain and enhance the shaping and modification of the regulatory framework that fosters safe and sustainable food supply chains.” (Journal of Consumer Policy, Vol. 42 (1), 2019)

Dr. Harry (J.) Bremmers acquired an MSc degree in business economics at Tilburg University and in Dutch  law at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, in the Netherlands. Here he was employed as assistant professor till 1993. In Rotterdam, he graduated as Phd in 1994 on a legal-economic subject (Effects of environmental law on financial reporting). In 1993-2010 he occupied a full-time position at the Business Administration group of the Social Sciences department of Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Since 2010 he occupies the position of associate professor at the Law & Governance group of Wageningen University and Research, Netherlands. He participated in several national and international projects at the interplay of law and economics and has published on a broad range of legal and economic topics. He is specialized in food information law.Kai Purnhagen is Associate Professor at Wageningen University and distinguished international visitor at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam law school. Previously, he has taught and researched at various institutions including the Ludwig-Maximilian University Munich, the University of Lucerne, the European University Institute, Wageningen University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, and the University of Amsterdam. He holds a PhD (European University Institute in Florence), an LL.M. (University of Wisconsin-Madison), an MJI (Justus-Liebig University of Giessen) and a State Exam in Law (Land Hessen).