Keywords
food operator
food legislation
Abstract
According to Regulation (EC) 178/2002, “any undertaking, whether for profit or not and whether public or private, carrying out any of the activities related to any stage of production, processing and distribution of food” must be classified as a “food business”. A food business operator (FBO) is defined as “the natural or legal person responsible for ensuring that the requirements of food law are met within the food business under their control”. We analyzed the particular case of an Italian wholesale commercial intermediation company, purchasing a typically carbohydrate-rich local product from producers and reselling it to retailers, although never taking physically possession of it. In the marketing process the company abnormally emphasized the food protein content of the product, providing false nutritional information on the label, thus committing food fraud. Moreover, sanitary guarantees on the operating methods and traceability were not provided, as required by the European law. In fact, to ensure food safety, every food business is subject obligation of registration (Regulation EC 852/2004), preparation of the self-control plan according to the principles of the HACCP system and traceability obligations (Regulation EC 178/2002). This case highlights the current general poor culture in food safety and shows the urgent need for awareness-raising and training interventions aimed at improving behaviors and clarifying the qualifications and the responsibilities of all parties involved, including FBOs and competent authorities, to prevent health risks and food frauds.
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