Food Safety, Quality Assurance and Agrifood Standards
This domain tests the legal and management systems that keep produce safe from field to fork: hygiene law, HACCP, traceability, official controls, residue limits, and voluntary or origin schemes such as GlobalG.A.P. and PDO.
The legal frame
- Reg. (EC) 178/2002: general food law - food must be safe, responsibility lies with the operator, traceability is "one step back, one step forward", and RASFF gives rapid alert between authorities.
- Reg. (EC) 852/2004: food hygiene, GHP and HACCP for all operators; 853/2004 adds rules for products of animal origin.
- Reg. (EU) 2017/625: official controls and competent authorities.
- Reg. (EC) 396/2005 pesticide MRLs; Reg. (EU) 2023/915 contaminants; Reg. (EC) 2073/2005 microbiological criteria; Reg. (EU) 1169/2011 food information to consumers.
- Reg. (EU) 2018/848: organic production and labelling.
HACCP in seven principles
1 hazard analysis; 2 determine CCPs; 3 set critical limits; 4 monitoring; 5 corrective actions; 6 verification; 7 documentation. Prerequisite programmes (cleaning, pest control, personal hygiene, water, maintenance) come first; HACCP sits on top of them.
Worked example - residue non-compliance
A lemon consignment tests at 0.12 mg/kg for an active substance with an MRL of 0.05 mg/kg. Reasoning: the result exceeds the MRL, so the product is non-compliant and cannot be marketed. The operator must withdraw it, identify the lot through traceability, trace the cause (usually a PHI not respected or spray drift), notify the competent authority and expect a RASFF alert. The PHI is the on-farm tool that prevents exactly this.
Standards
PDO/PGI/TSG protect origin and method (halloumi and Commandaria carry PDO status); GlobalG.A.P. is a private certification with annual inspection and residue monitoring; ISO 22000 is a food safety management system standard; ISO 17025 accredits testing laboratories.
Traps
- Treating HACCP as a substitute for basic hygiene.
- Confusing MRL (legal residue limit) with ADI (toxicological intake).
- Reducing traceability to a label requirement.
- Assuming certification transfers legal responsibility - it does not; the operator remains liable.
- Mixing PDO and PGI: PDO requires all production steps in the region, PGI only one.