The Food Safety Regulatory System

The United Kingdom, as a country which has the longest history in food legislation around the world, has focused on the construction of the food safety administration systems for a long period of time. In1980s, due to the deregulation which applied by the Conservation Party, the laws related to food issues were abandoned while at the same time, the power of the administration of food safety belonged to two separate authorities (MAFF and DoH). As a result, the BSE attacked the United Kingdom and its food industry. However, due to BSE, it caused the innovation of the food safety legal system and administration system. At present, UK earns the highest mark in the quality of its foods. This dissertation would analyze the latest food safety legal system and administration system in the UK to see the impact of BSE. The dissertation will be presented in7parts as following:Part Ⅰ:defines the conception of food safety by comparing it with food quality and food hygiene.Part Ⅱ:review of the BSE crisis. In this part, the author will illustrate the important policies taken against BSE and will analyze the drawbacks of the food safety administration system of that day. Here, the history of the food legislation in UK will be discussed, together with the authorities and the principle of food safety administration.Part Ⅲ-Part Ⅵ:shows the current food safety administration systems in the UK. First of all, it is about the legislations of food in UK:The Food Safety Act1990is the mainbody and the foundation of the current food legal system; Besides, the parliament and the government enacts other specified legilations, regulations, bills and acts for different categories of foods and for various food proceedings. In Part IV, the author will show what the Food Standards Agency is and how it deals with the emergency. hi Part V, the introduction of Food Traceability and HACCP will be given, with the purpose of showing the roles played by the food manufacturers etc. Following that, it is the principle applicable in FSA-Openness. It is the core principle of FSA, which helps the government to earn the public confidence which lost in BSE. Part Ⅶ:at the end of th dissertation, given to the situation in China, the lessons learned from the development of the UK food safety administration systems would be applied to China. And hopefully some suggestions can be given for the Chinese food safety administration.