How the EU’s food safety authority came about

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Series Details Vol.9, No.29, 11.9.03, p26
Publication Date 11/09/2003
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Date: 11/09/03

THE creation of a European Union watchdog, in the wake of major food scares, was first officially put forward in a January 2000 White Paper on Food Safety.

At the 2001 Laeken Summit, a long-running battle for the location of the authority culminated in a stalemate between Finland and Italy.

In addition to Helsinki and Parma, Spain and France have also pitched Barcelona and Lille.

In January 2002, EU farm ministers gave the go-ahead for the creation of a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), with a provisional seat in Brussels.

UK Food Standards Agency chief Geoffrey Podger took on the post of EFSA executive director on 1 February this year.

The European Parliament did not release its full first annual budget of EUR 16.5 million until April 2003, as a means of putting pressure on member states to decide its final location.

EFSA predicts it will need a EUR 40 million annual budget by the time it is fully operational in 2005.

In March 2003, Finland and Italy drafted a compromise proposal.

This suggested that EFSA would go to Helsinki - but a separate body focusing on safeguarding EU food trademarks, including geographic indicators such as 'Parma ham' or 'Bordeaux wine', would be based in Parma.

The Commission, however, dismissed the idea as impractical.

EIGHT scientific panels make up the backbone of the European Food Safety Authority, researching such matters as:

  • Food additives and flavourings;
  • animal feed;
  • animal health;
  • plant health;
  • genetically modified organisms (GMOs);
  • dietetic products, and;
  • biological hazards and contaminants in the food chain.

Their work is coordinated by a scientific committee, composed of the chairperson of each panel and six independent experts.

The authority is led by an executive director appointed for a renewable, five-year period by its 15-member management board.

Geoffrey Podger, the first director, currently oversees a staff of nearly 50, expected to double by the end of next year and grow to 300 by the year 2005.
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