EU Food Law

In recent years, food law has taken on an increasingly prominent role in political discourse, with calls for a more sustainable food system challenging the legal status quo. A thorough legal perspective is thus indispensable for grasping the complexities of the EU food system and political quests for change.

In the first monograph of its kind, Hanna Schebesta and Kai Purnhagen offer an authoritative and comprehensive overview of EU food legislation. Drawing on the authors’ experience researching and teaching in the field, EU Food Law explores how political paradigms have shaped the development of laws in a variety of domains, including food technology, food safety, food information, food quality, nutrition, and sustainability.

The book begins with insightful analyses of the historical foundations of EU food law and two existing umbrella frameworks: the General Food Law Regulation and the Official Controls Regulation. The book then presents an in-depth discussion of the food law acquis before contextualising EU law against international food law. Schebesta and Purnhagen have created the definitive resource on EU food law, offering a balanced treatment of the subject across eighteen carefully structured chapters. This volume is essential reading for students, academics, and practitioners alike.

Hanna Schebesta, Associate Professor, Wageningen University & Research, Kai Purnhagen, Professor, University of Bayreuth, Faculty of Law and Faculty of Life Sciences

Hanna Schebesta is Associate Professor in the Law group at Wageningen University & Research (WUR, the Netherlands), where she leads the food law research area. Her own research focuses on legal foundations for a just food system and advances in legal methodologies. She is member of the Programme Committee for the Food Master’s degrees and involved in coordinating the MSc specialization ’Food Law & Regulatory Affairs’. She regularly publishes on food law topics in journals such as Nature, the European Law Review, the European Journal of Risk Regulation and various edited volumes. Schebesta holds a PhD from the European University Institute, and the degrees of LLM in European and International Law, LLB European Law, and BA European Studies from Maastricht University (the Netherlands).

Kai Purnhagen is Chair and Professor of Food Law and Director of the Research Unit for German and European Food Law at the University of Bayreuth. He has taught and researched at numerous institutions, including Wageningen University, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Justus Liebig University Giessen, and the London School of Economics and Political Science. A recognized expert in international food law, Purnhagen regularly serves as an advisor to various governments and consulting agencies. He holds a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence and an LLM from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.