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Food Law

Course developers

Course abstract

The aim of the study course is to introduce and provide knowledge about most important legal acts regulating the food chain, including topics on the institutions supervising the food industry, current requirements for food production and distribution in retail chains and catering companies, as well as product packaging and labeling; food standards, copyrights and patents. Evaluation of the situation in the food market from the point of view of legislation, as well as analyses of consumer rights and current problems in the field of food circulation will be performed.

Learning outcomes and their assessment

Knows the most important legal acts regulating the food chain, their area of activity (1 test);
• Knows the main legislation on food evaluation, consumer rights and intellectual property of novel foods;
• Is able to purposefully use Latvian and European Union legislation and available databases on legislation (practical work);
• Is able to evaluate and analyze legislation on a specific topic (1st independent work);
• Is able to apply the acquired knowledge about the regulatory enactments regulating the food chain in different stages of the food chain (2nd independent work);

• Orients in the main legislative normative acts of Latvia and Europe related to the food industry and acquires competence to apply the information obtained in them in the study process and further professional activity related to the food chain.

Course Content(Calendar)

1. Normative acts of food legislation, their types in Latvia and the European Union, elaboration procedure (lecture - 2h);
2. Regulatory enactments regulating the production and processing of food products. Regulation 178/2002, Law on Supervision of Food Chain (lecture - 1h; practical work Analysis of current information on health hazards related to food in the RASFF system - 2h);
3. Standards in the food chain, their types and hierarchy. (lecture - 1h; practical work Codex Alimentarius standards and their application - 1h);
4. Food quality schemes (lecture - 1h; practical work eAmbroisa database analysis - 1h)
5. Institutions supervising the food chain and their functions (lecture - 1h; practical work Analysis of databases created by the Food Veterinary Service - 1h);
6. Regulatory enactments regulating the production and supervision of products of plant and animal origin (lecture - 1h; practical work Analysis of regulatory enactments of selected plant or animal state products - 1h);
7. 1st test (practical work - 1h), presentation of independent work (practical work - 1h);
8. Food packaging. Regulations on materials and articles intended to come into contact with food (lecture - 1h; practical work - 1h);
9. Product labelling, nutrition and health claims on food products (lecture - 2h; practical work - 1h);
10. Supervision of food distribution (lecture - 1h; practical work - 1h);
11. General overview of legislation regulating the development of new products (lecture - 1h; practical work - 1h);
12. Copyright, patents in new product development (lecture - 1h; practical work - 1h);
13. Consumer Rights Protection Law (lecture - 1h; practical work - 1h);
14. Current problems in the field of food chain (lecture - 2h);

15. Test 2. (practical work - 1h), presentation of independent work (practical work - 1h).

Requirements for awarding credit points

8 practical works have been developed, 2 tests have been passed, 2 independent works have been developed (independent works have been submitted electronically in accordance with the requirements, presentations have been submitted and works have been defended).

Description of the organization and tasks of students’ independent work

The organization of independent work consists of the following activities:
• preparation for lectures (acquaintance with regulatory enactments) - 4h
• preparation for practical work (search for information on the EU legislation website and related databases) - 8h
• preparation for tests - 3h
• development of independent works - 33h
Within the course 2 independent works are developed.
The first independent work - a presentation on a specific topic (the choice of the topic takes place during practical classes) The presentation includes: EU and Latvian legislation on the topic, databases, current events. Presentation volume up to 10 slides. A slide with the used literature must be attached. The work is developed in a group (2-3 people). Independent work 16 h.
The second independent work - report (> = 8 pages) and presentation (> = 6 slides) on the topic described in the report (the choice and coordination of the topic takes place during practical classes). The presentation includes: food labeling, consumer protection, current issues in the food chain. The work is developed in a group (2-3 people). Independent work 17 h.

Criteria for Evaluating Learning Outcomes

The evaluation of the study course depends on the cumulative evaluation of tests and independent work.
The student defends the developed independent works orally, answering questions related to the practical and theoretical basis of the work.
Independent work is evaluated according to the established evaluation scale from excellent to almost satisfactory.
The mark is calculated as the arithmetic mean of the marks of the independent works developed in the study course and the passed tests.

Compulsory reading

Latvijas likumdošana - http://www.likumi.lv

Eiropas Savienības likumdošana - http://eur-lex.europa.eu/homepage.html

Further reading

Pārtikas un veterinārais dienests https://www.pvd.gov.lv/#jump
EFSA - http://www.efsa.europa.eu/
RASFF - https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/portal/?event=SearchForm&cleanSearch=1

Standartizācijas organizācija - http://www.iso.org; http://www.lvs.lv

Periodicals and other sources

EFSA journal https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/18314732
Latvijas Vēstnesis ISSN 1407-0391.Pieejams: https://lv.lv

Notes

Compulsory study course in the academic bachelor's study programm "Food Quality and Innovations".