110 COMMENTS ON FOOD SAFETY WHITE PAPER RECEIVED.

• Position: Brief Article

The European Commission has received no fewer than 110 comments from interested parties on its food safety White Paper published eight months ago. In the interests of transparency and in so far as their authors have agreed, the Commission has made the reactions of interested parties available on the Internet at europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/intro/index_en.html. The comments include contributions from other EU institutions, EU Member State authorities, third-country governments, the food and drink industry, farming organisations, retailers and distributors of food products, consumer groups and other stakeholders. They represent a wide variety of different, and sometimes contradictory, positions on the approach to food safety advocated by the Commission in its White Paper. As far as possible, the Commission proposes to take both general and specific comments into account in its drafting of concrete proposals.Adopted by the Commission on 12 January of this year, the White Paper proposes the establishment of a new European Food Authority as the...