EU General Food Law (Regulation 178/2002)

Establishes general food safety principles, traceability requirements, and risk analysis procedures in the EU.

22

Rules extracted

124

Obligations decomposed

5.6x

Avg obligations per rule

🇪🇺 European Union

Jurisdiction

About this regulation

Regulation 178/2002 lays down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishes the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and lays down procedures in matters of food safety including the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF). It covers all stages of food and feed production and distribution, establishing traceability requirements, food/feed safety obligations, the precautionary principle, and transparency requirements.

What AuditDSS covers

Source

1

Regulation

Extracted

22

Rules

Decomposed

124

Obligations

5.6x

Decomposition ratio

Each rule is decomposed into an average of 5.6 atomic obligations — the smallest testable units that can be independently violated.

Fully extracted & scored

All 124 obligations have been decomposed, titled, risk-scored, and embedded for semantic matching.

Risk scoring

Every obligation in General Food Law is scored across independent risk dimensions:

W

Obligation Weight

How critical within the regulatory framework

L

Violation Likelihood

How often breached in practice

E

Enforcement Evidence

Regulator enforcement history and penalties

C

Cascade Dependency

How many obligations depend on this one

Regulatory details

Full title
EU General Food Law (Regulation 178/2002)
Regulatory body
European Parliament and Council
Jurisdiction
🇪🇺 European Union
Document type
regulation
Effective date
February 21, 2002
Issuing authority
European Parliament and Council of the European Union
Official source
View source document ↗

Who this applies to

food business operatorsfeed business operatorsmember statesEFSAEuropean Commission

Key requirements

  • food safety requirements
  • traceability
  • withdrawal and recall
  • risk analysis
  • precautionary principle
  • RASFF notifications
  • transparency

Frequently asked questions about General Food Law

What is General Food Law?

Regulation 178/2002 lays down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishes the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and lays down procedures in matters of food safety including the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF). It covers all stages of food and feed production and distribution, establishing traceability requirements, food/feed safety obligations, the precautionary principle, and transparency requirements.

Who does General Food Law apply to?

General Food Law applies to food business operators, feed business operators, member states, EFSA, European Commission.

How many obligations does General Food Law contain?

AuditDSS has decomposed General Food Law into 124 atomic obligations from 22 rules. Each obligation is independently testable and risk-scored.

What are the key requirements of General Food Law?

The key requirements include: food safety requirements, traceability, withdrawal and recall, risk analysis, precautionary principle, RASFF notifications, transparency.

How can I assess my General Food Law compliance?

Upload your compliance policy to AuditDSS. The platform maps your document against all 124 General Food Law obligations using deterministic AI scoring — not checklists or LLM summaries. You get a risk-scored gap analysis showing exactly which obligations are covered, partially covered, or missing.

Which jurisdiction enforces General Food Law?

General Food Law is enforced in European Union by European Parliament and Council.

When did General Food Law come into effect?

General Food Law became effective on February 21, 2002.

What industry does General Food Law apply to?

General Food Law is primarily relevant to the Food Safety & Manufacturing industry. AuditDSS covers 61 regulations in this industry sector.

Build a General Food Law compliance pack

Don't have a compliance policy yet? AuditDSS generates a complete compliance pack for General Food Law — alone or combined with other regulations your business needs. Every clause is mapped to specific obligations.

Policy

High-level commitments and governance framework covering General Food Law requirements.

Procedures

Step-by-step operational procedures to implement each policy commitment.

Forms & checklists

Ready-to-use forms, registers, and checklists for day-to-day compliance operations.

Multi-regulation

Combine General Food Law with other regulations into a single unified compliance pack for your business.

Already have a policy? Assess it against General Food Law

1

Upload your document

Upload your compliance policy, program manual, or operational document. AuditDSS accepts any text-based document.

2

AI maps against 124 obligations

Your document is scored against every obligation in General Food Law. Each claim is mapped to the obligation tree and evaluated for coverage.

3

Risk-scored gap report

Receive every gap ranked by risk priority with remediation guidance, enforcement evidence, and cascade impact analysis.

Related regulations in Food Safety & Manufacturing

Assess your General Food Law compliance

Upload your document and get a risk-scored gap analysis against 124 General Food Law obligations in under 5 minutes.