Food Legislation

So your Wiener Schnitzel isn’t too heavy on your stomach, you have to be able to trust what’s in it. Labelling is a central part of food law.

Food law is an interdisciplinary material which is mainly of a European dimension. A huge part of that is labelling law. Without naming all the relevant laws at this time, this ranges from the EU-Health Claims Regulation regarding health claims to the Labelling Directive regarding the Nutritional Labelling Directive. Information regarding the origin of food products is also regulated in the EU-Origin Regulations and the EU-specialties Regulation, whereby one must of course also take into consideration the provisions regarding unfair competition law and trademark law.

The addition of vitamins and minerals to food is regulated in the EU Regulation on the addition of vitamins and minerals and of certain other substances to foods as well as the framework Directive on additives.

In Austrian law, we find the principles and requirements for food in the Food Safety – and Consumer Protection Act. Here there are provisions regarding the differentiation between food, nutritional supplements, and dietary products, which have special importance for the composition and promotion of these products. Furthermore, there are specific Austrian product regulations, such as, for example, the Chocolate Regulation, Jam Regulation, Mineral – and Spring Water Regulation, and many others.