Considering World Trade Organization Laws in Respects of National Standards for Improving the Food Safety in the Emerging Economies

Abstract

We eat food to survive and maintain our health in an appropriate status, so it is essential to guarantee the absence of hazardous elements. The foods sold by stores or restaurants come from a complex supply chain that is usually inspected by the authorities of the considered country, according to the national laws; but, the globalization phenomenon has increased the need to find a way to ensure commercial food trades in the respect of national or local food laws. The development of international food standards abstractly guarantees at worldwide level a basic safeguard on food safety, but some countries would apply stricter requirements such as what happened in about 20 years ago for European Union and the directives against the imports of meat and meat products derived from cattle fed with natural/synthetic hormones. In this regards, standards sharing is an effective and useful tool, especially for the emerging economies, but the first necessary step is to ensure for applying the standard controls. So, the national authorities of the emerging economies should monitor the food safety in the respect of international standards and guidelines, and withdraw the potentially contaminated batches from the market. In this regard, one of the most useful tools to ensure compliance with these standards is the Codex Alimentarius.