Overview of U.S. Food Law
This folder introduces a variety of topics that underpin an understanding of the fundamentals of U.S. food safety law.
- Key Points
- This page outlines key points to introduce (or summarize) food safety law.
- Organization of U.S. Government
- U.S. law arises from several levels of government: state, federal and local. It also arises from the three branches of U.S. government: legislative, executive and judicial. These pages introduce the relationships among these levels of U.S. government and among the three branches of government.
- Adulterated and Misbranded
- This page introduces the board prohibitions against adulterated and misbranded foods. These prohibitions are the foundation for food safety law -- not only in the United States but also for many nations in our global society.
- History of U.S. Food Law
- U.S. food law, even though it extends back to the late 1800s, has primarily evolved since the early 1900s. This folder provides an overview of that evolution.
- Introduction to Risk Analysis
- Food law is not intended to guarantee that all food is safe. Achieving that goal would be too expensive at this time. Instead, food safety law is intended to reduce the risk of unsafe food. This page introduces the three components of risk analysis as it relates to food safety: risk assessment, risk management and risk communication.
- Introduction to HACCP
- Since its inception in the 1960s as part of space travel, the application of HACCP principles has expanded throughout the food industry. The Food Safety Modernization Act (December 2010) is expected to lead to further adoption of the concept. This page briefly introduces the concept of HACCP.
