Rules for safe food and healthy eating habits

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The law recognizes the right to food safety: knowing the risks of a food and receiving the greatest possible protection against them, covering every stage from production to distribution.
2. Only safe food and animal feed can be sold, and companies must withdraw products from the market and inform the authorities and consumers if they find out they are not safe.
3. Food must be traceable along the whole chain: companies must know who supplied each product and who they sold it to, and products must be properly labeled.
4. A National Official Control Plan for the Food Chain is created, with risk-based controls, audits and information duties between the State and the autonomous communities.
5. Direct or indirect discrimination against people for being overweight or obese is banned, and discriminatory acts are null and void.
6. Schools and nursery schools must teach healthy eating, school meals must be balanced and supervised by nutrition professionals, foods high in salt, sugar or saturated and trans fats cannot be sold on site, and schools are protected from food advertising.
7. Food advertising may not use health professional testimonials or suggest scientific endorsements, and codes of conduct are planned for advertising aimed at children under fifteen; if they are not adopted within a year, the Government will regulate it by rule.
8. Offenses are classified as minor, serious and very serious, with fines of up to €600,000 and, in very serious cases, temporary closure of the establishment for up to five years.

Who it affects

• Food and feed companies: They must sell only safe products, guarantee traceability, withdraw risky products and cooperate with the authorities; they can face fines or closure.
• Consumers: They have the right to know the risks of foods and to receive clear information when a food risk exists.
• Children and their families: School meals must be balanced and supervised, special menus must be provided for allergies and intolerances, and schools are protected from food advertising.
• People who are overweight or obese: They cannot be discriminated against, and public authorities must take prevention and treatment measures, especially for childhood obesity.
• Public administrations: They must coordinate, run official control plans, share information and answer for failures that lead to sanctions against Spain.

Words worth knowing

Piensos (animal feed)

Food intended for animals, not for people.

Trazabilidad (traceability)

Being able to follow a food's path along the whole chain: where it came from and where it went.

Principio de cautela (precautionary principle)

It allows provisional protective measures even when there is no scientific certainty that a product is harmful.

Ácidos grasos trans (trans fatty acids)

A type of fat that can form in industrial food processes and whose presence the law wants to limit.

Corregulación (coregulation)

A system where the Government and the affected sectors agree on codes of conduct, such as advertising codes, instead of a detailed law.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries