Comparative Food Law

In this chapter, the authors propose a systematic approach to the comparative analysis of food law and invite their food-law peers to contribute to the exercise. Food law is a branch of law created by legislation and is also a functional (or multi-doctrinal) field of academic endeavor in which researchers determine boundaries of what is included in food law. Comparative law can help with this process. Comparative analysis of food law is unique, given that global harmonization of national law is facilitated through the Codex Alimentarius Commission. There is also the fact that food crises can motivate food legislation, adding complexity to comparative analyses. The chapter sets forth various analyses predicated on certain questions and classic comparative principles. This chapter illustrates how comparative approaches might work with examples taken from the Codex Alimentarius, The US (Common Law), the EU (Civil Law), and China (Socialist Law).