2. Analysis of food-related risks

Food safety requires a risk analysis approach, similar to that used in all industrial production. It was in the early 1990s that this approach began to receive international attention, notably at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), then at Codex Alimentarius, a joint program of these two organizations.

The concept of risk analysis applied to food has now become classic, to the extent that the EU regulation of January 28 2002 stipulates that "food legislation is based on risk analysis". This text also provides the following definitions.