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    Food legislation - Prof. Pierina Visciano - a.y. 2026/2027

    Graduation cum laude in Veterinary Medicine at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Naples "Federico II".

    PhD in "Inspection of Food of Animal Origin" at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Naples "Federico II".

    Specialist in "Inspection of Food of Animal Origin" at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Naples "Federico II".

    Assignment of collaboration as Coadjutor Veterinary at the Department of Food Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Ministry of Health in Rome.

    Full Researcher VET/04 (Inspection of Food of Animal Origin) at the University of Teramo.

    Associate Professor MVET-02/B (Inspection of Food of Animal Origin) at the University of Teramo.

    National Scientific Qualification as Full Professor MVET-02/B (Inspection of Food of Animal Origin).

    Member of the Quality Assurance Committee for the master degree in Food Science & Technology of the Department of Bioscience and Technology for Food, Agriculture and Environment, University of Teramo.

    Member of the Students Practices Committee of the Department of Bioscience and Technology for Food, Agriculture and Environment, University of Teramo.

    Member of the Committee for the "Gender Equality Plan" of University of Teramo.

    Reference component for the Department of Bioscience and Technology for Food, Agriculture and Environment of the School of Legality and Justice of the University of Teramo.

    Co-author of the book “Igiene degli alimenti – Aspetti igienico-sanitari degli alimenti di origine animale” - Schirone M., Visciano P. (2014), Collana Edagricole Università & Formazione, Bologna.

    Co-author of the book "Igiene nei processi alimentari - Progettazione della sicurezza degli alimenti" - Paparella A., Schirone M., Visciano P. (2023), Editore Ulrico Hoepli, Milano.

    General aim of the course

    The course aims to provide students with a thorough understanding of food legislation aimed at ensuring the production and marketing of healthy and safe foods. To this end, the course will provide up-to-date information on current legislation and the policies implemented by the European Union (EU), and in particular by the European Commission in collaboration with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), to protect consumers in an increasingly demanding risk assessment. The module will analyze the main regulations applicable to food business operators (FBOs), who have primary responsibility for food safety and must be supported by experienced and competent professionals such as food technologists enrolled in a master degree program.

    Dublin descriptors


    Knowledge and understanding

    The course will provide students with in-depth knowledge of national and EU food legislation throughout the supply chain, from raw materials, their processing under the responsibility of FBOs, up to distribution to the final consumer.

    Students will acquire the ability to:

    - know, understand, and interpret EU food safety legislation;

    - be constantly updated on current, amended, and repealed regulations;

    - understand the importance of harmonizing national regulations with EU legislation, according to the principle of hierarchy of sources.


    Applying knowledge and understanding

    The knowledge acquired during the course will enable students to enter the complex food production sector, demonstrating their ability to apply the current regulatory principles and regulations regarding food safety to provide effective support to FBOs.

    Students will be required to demonstrate:

    - the ability to identify the main hazards that may arise in the food industry using a risk analysis approach;

    - the ability to assess the severity of the hazard based on food-related factors such as the origin of the raw material, the processing method, the storage conditions, the intended use, etc.

    - the ability to assess the severity of the hazard based on specific consumer parameters such as age, body weight, consumption (medium or high), and specific individual sensitivities (risk categories);

    - the ability to estimate dietary exposure to various food hazards using specific criteria established by EFSA or other international organizations.

     

    Making judgements

    A thorough understanding of the legislation will enable students to be fully independent in applying specific food safety requirements. Specifically, they will demonstrate to be able to:

    - operate in both small and medium-sized businesses, applying the self-monitoring procedures required by current legislation, which assigns primary responsibility to FBOs;

    - identify and manage product and process non-conformities in compliance with current legislation;

    - address health emergencies with targeted and effective interventions based on evolving scientific knowledge regarding food hazards and foods at risk for consumers.


    Communication skills

    Students must be able to transfer the knowledge and information regarding the general requirements of food legislation acquired during the course to FBOs. They must be able to appropriately describe the regulatory obligations imposed on FBOs through ongoing staff training programs, in light of the recent legislation on food safety culture. They must also demonstrate the ability to cooperate with the competent authorities responsible for carrying out official control activities, with the aim of preventing and managing administrative sanctions and other corrective actions that may be imposed on a food company.


    Learning skills

    Students will demonstrate the ability to independently identify and explore any issue related to the food sector from a legislative perspective. To this end, students, divided into groups, will complete an in-depth project at the end of the course on legislative topics not covered in class, demonstrating independent learning and the ability to continually update current legislation.

     

    The Food Legislation and Policy course is divided into two modules. For the Food Legislation module, there are no specific prerequisites, but knowledge of food microbiology and hygiene, chemistry, biochemistry, and human nutrition is particularly important. At the beginning of the course, the professor administers a multiple-choice test on legislative topics. The results of this test are not included in the final grade, but are intended to assess students’ prior knowledge and ensure a uniform understanding of the topics covered during lectures.

    Unit 1.

    The legal system and the hierarchy of sources.

    Community legislation in the EU Member States.

    Primary law: Treaties and Agreements.

    Secondary law: Regulations, Directives, Decisions, Recommendations, Opinions.

    The EU legislative decision-making Institutions: the European Parliament, the Council, and the European Commission.

    The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA): role, structure, and functioning.

    Relevant national legislation: State-Regional Agreement, legislative decrees, ministerial decrees, ordinances, ministerial notes, guidelines.

    An overview of international law. Import/export regulations with Third Countries.


    Unit 2.

    General principles and requirements of food legislation.

    Obligations of FBOs in primary production and food processing.

    Microbiological criteria: food safety and process hygiene criteria.

    Residues of veterinary drugs and plant protection products.

    Illegal treatments and prohibited substances.

    Environmental contaminants.

    Effect of climate change on emerging or re-emerging hazards.

    Novel food authorization procedure.

    The list of novel foods authorized in the EU.

     

    Unit 3.

    Specific requirements for products of animal origin.

    Meat supply chain: Food Chain Information (FCI), slaughter hygiene, and carcass microbiological criteria. Trichinosis and other food-related zoonoses.

    Bivalve mollusc supply chain: classification of production areas, health standards for bivalve molluscs, marine biotoxins.

    Fisheries supply chain: species identification, freshness criteria, histamine, parasites, poisonous fish species.

    Milk and dairy supply chain: milking and milk collection hygiene, health requirements for raw milk production, process hygiene criteria for dairy products.

    Eggs and egg products supply chain. Egg marketing standards.

     

    Unit 4.

    EU regulations on official controls.

    National decrees adapting to EU regulations on official controls.

    The organization of the National Health System.

    Role of the Ministry of Health and the competent offices.

    The National Integrated Plan for official controls.

    Management of non-compliance in food companies.

    Administrative and criminal offences in the food sector.

    Sanctions and other corrective actions applicable to violations of food legislation.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The course is delivered through lectures with the support of teaching aids and interactive platforms (Wooclap).

    During the lessons, exercises are conducted on public portals such as the official EU website focusing on:

    - Community food legislation (EUR-Lex);

    - Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF Window);

    - European Food Safety Authority (EFSA);

    - European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC);

    - Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database;

    - ImproRisk Model.

    Educational visits to local food companies are scheduled based on the number of participants and may be conducted in conjunction with other courses in the master degree program.

    Paparella A., Schirone M., Visciano P. Igiene nei processi alimentari. Hoepli Editore, 2023

    Bernd van der Meulen, Bart Wernaart. EU Food Law Handbook. 2020. ISBN: 978-90-8686-350-1

    EU legislation from the European Union website (https://www.eurlex.com)

    National legislation from the Official Journal (https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/)

    Lecture presentations uploaded to the University e-Learning platform

    (https://elearning.unite.it/course/view.php?id=7299)

     

     

    In addition to regular student office hours, tutoring sessions (in-person or remote) are available upon formal request sent to pvisciano@unite.it by interested students using their institutional email addresses.

    The professor is available as tutor for professional internship activities and as thesis supervisor at local food companies or laboratories of analysis.

     

    Intermediate tests may be scheduled during the course, but they will not be considered in the final grade.

    The achievement of the learning objective is assessed through a group project (maximum two students per group) and a final oral exam covering the course content. All program units are equally weighted.

    Equal weight (50%) is given to the results of both tests (group project and final oral exam).

    The assessment criteria for passing the exam are based on the identification of the regulations currently in force regarding the topic assigned for the group project, as well as the accuracy and completeness of the answers to the final oral exam.

    The assessment criteria for assigning the final grade are based on the ability to integrate the various topics, the correctness of the language used, and the depth of analysis in the presentation.

    For working or non-attending students, achievement of the learning objective is assessed only through a final oral exam covering all course content.