Health and Food Safety

Responsibilities

Our goals

We intend to make Europe a healthier and safer place. Our mission is to protect the citizens’ health and monitor their food making sure it is safe.

We aim to

• Build a strong European Health Union to protect and improve public health
• ensure Europe's food is sustainable and safe
• protect the health and welfare of farm animals
• protect the health of crops and forests

What we do

We will achieve our goals by monitoring, listening to your concerns and taking action.

Monitoring

Once the EU has adopted laws and policies on food safety and public health, it is up to national, regional and local governments to apply those laws. They have to ensure that authorities in charge, companies, manufacturers and food producers stick to the rules. Part of our job is to check that this is really happening.

Listening

When we make policies, we want to hear from all interested parties through consultation. We consider, for example, related EU policies on trade, competitiveness and the environment, among others, and the concerns of stakeholders.

Acting

Where EU action is needed, we propose laws and support projects. We also support national or regional authorities in areas where they are better placed to act.

DG SANTE develops and carries out the Commission's policies on:

Food safety website

Public health website

Transparency

As part of the Commission's commitment to transparency, Commission staff holding management functions publish information on and minutes of all meetings they hold with interest representatives.
Meetings of the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety