A Brief Critical Outline of the EU and International Discipline on the Transport of Perishable Foodstuffs and the Role of the GS1 Logistic Label in the Traceability Along the Cold Chain

Nowadays the food industry is constantly evolving and the management of transport of perishable goods transport is receiving more and more attention, both in practice and in the scientific literature. Due to their chemical and/or physiological characteristics, food products are more susceptible to severe and irreparable damage during transport, especially if the storage temperature is not kept controlled. Without question, the challenge of ensuring the quality of transport of perishable goods and, in particular, the efficiency of the so called “cold chain” require vigilant management of both people and processes involved in the entire food chain, throughout the transport phase from the packing at the shipper’s warehouse to the delivery. At European level, a first discipline concerning the transport of perishable goods was included in the Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council No. 178/2002, which established the general principles and requirements of food law, introduced the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and fixed procedures in the field of food safety. Subsequently, in 2004, through the introduction of the so called “Hygiene Package”, the entire discipline was deeply reformed in order to guarantee the respect of the new set of sanitary and phytosanitary rules concerning all the activities involved in the food chain included the transport of foodstuffs. The legal framework is integrated, at international level, by the “Agreement on the International Carriage of Perishable Foodstuffs and on the Special Equipment to be used for such Carriage”, also called ATP Treaty, which was introduced in 1970 by the UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe). The aforementioned legislations will be analyzed with the purpose of reaching a critical and comprehensive overview of the current legal regime concerning the transport of foodstuffs, focusing on the potential legal implications which derive from the technological innovations in the field of traceability along the foodstuffs supply chain.