Introduction

Food is a gift from nature. While technologicalinnovation and science development have helped humanbeings produce food in larger quantities and in avariety of different ways, what food has become isfundamentally different now from what it was inprevious generations. In this respect, how food isproduced has also considerably changed through theaddition of new substances such as colouring agents,flavours, or with the use of science such asbiotechnology or nanotechnology. Consequently, thereare critical questions that need to be consideredabout whether food produced as a result ofdevelopments in science and technology is generallyrecognised as ‘safe’. In response, regulations atthe national and regional levels have takendifferent countermeasures, and with continualscientific and technological innovation comes newopportunities for food crimes and harms. Thischapter addresses first, the regulation of foodalong with science and technology development, andthe regulation of ‘novel food’ in particular.Second, it introduces the role of technology in thefood domain, in both criminal opportunities andcrime control. Last, China is discussed as a casestudy, looking at novel food regulation.

Food regulation in a context of advancementsin science and technology

For certain decades, technology, and in particular,science-driven technology, has transformed humanlife (Committee on Science, Engineering and PublicPolicy 1993), producing products that have becomeessential elements of everyday life. While scienceand technology are quite different concepts, theyare used together in this chapter in order to directa broader discussion of their impact on foodstuffsand food systems. The way food is produced as wellas how food is treated has changed dramatically,creating benefits such as diversity, convenience andaffordability. But there are also risks to humanhealth due to technological changes in physical,chemical or biological processes involving foodproduction and manufacturing. This corresponds withelevated concern about, and demand for, reinforcingfood safety regulation in the interests of thepublic.

Food fraud (Bee, 2008) is a long-standing issue, givingrise to both safety and quality concerns. As aresult, food law originated to fight against foodadulteration, and thus to ensure the authenticityand purity of food.