RASFF description

Article 50 of Regulation (EC) N° 178/2002 established the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) as a network involving EEA Member States, the Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The RASFF is primarily a tool for information exchange between members for cases where health risks have been identified and measures taken, such as withholding, recalling, seizure or rejection of products. It allows network members to immediately identify whether a specific problem affects them and to take measures to ensure consumer safety.

The legal basis of the RASFF is Regulation (EC) N° 178/2002. Article 50 of this Regulation establishes the rapid alert system for food and feed as a network involving the Member States, the Commission as member and manager of the system and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Also the EEA countries: Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland, are longstanding members of the RASFF.

Whenever a member of the network has any information relating to the existence of a serious direct or indirect risk to human health deriving from food or feed, this information is immediately notified to the Commission under the RASFF. The Commission immediately transmits this information to the members of the network.

Article 50.3 of the Regulation lays down additional criteria for when a RASFF notification is required.Without prejudice to other Community legislation, the Member States shall immediately notify the Commission under the rapid alert system of:

 a. any measure they adopt which is aimed at restricting the placing on the market or forcing the withdrawal from the market or the recall of food or feed in order to protect human health and requiring rapid action;

b. any recommendation or agreement with professional operators which is aimed, on a voluntary or obligatory basis, at preventing, limiting or imposing specific conditions on the placing on the market or the eventual use of food or feed on account of a serious risk to human health requiring rapid action;  

c. any rejection, related to a direct or indirect risk to human health, of a batch, container or cargo of food or feed by a competent authority at a border post within the European Union. 

All members of the system have out-of-hours arrangements (7 days/7, 24 hour/24) to ensure that in case of an urgent notification being made outside of office hours, on-duty officers can be warned, acknowledge the urgent information and take appropriate action. All member organisations of the RASFF are listed and their home pages can be consulted on the Internet from the following RASFF web page