Legal Protection of Food against Environmental Pollution in the UAE Law

Abstract

Food is an essential element for providing humans and animals with the energy they need in order to grow and develop naturally. It is also necessary for body functions to operate properly and it plays a vital role in protecting our bodies from diseases. Food pollution means inflicting harmful substances on food which is indispensable for human life and which then becomes inedible or poisonous to humans at different levels. The Qur’an and the Prophetic tradition accord high importance to food and its protection and thus, they enacted laws allowing for eating useful and good food and banning harmful food. Countries all over the world also paid great attention to food issues and established specialized agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Many conferences were also organized and several declarations were made to this effect including the Rome Declaration on World Food Security in 1996. On the national level, the UAE also issued a number of legislations and laws for the protection of food from pollution. This study is divided into two parts. The first part examines the sources of food pollution: pollution from human and animal sources, overuse of fertilizers, overuse of flavors and additives, commercial dishonesty in food preparation and manufacturing, pollution caused by industrial wastes, natural disasters, and wars. The second part of this paper investigates the legal methods and procedures for protecting food against pollution such as special environmental legislations especially the Federal Law for the Development and Protection of the Environment No. 24 for the year 1999 and its amendments and executive bylaws; the Federal Law for the Exploitation, Protection and Development of the Living Aquatic Resources in the waters of the state of the United Arab No. 23 for the year 1999 and it executive bylaws No. 302 for the year 2001; the Federal Law No. 4 for the year 1979 regarding combating cheating and fraud; the Law of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical institutions No. 4 for the year 1983; the Law of Consumer Protection No. 24 for the year 2006 and its amendments and its executive bylaws No. 12 for the year 2007; the Law of Food Protection through the use of Food Censorship; The UAE Society for Consumer Protection and the Department of Consumer Protection in the Ministry of Economics. The analysis revealed that some of these laws and legislations need to be amended in order to keep up with the most recent developments in the field of food pollution, technological techniques need to be used to confront pollution, stricter penalties need to be imposed in order to curb pollution sources, and issuing the Law of Food Safety in the United Arab Emirates needs to be expedited.