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Food irradiation has been addressed in international standards recognised by the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the SPS Agreement), in particular in the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) Codex Alimentarius Standard for irradiated food and in standards of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). National legislation on food irradiation is, however, not always in line with those international standards. This chapter analyses different legal frameworks on food irradiation and argues that current regulatory approaches, which (inter alia) authorise irradiation of certain predefined product categories and set upper dose limits, do not appear to be in line with the approach used under the relevant internationally recognised standards, which focus on the technological purpose of the treatment, the minimum absorbed dose to achieve it, and the maximum absorbed dose. In conclusion, scientifically unjustified trade barriers for irradiated foods may arise.

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