LibGuides: Food product development resources guide: Quality and legislation

Resources for finding articles relating to food quality

FSTA (Food Science and Technology Abstracts)
Key resource for finding publications in the sciences of food and health. Includes over 5,500 journals, plus books, trade publications, conference proceedings, patents and more. Updated weekly. Covers publications from 91 countries and in 43 languages. All journals indexed in FSTA are assessed for quality and relevance so you can be confident you will find only trustworthy sources.

Covers food science, technology and nutrition including:

-food additives
-biotechnology
-food safety
-food science
-functional and novel foods
-nutrition
-packaging

Patent coverage includes European and World (PCT) patents and individual country patents from 17 major countries.

Help and guidance
Web of Science Training Portal
Business Source Complete [full-text]
Full-text articles in business magazines, scholarly journals and trade publications.

Coverage includes: accounting; banking; finance; international business; management; marketing; real estate; regional studies; sales; trade; and technology.

Also includes: books/monographs; case studies; conference proceedings; country economic reports; over 5,000 company records; industry reports; market research reports; SWOT analysis; and working papers.

Covers 1886-

Help and guidance
For help with using EBSCOhost, click on the 'Help' link, under 'Research tools' on the left hand side.
ABI/INFORM Collection [full-text]
Key business research resource holding thousands of full-text journals, dissertations, working papers, key business and economics periodicals such as the Economist, country-and industry-focused reports, and downloadable data.

ABI/INFORM includes all content found in ABI/INFORM Global, ABI/INFORM Dateline, and ABI/INFORM Trade and Industry. It also includes ABI/INFORM Archive, which offers a deep backfile of many of the most important business journals of the last century.

Help and guidance
For help within the platform, click on the question mark icon in the bottom right-hand corner.
ABI Inform LibGuide

Search Summon

Search Summon using the box below to find online journal articles, book chapters, standards and other publications covered by the Library's subscriptions. You should be able to access everything you find on Summon.

Key organisations

Codex Alimentarius
The Codex Alimentarius Commission is the body responsible for compiling the standards, codes of practice, guidelines and recommendations that constitute the Codex Alimentarius. The Codex Alimentarius, or Food Code, aims to protect public health and encourage fair practices in worldwide food trade. All the standards and databases are being made available on the website.
DEFRA (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs)
Includes information aimed at UK food and drink manufacturing industries about improving competitiveness and information on food regulations applied to various food groups. Also provides information on water quality and drinking water. DEFRA statistics are also available free of charge.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Includes several databases with detailed statistics for production, trade and commodity supply and demand.
Food Standards Agency
A wide range of guidance on all aspects of food safety, quality and authenticity.
US Food and Drug Administration
Includes information on food additives, food safety and food labelling.

Finding legislation

Foodlaw-Reading

THE portal for sources of food law compiled by Dr David Jukes from the University of Reading. Includes links to the main sources of legislation and key legal topics including additives, flavourings and labelling.

Reading Food Law
Originally compiled by Dr David Jukes of the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, this site provides comprehensive listings of sites covering UK, European and International food law.

UK legislation

LexisLibrary and Westlaw UK provide the text of Acts and Statutory Instruments in force. The UK's Government's official Legislation.gov.uk website provides free access to original and revised versions of legislation, but this is not as up-to-date as LexisLibrary and Westlaw UK.

Lexis+ [full-text]
Formerly LexisLibrary. Use to find UK, US, EU and Commonwealth legal sources. To access content you may be prompted to enter your full name and agree to Lexis' terms and conditions. For educational use only (see 'Additional Info' for restrictions on use).

Full-text of UK, US, EU and Commonwealth legal sources. Contents include:

-UK cases including The Law Reports, All England Law Reports, and English Reports
-Cases of the Irish, Northern Ireland, and Scottish Courts from 1945.
-All current Public General Acts and Statutory Instruments of England and Wales
-Halsbury's Laws of England
-Hill and Redman Law of Landlord and Tenant
-European Union cases from 1954
-European Union legislation
-Commonwealth cases and legislation, particularly from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa
-US Federal and State case law
-US Federal legislation
-Comprehensive collection of US law reviews from 1982
-UK broadsheets as well as local newspapers in the UK

Restrictions on use
Lexis+ may only be used for educational purposes. It must not be used for the purpose of University business processes (including but not limited to Health & Safety, Legal Services) or for monetary reward (including but not limited to knowledge transfer partnerships). For the full Lexis+ terms of use, please access the resource using the link above and click on the "Terms & Conditions" at the bottom of the page.

Help and guidance
-For comprehensive guidance see the LexisLibrary support site which includes training videos, tips and user guides.
-A range of training videos are available on the LexisNexis UK YouTube channel.
-Complete the LexisLibrary research certificate.
Westlaw UK [full-text]
Full-text of UK, US EU and Commonwealth legal sources.

Contents include:

- UK cases, including The Law Reports, Weekly Law Reports and English Reports
- Fully consolidated laws in force, including Acts from 1267 and Statutory Instruments from 1948.
- European Union cases from 1954
- European Union legislation
- Index to British legal journals from 1986 (with links to full-text where hosted on Westlaw UK)
- Full-text British and American legal journals (varying date coverage)
- Comprehensive collection of US law reviews from the 1980s and selected journals from common law jurisdictions, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
- US Federal and State case law
- US Federal legislation

Help and guidance
For basic, introductory guidance see the Westlaw getting started guide (PDF).
For more advanced guidance see the further resources on the Westlaw customer support site.
Complete the Westlaw UK certification training, an interactive walk-through of Westlaw UK, to demonstrate your skills by becoming a Certified user.

Legislation.gov.uk - Statutory Instruments
Texts of Draft UK Statutory Instruments from 1998 onwards.

Legislation from other countries

This can be harder to find. The following are useful portals.

EUR-Lex
Official search for EU legal materials, including the Official Journal, treaties, directives and case law.

Lexis+ [full-text]
Formerly LexisLibrary. Use to find UK, US, EU and Commonwealth legal sources. To access content you may be prompted to enter your full name and agree to Lexis' terms and conditions. For educational use only (see 'Additional Info' for restrictions on use).

Full-text of UK, US, EU and Commonwealth legal sources. Contents include:

-UK cases including The Law Reports, All England Law Reports, and English Reports
-Cases of the Irish, Northern Ireland, and Scottish Courts from 1945.
-All current Public General Acts and Statutory Instruments of England and Wales
-Halsbury's Laws of England
-Hill and Redman Law of Landlord and Tenant
-European Union cases from 1954
-European Union legislation
-Commonwealth cases and legislation, particularly from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa
-US Federal and State case law
-US Federal legislation
-Comprehensive collection of US law reviews from 1982
-UK broadsheets as well as local newspapers in the UK

Restrictions on use
Lexis+ may only be used for educational purposes. It must not be used for the purpose of University business processes (including but not limited to Health & Safety, Legal Services) or for monetary reward (including but not limited to knowledge transfer partnerships). For the full Lexis+ terms of use, please access the resource using the link above and click on the "Terms & Conditions" at the bottom of the page.

Help and guidance
-For comprehensive guidance see the LexisLibrary support site which includes training videos, tips and user guides.
-A range of training videos are available on the LexisNexis UK YouTube channel.
-Complete the LexisLibrary research certificate.
Westlaw UK [full-text]
Full-text of UK, US EU and Commonwealth legal sources.

Contents include:

- UK cases, including The Law Reports, Weekly Law Reports and English Reports
- Fully consolidated laws in force, including Acts from 1267 and Statutory Instruments from 1948.
- European Union cases from 1954
- European Union legislation
- Index to British legal journals from 1986 (with links to full-text where hosted on Westlaw UK)
- Full-text British and American legal journals (varying date coverage)
- Comprehensive collection of US law reviews from the 1980s and selected journals from common law jurisdictions, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
- US Federal and State case law
- US Federal legislation

Help and guidance
For basic, introductory guidance see the Westlaw getting started guide (PDF).
For more advanced guidance see the further resources on the Westlaw customer support site.
Complete the Westlaw UK certification training, an interactive walk-through of Westlaw UK, to demonstrate your skills by becoming a Certified user.

WorldLII (World Legal Information Institute)
Searchable collection of database resources and links to websites relating to primary and secondary legal sources taken from regional information institutes and nations around the world.

Campden BRI Nutrition Guidelines Database

Recently launched, this database allows you to find information relating to different health influencers (e.g. sugar, salt) and associated guidance and regulatory requirements. For example, if a company wants to develop a reduced calorie cheesecake, they would use the tool to find:

Which regulations they need to be aware of
Which ingredients they could use
Any guidance documents or resources available (to provide a starting point for development)

Campden BRI Nutrition Guidelines Database
You will need to register using your University email address to access this resource.

Useful books

A Practical Guide to Food Law in the United Kingdom - Third Edition by Ian Thomas
Call Number: 347.1462-THO

ISBN: 9781916698611

Publication Date: 2024
A Practical Guide to the Law Relating to Food by Ian Thomas
ISBN: 9781911035756

Publication Date: 2018

On order
EU Food Law Handbook by Bernd van der Meulen (editor)
Call Number: 347.1462-EU

ISBN: 9789086862467

Publication Date: 2014
Food Regulation: law, science, policy, and practice by Neal D. Fortin
Call Number: E-book only - print on order

ISBN: 9781118964477

Publication Date: 2016

Focus on US food law.
Food Chain Integrity by J. Hoorfar, K. Jordan, F. Butler, R. Prugger (editors)
Call Number: 664.07-FOO

ISBN: 9780857090683

Publication Date: 2011