LibGuides: Food product reformulation resources: Quality and legislation

Finding literature

Search the following databases for literature on topics relating to food quality.

FSTA (Food Science and Technology Abstracts) This link opens in a new window
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. All journals are assessed for quality so you can be confident FSTA does not contain any fake science.
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] This link opens in a new window
Use to find articles with an industry focus. Covers business magazines, scholarly journals and trade publications.
Coverage includes: accounting; banking; finance; international business; management; marketing; real estate; regional studies; sales; trade; and technology.

To see a list of the full-text journals select the Title list option from the EBSCOhost home page. Also includes references to articles in many other journals.

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
EBSCOhost Advanced Search Help
Viewing results in EBSCOhost
Basic search video tutorial
Advanced search video tutorial
ABI/INFORM Collection [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Key business research resource holding thousands of full-text journals, dissertations, working papers, key business and economics journals.
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
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.

Foodlaw-Reading

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] This link opens in a new window
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

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] This link opens in a new window
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

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] This link opens in a new window
EU, US and some coverage of Commonwealth and other jurisdictions.
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

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] This link opens in a new window
EU, US and some coverage of Commonwealth and other jurisdictions.
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)
A handy subject portal to sources of legisation for different countries.

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.

Reading list

A few suggested books have been included in this guide, but for a more comprehensive list of books, articles and other documents take a look at the reading list for this module:

Reading list for FBMPRE

Useful books

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
Food Quality Management by Pieternel A. Luning; Willem J. Marcelis
Call Number: 664.07-LUN
ISBN: 9789086861163
Publication Date: 2009

Food product reformulation resources: Quality and legislation