ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL REGULATION OF FOOD SECURITY IN PUBLIC CATERING IN WARTIME

Abstract

Introduction. Food security is a component of the national security of the state; however, its administrative and legal regulation has traditionally focused on agricultural production, while public catering, being the final link of the food chain where the safety of the ready-made dish is formed, has remained outside the scope of attention. Under martial law, this issue has become more acute due to the conflict between the easing of state supervision (control) and the need to guarantee safe organised catering, especially for specific categories of persons, including military personnel, internally displaced persons and children in educational institutions.

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to examine the current state of administrative and legal regulation of food security in the field of public catering under martial law, to analyse the current legislation governing the relevant relations, and to determine directions for improving legislation in the field under study.

Materials and methods. The methodological basis of the study consists of general scientific and special legal methods. In particular, the dialectical method made it possible to consider food security in the field of public catering as a dynamic phenomenon changing under the influence of martial law conditions. The systemic and structural method was used to examine the relationship between food security and food safety. The formal legal method was applied to analyse the provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On the Basic Principles and Requirements for Food Safety and Quality”, acts of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, and other subordinate legal acts. The comparative legal method was employed to compare domestic regulation with the relevant regulations of the European Union and the Codex Alimentarius standards. The regulatory framework of the study consisted of the legal acts of Ukraine, European Union legislation, and international standards.

Results. It has been established that the current regulatory model is based on the principles of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points system; however, the moratorium on scheduled state supervision measures introduced for the period of martial law has significantly weakened the preventive function of the state in the field of public catering. The inconsistency in the restoration of control powers and the fragmentary nature of the regulation of organised catering for vulnerable categories of the population have been revealed. The expediency of applying a risk-oriented approach and strengthening the self-regulation of market operators has been substantiated.

Prospects. Further research should focus on developing a differentiated model of state supervision (control) in the field of public catering, adapted to the conditions of the wartime and post-war periods.