You can have your cake and eat it too

A supposedly respectable newspaper has come out with the disturbing message that new food safety regulations from Brussels have banned home-made baked goods entered into cake competitions to be eaten because they "may cause food poisoning":

• The Sunday Times: EU bans eating of competition cake (paywall)

The article draws a direct link between Regulation 852/2004 on the hygiene of food stuffs, which was adopted in 2004, the 2006 Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and a decision by the Scottish Women's Rural Institute (SWRI) to recommend to its members that uneaten cakes are destroyed after the conclusion of any competition or village fair.

"New EU regulations have banned the consumption of cakes and scones entered at country fairs, preventing contestants from enjoying their winning entries. The Scottish Women’s Rural Institutes (SWRI) — the Scottish equivalent of the Women’s Institute — has ordered contestants at shows to destroy all cakes submitted immediately following competitions."

I should firstly note that the relevant EU legislation is a Regulation, which is directly applicable in all Member States. Had the law really banned competition cakes from being eaten for reasons of food safety, this would have been the case since its entry into force in 2006 - which begs the question why The Times reported on in 2008. A law in force for over two years hardly constitutes "new regulations".

Secondly, as you may have guessed, the story is nonsense. Neither the EU nor the SWRI have banned competition cakes from being eaten; if roving reporter Julia Belgutay had bothered to check with the Women's Institute - as the European Commission did - she would have discovered that

"The SWRI wishes to make it clear that in no way has the EU banned the consumption of competition cakes entered into baking contests at Country Shows. (...) They have not ordered their members to destroy all cakes submitted immediately after the prize giving ceremony, however realising the importance of health and safety they do enforce that any cake containing fresh cream, eggs or butter is disposed of at the end of the show, to avoid any outbreak of food poisoning. To avoid food waste the Institute has recommend that their members to bake smaller-sized cakes, but again this is not under any instructions from the EU."

Moreover, the European legislation itself stipulates in the article 1, paragraph 2:

 This Regulation shall not apply to:   

(a) primary production for private domestic use;   

(b) the domestic preparation, handling or storage of food for private domestic consumption;   

(c) the direct supply, by the producer, of small quantities of primary products to the final consumer or to local retail establishments directly supplying the final consumer

The European Commission also published a handy guide to the implications of Regulation 2004/852, which on page 10 states:

"Operations such as the occasional handling, preparation, storage and serving of food by private persons at events such as church, school or village fairs are not covered by the scope of the Regulation."


Bon appetit!