The Role of Administrative Control Authorities in Protecting Food from Contamination in Both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: A Comparative Analytical Study
Dr. Mohammed bin Hassan Al Qahtani
Associate Professor of Administrative
and Constitutional Law
Faculty of Law, King Abdulaziz University
Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Dr. Safaa Mahmoud Al Suwailimeen
Associate Professor of Administrative Law
Faculty of Law, Yarmouk University
Irbid, Kingdom of Jordan
Abstract:
Administration derives its legitimacy and responsibility from controlling food, and its responsibility is assessed, emanating from the religious and legislative basis that protects food. This responsibility arises on the state, and it bears this responsibility because food is of paramount importance for supporting human life as an essential pillar of the state.
The importance of the study rises in highlighting the role of legal protection for food. The main problem centres around the adequacy of legislation related to supervision and protection, identifying the centralized and decentralized administrative bodies responsible for achieving this supervision and protection, and the extent to which their work is independent from each other, in addition to the adequacy of the administrative penalties necessary to achieve adequate protection for food.
The study concluded with displaying the diversity of administrative penalties and the multiplicity of legislation regulating food protection. It also recommended that penalties should be intensified, and the constitution should include an explicit text that protects the human being’s right to have a healthy environment free from all forms of pollution, including food pollution, in a way that guarantees people’s right to being healthy.
Keywords: food control, legal protection of food, to good specifications and standards, to protection from food contamination, and to public health.