AGES (Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety) – Legal bases

To ensure effective and efficient control of food safety and to protect the health of humans, animals and plants, the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety ("Österreichische Agentur für Gesundheit und Ernährungssicherheit GmbH") was created.

The objective is to bundle and pool the responsibilities of the whole food production and quality assurance sector in a specific agency for health and food safety. In this way consumers‘ requests for rising safety and control standards can be best satisfied. The Agency is obligated to control food safety effectively and efficiently and to ensure the protection of human, animal and plant health.

The head office of AGES is located in Vienna.

The concrete tasks that the Agency has to fulfil to accomplish the objective are listed in the Health and Food Safety Act.

Furthermore, a working programme for the execution of tasks is required.

When executing its tasks, the Agency must, in particular, observe the following principles:

• Objectivity and impartiality;
   
• Application of methods and procedures in line with internationally recognised scientific principles and standards and their disclosure;
   
• Continuous review of its work for possibilities of quality improvement and rationalisation.

Scientific advisory boards are established to provide advice to the Agency, the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection as well as the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism.

Comprehensive information on the activities of AGES offered on the Agency’s Homepage.