Under the title “Food alerts and precautionary principles after twenty years of the Spanish olive pomace oil crisis”, the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law, Juan José Guardia, presented a paper at the Agri-Food Law Congress of the University of Lleida, held from 15 to 16 November. In the paper he outlined some of the keys to understanding the controversial case of olive pomace oil.

Based on the fact that the health authorities issued an alert that caused the product to be removed from the market, Guardia questions whether the precautionary principle was correctly applied. As explained by the law lecturer, some courts considered that there was no imminent risk justifying such a measure and those affected did not receive any financial compensation.

In his presentation, the speaker stressed the need to create clear criteria for applying the precautionary principle and avoiding administrative discretion. He also ensured that the requirements should include potential risk and qualified scientific uncertainty. “It is important to review scientific evidence, consult independent experts and consider conflicts of interest to recognise scientific uncertainty,” the lecturer said in his speech. The existence of divergent hypotheses or isolated trials is not enough, there must be a lack of consensus or solid evidence.” The deputy dean of the law faulty considered that establishing clear criteria would allow for greater judicial control and the possibility of recourse to constitutional protection.

This paper is part of the research project “Ethical conflicts in the management of risks for human health in the face scientific uncertainty", funded by the BBVA Foundation, within the 2021 Call for Grants for Scientific Research Projects.