A number of major food safety incidents in the 1990’s led to a crisis of confidence in EU consumers. These included the Mad Cow Disease outbreak, starting in the UK in the 1980’s, and the scandals across Europe involving the feeding of dioxins, sludge and pharmaceutical waste to food-producing animals. These incidents had one thing in common – all were connect with animal feed, suggesting this was the weak link in the food chain. In addition, the food industry continued to struggle with the negative publicity of salmonella, E. coli and campylobacter incidents.