Regulation 178/2002, formally Regulation (EC) 178/2002, is the cornerstone of European Union food law. It established the European Food Safety Authority, EFSA, as the independent scientific body advising on food risks, and it laid down the general principles and procedures governing food safety across member states. Its key innovations include the farm-to-table approach, the legal duty that only safe food be placed on the market, mandatory traceability one step back and one step forward, and the formalisation of risk analysis with the precautionary principle for uncertain hazards. It also created the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed. Though the UK has left the EU, the regulation’s principles were retained in British law, so it continues to shape food safety practice on both sides of the Channel.