Regulation (EC) No. 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules.

The present Regulation aims at ensuring a harmonized approach with regard to official controls for verifying compliance with feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules, giving particular regard to the following objectives: (a) preventing, eliminating and reducing to acceptable levels risks to humans and animals, either directly or through the environment; and (b) guaranteeing fair practices in feed and food trade and protecting consumer interests, including feed and food labelling and other forms of consumer information. It establishes rules in order to ensure that feed and food from third countries is submitted to official controls before release for free circulation in the European Community. Special attention is paid to import controls of feed and food for which there may be an increased risk of contamination.