First Advisinar Highlights the Austrian Strategy of Food Hygiene towards the local producers

The Local Food Advisors’ Journey 2026 formally started on 19 January through the first of five planned series of advisors’ Monday webinars, called Advisinars, gathering advisors that represent local food systems across Europe to one of the most urgent challenges of the local food system: how to make short food supply chains (SFSCs) operational within the context of European food legislation. This session was led by EU4Advice and the main speaker was Christian Jochum, one of the most prominent experts in SFSC food law, who described the experience of Austria in terms of translating the EU hygiene standards into practical solutions to small-scale producers.

The examples from his presentation, Food Legislation and SFSCs: European Theory and Austrian Practice, demonstrated how flexibility in rules, coupled with trust and training, can strengthen local production rather than weaken it. The central concept of the Austrian model is a simple and yet powerful principle of trust and teach, not only control. Austria has been taking advantage of the flexibilities of EU rules to facilitate administrative load on small producers without undermining food safety under the motto less documentation, more information and motivation.

Smaller food businesses are considered retail businesses and are therefore not subjected to the most complicated approval process. Compliance is possible using prefilled HACCP templates, which are based on common production processes. The testing requirements are risk-based, i.e. the frequency and the type of analysis are determined by the actual volumes of production instead of the strict, one-size-fits-all rules. Importantly, even Austria does not forget about space to accommodate the traditional techniques and regional peculiarities as the excessive homogeneity of standards may undermine the same food cultures that local systems are supposed to safeguard. The lightening of paperwork is compensated by large expenditure on knowledge transfer.

The producers, advisors and food safety officials attend well established training programmes that are facilitated by the Rural Development Programme. The train-the-trainer schemes will also provide the advisors and inspectors with the same technical language, which will ease friction in the event of a farm visit. The manuals on various product categories are also made available on the internet free of charge and this aspect has enhanced transparency and trust within the industry. The outcomes are self-explanatory. A study carried out by the Austrian data indicates that the small scale producers are one of the most successful categories in food safety inspection. The experience defies the belief that smaller operations require stricter bureaucratic control, and this is where education and empowerment would work wonders compared with untamed paperwork. Jochum was not afraid of restrictions.

There are also inspectors who are too strict in their interpretation of rules and training is not always available to those who require it the most, who is the producers. These transparent remarks provided space in which participants were able to contrast national realities, share solutions and embark on making the peer-learning community that the Journey aims to create.

European resources were also something that was covered in the advisinar. Bacause, after the presentation, there was a round-table discussion between Mirta Alessandrini, Angel Nepomuceno, Margaux Rusalen, and Morizot-Braud Françoise. This dialogue allowed space to investigate how hygiene rules can be more favourable to #SFSCs and to facilitate a discussion between the advisor, the policymaker among other stakeholders. In addition to Austrian materials, the participants learnt about the French official guidelines on regulatory flexibilities of short supply chains and wide knowledge base of RMT Alimentation Locale. The European Teacheesy programme was characterised with trained specialisation in the production of artisan cheeses and dairy products. Although much of this information is found mostly in German or

CORENet is hosting the next Advisors Monday, 16 February at 10:00 CET. These webinars, held on the third Monday of every month, are intended to offer a sustained forum to exchange strategies, develop capacity as well as slowly develop a European Advisory Network of Short Food Supply Chains. Beyond sharing information, the initiative seeks to empower people in Europe’s local food systems. Advisors are selected to play a central role in ensuring that the small producers can retain their traditions, strengthen local economies and provide for their communities. As the initial session demonstrated, regulatory complexity can be an opportunity rather than a challenge when knowledge, practical tools, and peer support are provided within defined boundaries.

You can watch the advisnar here!