FROM THE DINNER TABLE TO THE GREEN TABLE: LEGAL LIABILITY OF BUSINESS ACTORS FOR FOOD POISONING CASES IN INDONESIA: A CONSUMER PROTECTION PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Food poisoning cases in Indonesia remain a recurring issue that adversely affects consumers' health, safety, and legal interests. This condition highlights the importance of the legal responsibility of business actors in ensuring food safety as an essential component of consumer protection. This study aims to examine and analyze the forms of legal liability of business actors in food poisoning cases and the legal sanctions imposed under Indonesian positive law. This research employs a normative juridical legal approach using the statute approach, conceptual approach, and case approach. The legal materials consist of primary, secondary, and tertiary legal sources collected through library research and analyzed qualitatively using descriptive, systematic, and prescriptive methods. The findings indicate that business actors bear legal responsibility when the food products they produce or distribute cause food poisoning to consumers. Such liability includes civil liability through compensation, administrative responsibility, and criminal liability as regulated under Law Number 8 of 1999 concerning Consumer Protection, Law Number 18 of 2012 concerning Food, Law Number 17 of 2023 concerning Health, and the Indonesian Criminal Code. The regulation of legal sanctions is intended to provide legal certainty, protect consumers' rights to safe food, and uphold justice through law enforcement that reflects human rights principles. Therefore, compliance with food safety standards by business actors constitutes a fundamental requirement for ensuring consumer protection and preventing the recurrence of food poisoning cases in Indonesia.