Nutrition is a relatively recent field of European policy making. The Treaty of Rome that established the European Economic Community in 1957 used the terms “health” and “public health” only in the context of grounds that justify national restrictions to the freedom of the Internal Market. Just a little more than a decade after the end of the Second World War nutrition policy was by and large synonymous with agricultural policy. For a large part of the population a constant and sufficient supply of food had still been a luxury in the years of post-war austerity and overweight was largely unknown. It is therefore not surprising that the agricultural policy of the European Economic Area focused on increasing the agricultural productivity and an assurance of availability of supplies at reasonable prices. Consumer protection and public health aspects were only indirectly considered when harmonisation of food legislation started in the mid-Seventies. Still, the aim of this legislation was primarily to facilitate the free movement of goods in the Internal Market. It was only in the late Eighties of the 20th century that public health, and in particular nutritional aspects of public health, made its way into EU legislation. Today laws and regulations have become a popular tool of governments in the battle against non-communicable diseases.