The paper attempts to define theoretical grounds for the phenomenon of food safety. Usually, food safety refers to two key areas: the presence of foreign substances in food and food falsification. The former describes food safety in terms of health, the latter in terms of economic aspects. The focal point of the analysis is the “individual”, whose status is very different in respective theories of economics. The discussions compared the approach to the role and character of the individual in all major schools of economic thought ranging from classical liberalism, Keynesian school, Schumpeterian school to neo-institutional and behavioural schools. The author concludes that what best explains the behaviour of individuals in its market activity as regards food safety is the neoclassical approach. Finally, the paper formulates the prerequisites to provide consumers with the desired food safety status.