UK food standards largely maintained despite major upheaval

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has found that despite major upheaval, including Brexit, Covid and the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia, UK food standards have largely been maintained.

However, its inaugural report on food standards warned that further challenges lay ahead and the sector cannot be complacent.

Challenges on the horizon include the fall in inspections of food businesses as a consequence of pressures faced by local authorities and the delay in establishing full UK imports controls for high-risk food and feed from the EU, which has reduced the ability to prevent the entry of unsafe food into the UK market.

FSA chair, professor Susan Jebb, said: “We are under no illusions that there are major challenges ahead. Establishing full UK import controls on food by the end of next year from the EU is a priority. The longer the UK operates without assurance that products from the EU meet our high food and feed safety standards, the less confident we can be that we can effectively identify potential safety incidents.

“As the report also points out, local authority inspections declined during the reporting period. Even though there are signs of improvement, particularly on hygiene inspections, local authorities continue to face resourcing constraints which could affect progress.

“We, along with our partners in government, must all make sure that the current challenges in the food system are resolved in a way that puts us on course for a safe, healthier and more sustainable future food system.”

Data indicates that more than 95% of food businesses inspected by local authorities were broadly compliant or higher (achieving a score of three or above) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. While in Scotland, food law compliance status is above 96%.

While the number of reported food incidents has returned to pre-pandemic averages, the report did find a "welcome fall" in incidents related to food allergens from 2019 to 2021, which the FSA said may indicate improvements in industry awareness and practice following a number of high-profile incidents.

Despite the pressure on supply chains the FSA did not find a discernible increase in food crime.

UKHospitality chief executive, Kate Nicholls, said: “Food safety is a key element of the UKHospitality agenda and although our industry faced numerous challenges during Covid, serving our customers safe and healthy food always remained a priority.

“Indeed, it was during the difficult past two years that the hospitality sector implemented two major pieces of food labelling legislation: Natasha’s Law allergen labelling and, in England, menu calorie labelling.

“We’re delighted, therefore, that this new report reveals allergen-related incidents have fallen by nearly a quarter compared to 2019. This of course reflects the fact that many hospitality businesses were closed for part of this period, but also illustrates that the sector is stepping up in this area, and recognises the continued and ongoing importance of communicating allergen information.

“We are also pleased to see that 97% of food businesses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and 94% in Scotland, received a satisfactory or higher rating under the Food Hygiene Rating schemes, and in England, Wales and Northern Ireland three quarters of food business received the highest rating.

“UKHospitality will continue to work closely with the FSA and FSS to maintain and improve the high food standards that exist in hospitality.”