Page 418 — British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF)

SESAME DECLARED AS AMERICAS NINTH MAJOR ALLERGEN

Posted on May 27, 2021November 7, 2025 by Sarah Collison

Sesame has become the ninth allergen to be regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after President Joe Biden signed the Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education and Research (FASTER) act into law in April 2021.

This new law won’t come into force for another 20 months, until 1 January 2023, to allow food businesses to prepare as they will now be required to indicate on food labels that a product contains sesame. Sesame has been a regulated allergen in the UK and EU for some time, but US legislation did not require it to be labelled on food until now.

It’s another big win for hypersensitive consumers, but it’s also another law for retailers and manufacturers to get their heads around and adjust to – and the sooner that process begins, the better the chance of achieving compliance across the industry.

CALORIE LABELLING ON MENUS TO BE INTRODUCED IN CAFES, RESTAURANTS AND TAKEAWAYS

Posted on May 27, 2021November 7, 2025 by Sarah Collison

In a drive by the Government to tackle obesity and improve the nations health, large businesses will be required to display calorie information on menus and food labels from April 2022. This move is part of the governments wider strategy to tackle obesity and will help people to make more informed and healthier choices when eating out or ordering takeaways.

The regulation was laid out in parliament earlier in May, requiring businesses with 250 or more employees in England, including cafes, restaurants and takeaways to display the calorie information of non-prepacked food and soft drink items that are prepared for customers. Within the Regulations, the government has a provision which permits businesses to provide a menu without calorie information at the express request of the customer. As a result, people who may find viewing calorie information more difficult may be able to avoid this information in certain situations when eating out.

The calorie information will be displayed at the point of choice for the consumer, on physical and online menus, food labels and also food delivery platforms.

The government plan to work with the food and drink sector and local authorities to ensure the regulations are implemented smoothly. They also claim that by enforcing this new regulation on larger businesses, It will not impact the smaller, independent businesses who might find the requirement difficult.

To read more, click here.

WRAPS FOOD WASTE ACTION WEEK SUCCESS

Posted on May 27, 2021 by Neesha Ramsingh-Cleary

WRAP have recently reported on the success of their first Food Waste Action Week, which took place at the beginning of March 2021. The aim of the week was to raise awareness to citizens of the link between wasting food and climate change.

WRAP have confirmed that nearly half of those who saw the messaging for Food Waste Action Week (FWAW) 2021 have reported doing something different, or planning to in the future, to reduce food waste.

WRAP partnered with Nadiya Hussain, a celebrity chef, TV presenter and author, who helped to raise the profile of their awareness week and the impact food waste is having on our planet.

Spreading the message that ‘Wasting Food Feeds Climate Change,’ the Week set the British public a #FoodWasteActionChallenge to help reduce their household food waste. One in three UK adults heard or saw messaging about food waste during this first annual week of action, delivered by Love Food Hate Waste.

The BFFF and more than 135 other businesses and organisations gave their support during the week, helping to drive awareness nationwide through an array of public and social media activities. These activities generated more than half a billion opportunities to see the campaign across all channels, including PR circulation and viewership.

Plans are now underway for what Love Food Hate Waste confirms will be an annual event. Sarah Clayton, Head of Citizen Behaviour Change at WRAP, “Food Waste Action Week 2021 was an incredible success, especially considering the backdrop of the continuing pandemic. I thank all the businesses and organisations involved for their commitment during the Week, helping citizens make the link between climate change and wasting food.

“Wasting food is an issue that impacts us all, and we are all part of the problem. Our hope for this Week was to empower more people to be part of the solution – and it has. The fact that almost half of people who came across messaging about Food Waste Action Week have changed or plan to change their food waste behaviour is a great example of this. We are looking forward to making Food Waste Action Week 2022 an even greater success”.

EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY SCHEME

Posted on May 26, 2021June 2, 2021 by Neesha Ramsingh-Cleary

As we have communicated many times in the weekly email, the Federation has been working over the last few weeks with the Special Interest Group on Packaging plus other trade bodies on a response to the Government Consultation on the Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme (EPR) that will replace the current PRN system.

This piece of proposed legislation will transfer a massive cost from central and local government to industry. The Consultation states this will be £2.7bn whilst other creditable sources suggest it could be as high as £3.5bn. Indeed, there are parts of the proposed scheme where we feel costs are too open-ended.

We have produced a word document which members can use to complete their own submission online.

We would ask all members to submit a response as we need to communicate to the Government that parts of the Consultation are unacceptable and will place a massive burden on industry whilst we are still reeling from Covid-19 and Brexit.

The deadline for responses is the 4^th June.

The BFFF response to the Government consultation on Extended Producer Responsibility can be found here

If you have further queries please contact Jilly Wallis

CGA MARKET RECOVERY MONITOR – MAY 2021

Posted on May 26, 2021January 9, 2026 by Neesha Ramsingh-Cleary

CGA have shared with us their Market Recovery Monitor and Top 100 Towns report.

This month’s Market Recovery Monitor produced in conjunction with Alix Partners, gives a great insight into the first phase of reopening along with a look ahead at the scope for indoor hospitality.

Some key take-outs are:

Britain had 106,548 licensed premises at the end of April—8,560 or 7.4% fewer than it did in March 2020
Just under a third (32.9%) of all licensed premises traded during Britain’s first phase of post-lockdown reopening, with just over 35,000 sites welcoming guests since Monday 12 April
Across Britain, nearly half (49.0%) of all food pubs and more than a third of community pubs (38.7%) and high street pubs (36.0%) traded in the first phase of re-opening, compared to three in 10 (29.2%) casual dining restaurants and one in six (16.6%) other restaurants
In England, 29.6% of venues have traded since venues were permitted to open for outdoor-only service. The figure was slightly higher (31.1%) in Scotland, where operators had to wait until Monday 26 April, but were given the extra freedom to serve food indoors without alcohol until 8pm. Capacity was notably lower in Wales (24.6%)
MRM highlights some strong reopening rates in major city centres during this phase, including Leeds (41.7%), Newcastle (37.9%) and Manchester (37.3%), but lower numbers in London (29.1%). It suggests a good first phase of reopening for managed sites, with just over half (52.4%) of these trading—more than twice the number of independents (24.0%)

As the first report of 2021 our UK Top 100 Towns report covers the period from outdoor reopening on April 12^th through to 8^th May so the market performance represents only outdoor trading accounting for the decline across the board, however the range of performance does indicate that some towns have performed better than others. The weather may have been kinder, more might have reopened, but how does your performance compare to the towns you are in?

Now the market has reopened, the Top 100 Towns report will resume to its regular delivery schedule each month. Please note that in this and upcoming reports we will be calculating % change vs 2 years ago (i.e. corresponding period in 2019).

To access the full report please follow this link

Shortage of HGV driver’s places business recovery at risk, according to Logistics UK report

Posted on May 26, 2021January 9, 2026 by Sarah Collison

Almost one in ten logistics businesses (9.8%) say the recruitment of drivers is an ‘extreme barrier’ to the recovery of their business, according to a report released (21 May 2021) by Logistics UK: The Logistics Report 2021. With the UK facing higher unemployment – predicted to be at least 5.5% this year – Logistics UK is urging the government to take immediate action to unlock access to these careers for new recruits to the sector, in order to support the recovery of UK PLC.

Alex Veitch, General Manager for Public Policy at Logistics UK comments: “Our report shows that 29% of logistics businesses anticipate that they will be unable to fill vacancies for HGV drivers this year; a further 14.5% expect long delays before filling a role. With the logistics industry in urgent need of these workers, Logistics UK is urging the government to provide interest free loans or grants to train or reskill potential employees and help recruit them into the logistics industry. The business group is also urging the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to maintain its fast-track programme to catch-up on at least 30,000 driving tests that were postponed due to COVID-19 between March and December 2020; this has left thousands of potential HGV drivers waiting in the wings when the UK needs them most to support every facet of UK PLC.”

Mr Veitch continues: “With almost one in ten (9.8%) of logistics businesses reporting that the recruitment of drivers is an ‘extreme barrier’ to the recovery of their business, the nationwide shortage of HGV drivers is stalling businesses’ recovery from the pandemic. With a large pool of potential candidates available – owing to the nation’s higher unemployment – we urge the government to make driver training affordable, accessible and attractive for all.”

The report also identified that staff shortages are expected across a range of operational roles in 2021, including fitter, mechanic and technician vacancies: 37% of respondents anticipate being unable to fill vacancies for these jobs this year.

The Logistics Report 2021 also shares insights into the UK’s competitiveness, international trade, connectivity, costs, sustainability, and safety and innovation. The report is available to download from the Logistics UK website here https://logistics.org.uk/logisticsreport

Summary Version Logistics Report 2021

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