In December 2022, WRAP released their UK Plastic Pact Annual Report 2021-22. Through the pact, they are redesigning the plastics system, working across the entire plastics value chain to reduce its climate impact, by stopping plastic waste and the harmful emissions of new plastic production, keeping the material in the economy and out of the environment.

The 2021-22 annual report gives an honest appraisal of progress and challenges now that the plastic pact is over halfway to target.

Members of the Plastic Pact have continued to invest, innovate and take action towards the four targets:

1. 84% reduction in problematic and unnecessary single use plastics since 2018
2. 70% of plastic packaging is recyclable – up from 66% in 2018
3. 50% of plastic packaging is recycled – up from 44% in 2018
4. Recycled content levels have risen from 8.5% in 2018 to 22% in 2021

Although WRAP is seeing tangible progress in many areas, they will struggle to meet targets 2 and 3 of The UK Plastics Pact due to a delay in policy measures, combined with an unprecedented and turbulent retail environment in recent years.

To view the full report, click here.

Organisations that handle and supply (create, import, distribute or sell) packaging and packaged goods may be affected by EPR for packaging.

Gov.uk has a useful tool available, to help business find out:

• if the regulations apply to you
• whether you’ll need to pay a fee
• what you need to do next to comply with the regulations

You’ll need to know:

• your annual turnover
• the ways that your organisation handles and supplies packaging
• the total weight (in tonnes) of packaging you handled and supplied in 2022

To find out if your business needs to report packaging data under extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging, click here.

In December 2022, Defra announced that 45,000 visas for seasonal workers will be available for businesses this year, to provide a boost for the UK’s horticulture industry.

The allocation will allow businesses to recruit foreign workers to come to the UK for up to six months through the Seasonal Worker visa route – an uplift of 15,000 compared to what was available to businesses at the start of 2022. This number will be kept under review with the potential to increase by a further 10,000 if necessary, and contingent on sponsors and growers improving and abiding by worker welfare standards, including ensuring workers are guaranteed a minimum number of paid hours each week.

The changes will provide certainty for farmers in a boost to British food production and help to tackle the labour shortages and rising input costs which have been affecting countries all around the world.

Alongside expanding the number of visas available, the government will be appointing new scheme operators to help with the efficient operation of the visa route and help safeguard worker welfare. A new team will also focus on ensuring sponsors are abiding by workers’ rights by improving training and processes for compliance inspectors and creating clear policies and guidance for robust action for scheme operators where workers are at risk of exploitation.

The Government is taking action to encourage all sectors to make employment more attractive to UK domestic workers. To help with these efforts, Defra is working with industry and DWP to raise awareness of career opportunities within the food and drink sector among UK workers.

The Government is also working to boost automation in the food sector, with £12.5 million recently announced to boost the development of automation and robotic technologies on farms, part of the wider £270 million Farming Innovation Programme to support research and development in agriculture and horticulture. Defra will also respond shortly to the recommendations of a review of automation in horticulture which was published earlier in 2022.

It’s been reported in a study on Food allergen recalls in the United Kingdom, that more than half of food recalls over a 6-year period (2016 – 2021) were due to allergens. During this time, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FFS) published 1,036 recalls from the UK, with 597 of these recalls being related to allergens.

The number of allergen related recalls increased annually until 2019, peaking at 118, before we saw a decline in numbers in 2020 and 2021, down to 82 and 84 respectively. The reduction could potentially be a result of improved labelling within the industry, but it could also be a direct or indirect impact of the COVID pandemic.

In 2019-20, figures show more than 7,700 hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of allergic food reactions in the UK were made and 10 food allergy-related deaths occur annually.

For the 597 recalls, six reasons were identified, with the omission of priority allergen labelling being the main one, followed by cross-contamination and then products packed into the wrong packaging.

The other three reasons were a result of lack of emphasis on priority allergen labelling, products not being labelled and lastly, items found to contain the allergen they were declared free from.

During the 6-year period, 316 manufacturers or companies issued 597 recalls for 1,213 products and more than 50 businesses recalled at least six products.

Of those 50 companies, eight of the highest frequency food retailers were Lidl, Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s,  Asda, Co-Op, Morrisons, and Booths. All these stores had recalls due to either cross-contamination or the presence of unwanted allergens.

From this study, it shows that manufacturers and retailers need to focus on managing allergen labelling at all stages of the supply chain to drive down the recalls. Businesses need to recognise the errors prior to distribution, particularly those where the allergen is missing from the label, or not emphasised correctly, it’s not in English or the wrong product has been packed.

To read the article from Food Safety News in full, click here.