FSA Director for Wales, Information and Science, Julie Pierce, has responded to Professor Chris Elliott’s call to share what the Government is doing to regulate the online food industry.

There are concerns about how to regulate the online food industry which is growing at a rapid rate and to protect consumers from the negatives impacts food sold in this way can present. The pandemic has increased the amount of people preparing and selling food from unregistered businesses online from their homes.

The total sales that took place online was 10% higher between Mar-Aug 2020 than the previous year according to the Office of National Statistics. In total Food Store online sales rose by 79.3% in 2020.

FSA Wales are working on 3 main areas: Registration, Collaboration and Enforcement.

Registration is a legal requirement when selling food whether it is from a café in the high street or on an online platform. Sellers can be fined and imprisoned for up to 2 years for not abiding by this ruling.

Another way that the FSA are helping these companies is through their recent campaign – Here to Help. This offers support, guidance and promotes best practice for food businesses. There is also a digital ‘Register a Food Business’ tool which connects to the businesses’ local authority. There are more than 187 local authorities using the new digital register with 33,720 food businesses registering.

FSA are also working closely with key aggregators in the food sector i.e. Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat to use flagship ‘Food Hygiene Rating Scheme’ (FHRS) to determine whether they will allow a business onto their online platform. This is a way of driving up standards and a good way to attract consumers and business as a higher rating attracts more customers.

The National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) is working alongside many of the platforms to enforce rules when dangerous and illegal products are sold online. Not only will the NFCU take down such sites they also share the intelligence to assist platforms in removing or stopping these dangerous products being sold on their sites.

The aim is to estabilsh a way of monitoring and enforcing safety for both consumers and business of online food sales and platforms.

Global Food Security (IGFS) at Queen’s University, Belfast, have undertaken new research that indicates a change in feed for pigs has reduced the UK’s pig farming carbon footprint by 40% over the last 20 years.

The EU funded the research and conclusions have been drawn from historic data on English, Scottish and Welsh livestock systems. Due to the data on agricultural inputs being spare, new research methodology was developed called ‘inverted modelling’. This is a complex metrix involving indicators such as:

• What fuel used on the farm?
• How soil is cultivated?
• Style of land management
• Types of animals
• Types of crops

Pig meat is the most widely consumed and produced meat globally and contributes signficantly to several forms of environmental impacts although the research team claimed that the impact per unit is relatively low.

The Global Warming Potential (also known as carbon footprint) reductions of 37% and 35.4% were seen across the pig farming sector for indoor and outdoor-bred pigs respectively.

The role of feed for the animals was found to be central to the environmental impact accounting for between 75-80% of carbon footprint. Increasing the amount of home-grown crops, such as rapeseed and sunflower meal, in place of soya imported from South America was seen to have a signficant mitigating impact on environmental outputs. This has the potential to alter the carbon rating of pig farms and the industry as a whole.

Professor Kyriazakis said, “The reason this research is so signficant is that it shows an area of livestock farming where carbon foodprint has been reducing over the past 20 years, almost under the radar.”

The UK Government has set a target of being carbon neutral  in farming by 2050.

There are plans for research to also be undertaken in Northern Ireland soon.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has launched the ‘Speak Up for Allergies’ Campaign which is specifically aimed at young people to encourage them to speak up about their food allergy when eating out. This is in a effort to reduce the risk of allergic reaction.

Research shows that young people and children are more likely to experience reactions to food allergies and this in part is due to them not speaking up when they order food – this is especially common when they are at a frequent eating place or ordering takeaway, which has become more frequent since lockdown.

Whilst the food may appear to be the same – recipes, ingredients, even the way the food is being cooked – can change. It is vitally important that young people never assume that food is safe without drawing attention to their allergies.

The FSA are running the campaign on social media – TikTok, Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #SpeakUpForAllergies. They are also promoting the campaign through partners across the food industry and influencers across many different channels in an effort to get the message out there.

For further information and advice for teenagers and young adults with a food allergy – please click here.