Members may have been concerned to hear that the French Authorities were due to bring in a new requirement for all private attestations for exports of shelf-stable composite goods presented at a French BCP to be translated in French from 1 January 2023.

Defra have been working closely with the French Authorities to extend this deadline to give exporters in Great Britain more time to prepare for this change.

We can now confirm that they have had some success and this new requirement will be delayed until Sunday 15 January 2023.

In preparation for this change, Defra urge business to start familiarising themselves with the new French translation. See here on gov.uk for the translated version of the form.

When is a private attestation needed?

EU or Northern Ireland importers or agents must complete a private attestation for composite food products if both of the following apply:

• the products are shelf-stable (not stored chilled or frozen)
• the products do not contain processed meat

A private attestation can be used for shelf-stable products that need to be transported at a controlled temperature of 0°C degrees or above.

Exporters should check if the Border Control Post (BCP) where the goods will arrive will accept a private attestation. Exporters need to give their EU or Northern Ireland import agent information about the products they are exporting so they can complete and sign the attestation.

For further information – please contact: Exports@APHA.gov.uk

Colleagues at Unsworth have also offered their support. Should you need it, they can offer a translation service and are also working to grant specific extensions if they are engaged in a translation process. You can contact them here

Members can also join Unsworth’s Port User forum for regular updates: https://www.unsworth.uk/news-and-articles/unsworth-and-partners-launch-the-port-of-calais-user-forum

As the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF) begins celebrating its 75^th anniversary year, chief executive Rupert Ashby says he expects the category to perform well in the year ahead.

Celebrations to mark three-quarters of a century of BFFF representation of the frozen food industry will take place throughout 2023.

Mr Ashby said: “This anniversary year will be a celebration of all things frozen. We have come a long way over the past 75 years, and frozen food is now more popular than ever as a healthy, nutritious, and affordable way of stocking our kitchens.”

Between 1948 and 1973, the Federation was known as the National Association of Wholesale Distributors of Frozen Foods (NAWDOFF). In 1973, the Federation expanded to represent the entire frozen food value chain and was re-named as the British Frozen Food Federation.

The inaugural meeting of the Federation took place on 11^th June 1948 and the 1^st AGM was held on 19^th October 1948. The first full members paid a membership subscription of £10.10 per annum.

Since 1948, when freezing food was a solution to preserve seasonal or spasmodic produce such as peas and fish, the industry has undergone immense change. With the unparalleled range and quality of frozen food available in supermarkets today, frozen food has become a staple of the weekly shop.

Mr Ashby added: “I believe that we are at the start of a ‘frozen food boom’ and, in the coming years, households across the country will purchase and enjoy more frozen food than ever before.

Consumers are increasingly seeing that frozen food is high quality, tastes great, and during a time of high inflation provides an affordable way to maintain a good diet.”

With ethical consumerism in the UK now worth £122 billion[2], Mr Ashby also commented that consumers can make a choice for the environment by buying frozen food.

“Food waste accounts for up to an astonishing 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Frozen food reduces waste throughout the supply chain and at home, as consumers can cook what they need and save the rest for a later date which means that less food is thrown away. This is something we will be emphasising in our anniversary year.”

Now, with 241 members, the BFFF is the leading trade association for the frozen food sector, giving a strong voice to the industry in Parliament, to consumer and foodservice markets.

[2] https://www.co-operative.coop/ethical-consumerism-report-2021

In December, we delivered an open IOSH Managing Safety Training Course to some of our members including FareShare, Holdsworth Foods and Fullers foods. Simon Brentnall, said; “We have received some great feedback. The course is the market-leading health and safety course for line managers as it makes them aware of their responsibilities and accountabilities in the Health & Safety field while helping to improve the safety culture in your organisation”.

The course is designed for managers and anyone giving work instructions to others. The syllabus includes:

• Assessing risks
• Controlling risks
• Understanding responsibilities
• Understanding hazards
• Investigating incidents
• Measuring performance

It takes around 22 hours to complete the course and we deliver this over 3 consecutive days. The course can be carried out in either face-to-face or virtually on Zoom. Following the training, the delegates take a written assessment and take away a risk assessment project which is returned within a month. Successful delegates then receive a certificate and we currently have a 100% pass rate.

We hope to run another session in April 2023 for the federation which will be advertised on our website.

The BFFF Technical and Health & Safety teams are pleased to announce the dates for the 2023 Expert Group Meetings. We are looking forward to meeting with the group members to continue our discussions on industry news, changes and challenges to gain a wider understanding of the impact it may have on our members and how we can support them.

We are always happy for our members to raise questions or concerns for us to discuss at the expert group meetings and we will feedback accordingly. The meetings are held under Chatham House rules, meaning we aren’t able to share the full set of minutes, but we can provide an update on any of the topics discussed if our members are interested.

The Technical Expert Group Meeting Dates for 2023:

• 25^th January 2023
• 7^th June 2023
• 11^th October 2023

For further information, please contact Denise.

Health and Safety Expert Group Meeting Dates for 2023:

• 25^th April 2023
• 13^th September 2023
• 6^th December 2023

For further information, please contact Simon or Carla.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have published their Family Food 2020/2021 annual report, which presents the results from the 2020/21 Family Food module of the Living Costs and Food Survey, covering household shopping and eating habits.

Around 5,000 households were surveyed annually, where they recorded their expenditure on all purchases, including food eaten out, over a two-week period.  Where possible, the quantities were recorded in the diaries, but otherwise they were estimated.  The datasets covered a detailed set of food and drink types, and were broken down by a number of characteristics including region, income, household composition and occupation, amongst others.

The report found the following:

• In 2020/21, the amount that an average household spent on all food and drink, including alcoholic drinks and food eaten out, was £39.71 per person per week. When inflation is taken into account, the amount spent fell by 17.8% since 2019/20 from £48.31 and by 16.3% since 2017/18 from £47.43. In 2020/21 households spent £34.25 on all food and non-alcoholic drinks, down by 16.1% in real terms, from £40.84, since 2019/20.
• Households spent £36.38 on household food and drink (including alcohol) in 2020/21. This increased by 10.4% in real terms from £32.95 in 2019/20. £31.56 of this (or 79.5% of total spend) was on food and non-alcoholic drinks, up by 8.8% in real terms, and £4.82 was on alcohol, up by 22.3% in real terms, since 2019/20.
• Expenditure on food and drink eaten out fell by 78.3% in real terms from £15.36 in 2019/20 to only £3.33 in 2020/21. £2.69 of this was on food and non-alcoholic drinks, down by 77.3% from £11.83 in 2019/20, and £0.64 was on alcohol, down by 81.9% from £3.53 in 2019/20.
• In 2020/21, the percentage of spend on food and non-alcoholic drinks for the average UK household was 14.4%, up from 10.8% in 2019/20. The lowest 20% of households, by income, spent 18.3% of their expenditure, up from 14.7% in 2019/20. This was due to hospitality businesses having to close during Covid lockdowns and households buying more food to eat at home.
• Purchases of the majority of household foods saw a clear increase, with the most prominent being sugar, alcohol drinks, confectionary, cheese and vegetables (excluding potatoes) that increased by 23.7%, 20.3%, 18.8%,15.7% and 11.1% respectively. However, this was not the case for eggs, bread, cakes, and biscuits which saw a decrease in purchases in this most recent financial year.

To read the report in full, click here.