Government has now published a summary of responses to the consultation on Reforms to the Packaging Waste Recycling Note (PRN) and Packaging Waste Export Recycling Note (PERN) Systems.

The aim of the consultation was to seek views on several technical and administrative amendments to the way in which the PRN/PERN system operates. These were intended to address some of the issues identified in the current system, including PRN/PERN price volatility, a lack of transparency, and the potential for fraudulent issuing of PRNs/PERNs.

The main policy actions by the governments are:

• monthly reporting of reprocessing and export data by reprocessors and exporters
• monthly price and revenue data reporting by reprocessors and exporters
• amendments to the reporting categories for the revenue received from the sale ofPRNs by reprocessors and exporters
• a competence test for reprocessors, exporters and Compliance Scheme operators

Defra and the devolved administrations will continue to monitor this approach to the PRN and PERN systems and will review again in 2026 to 2027.

The responses to the consultation, which ran from 26^th March to 21^st May 2022, can be viewed here.

A shocking discovery of illegal meat in lorries was discovered at Dover Port earlier this month, raising concerns for the threat of African swine fever (ASF) hitting the UK.

Officials from Dover Port Health Authority (DPHA) inspected 22 lorries and found illegal meat imports in 21 of those vehicles during a 24 hour period, which included 2.5t of illegal pork products.

The inspected lorries originated from Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and Poland and included raw animal products loosely stored in carrier bags and tissue without temperate control, refrigeration or labelling. Some products were also found in holdalls, taped up cardboard boxes and sealed cool boxes, which were destined to be sold at markets and independent stores in Britain.

From September 1, it has been illegal to bring pork or pork products weighing over 2kg into the country unless they are produced to the EU’s commercial standards.

Dover MP Natalie Elphicke said “There are up to 10,000 vehicle movements across the channel each day. It is clear that the risk of maggoty meat, meat of unknown origin, which often means horse or other illegal meat, rotting meat due to the lack of temperature controls, as well as fresh blood dripping on to other products, is of real concern.”

Elphicke also highlighted the ASF risk, citing government warnings that the disease ‘poses a significant risk to our pig herd and out long-term ability to export pork and pork products around the globe.’

These findings illustrate just how vital the new sanitary and phytosanitary checks are which Defra instigated in response to the threat of ASF entering the UK. The more we can prevent the movement of contaminated meat (both illegal and via travellers bringing in food) the better our chance of avoiding an outbreak.

BRC Global Standards (BRCGS) are running a FREE webinar, aimed at all food quality and regulatory compliance professionals, which will explore some of the changes that have been introduced into the Food Safety Standard Issue 9.

The standard was published in August 2022 and is due to be audited against from 1st February 2023.

There have been amendments bringing the standard in line with updated GFSI requirements. Some of the requirements that have been updated are associated with internal audits, root cause analysis, preventative actions, and incident management. There is an increased emphasis and focus in these areas, alongside product safety culture to ensure the effective implementation of good manufacturing practices.

All those who register will receive a complimentary recording after the live event, so it is worth registering even if you are unable to attend on the day.

You can register here