The 9^th issue of BRCGS Food Safety has been released today, Monday 1^st August, and in this latest version, BRCGS is calling for more to be done to reduce non-conformities (NCs) against food standards across the industry.

To help inform the updated Standard, BRCGS conducted an industry-wide consultation to understand stakeholders’ requirements, plus a review of emerging issues in the food industry. This highlighted several concerns regarding supply chains and associated risks to businesses. Commonly cited concerns touched on issues such as hygiene standards, allergen controls and contamination, traceability, food fraud, and labelling and claims.

Issue 9 leans heavily towards encouraging the development of a strong product safety culture. Within this, the foundation for success is recognition of the critical core competencies that must be in place, and receiving continual focus and improvement, before an organisation turns its attention to the attitudes and behaviours that constitute its overarching culture.

BRCGS is collaborating with a number of delivery partners in a series of launch webinars for the Global Standard Food Safety Issue 9. These webinars will provide you with an introduction to the new issue of the standard, provide information around the key changes and prepare you in terms of the next steps. See the full schedule and register for your place here.

If your audit is due to take place on, or after, the 1^st February 2023, you will be audited against version 9.

From 7^th August, titanium dioxide (E171) will no longer be authorised within the EU as a food additive. E171 is used in food as a colour, to make food more visually appealing or to give colour to food that would otherwise be colourless.

Titanium dioxide is often used in a variety of food categories, including bakery products, soups, broths, sauces, salads, savoury based sandwiches spreads and processed nuts. It’s also widely used in confectionary, food supplements and cake icing.

In May 2021, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published an opinion that stated that titanium dioxide can no longer be considered safe when used as a food additive. From this decision, the European Commission and the Member States agreed to remove all uses of titanium dioxide as an additive in food.

The regulation came into force on 7 February 2022, however, a six-month transitional period was included within the regulation to allow businesses to phase out the use of the additive and find alternative solutions. This period will end on 7 August 2022.

Any products containing titanium dioxide that are placed on the market before 7^th August can remain until the products date of maximum durability or it’s use-by date has passed. Any products placed on the market from 7^th August cannot contain titanium dioxide.

This ban does not affect products sold in the UK, however, it is effective in each EU member state and in Northern Ireland.

All food businesses currently using titanium dioxide as a food additive have a legal responsibility to comply with the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2022/63, banning the use of titanium dioxide.

Department for International Trade (DIT) is calling for applications in order to appoint an industry co-chair who has the expertise and interest in driving forward agriculture, food and drink exports.

In October 2021, the government announced the intention to establish a new Food and Drink Export Council (Export Council) to promote British goods overseas. The Export Council will use a collaborative approach. It will harness expertise and resource from government and industry across the UK in a collective endeavour to increase agriculture, food and drink exports.

The Export Council will comprise of strong representation from government, industry, and regionally across different parts of the UK. This will ensure the council delivers for all parts of the UK and all scales of business. The membership will be diverse and dynamic with an onus on innovation, raising ambition, building capability and effective collaboration.

It will comprise of:

• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and Department for International Trade (DIT) representatives
• devolved administrations
• industry bodies
• a selection of dynamic and innovative businesses including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

Meetings of the Export Council will be convened by the Minister for Exports and the industry co-chair. The Council shall act at the request of the Minister for Exports and agree to be bound collectively by its terms of reference (TOR) as a condition for joining.

The Council shall meet upon DIT’s invitation on government premises or virtually. DIT shall provide secretariat services. The Council will meet at least on a quarterly basis. The Council will run for an initial 2-year term, with periodic reviews to ensure it delivers in line with its TOR. The location will be flexible.

To find out more, or to apply, click here.

 

The Food Authenticity Network has created a new information resource base for stakeholders, to signpost them to information related to potential or actual disruption to the food and drink supply chain resulting from the current conflict in Ukraine.

The information is organised under three headings:

• Government Information
• Industry information
• Events

The Food Authenticity Network was set-up in July 2015 by LGC with funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) as a direct response to Recommendation 4 of the Elliott Review into the Integrity and Assurance of Food Supply, which highlighted the need for standardised testing approaches.

Click here to access the Food Security Research Base.

The latest figures for surplus food redistribution in the UK show that the amount of food saved from becoming waste continues to rise significantly. But climate action NGO WRAP, which monitors UK surplus food as part of its food waste prevention work, warns that each year nearly 200,000 tonnes of perfectly good food still go to waste in the supply chain.

Against a backdrop of rising food prices and impacts on the supply chain, the collective efforts of the UK’s retailers, food manufacturers, hospitality & food service businesses and voluntary sector have still managed an impressive 16% increase in surplus food redistribution in 2021. In that year alone, more than 106,000 tonnes of surplus food – the equivalent of 253 million meals – were redistributed via charitable and commercial outlets with a value of more than £330 million.

In 2021, charities handled six times more surplus food than in 2015.

The commercial sector took the bulk of surplus food from manufacturers in 2021, with retail the largest supplier to the charitable sector. The hospitality & food service sector continues to increase the tonnage of surplus food it redistributes. The types of food redistributed remain similar, with the amount of fresh meat and fish, drinks and ambient food doubling between 2019 and 2021, while fresh produce, dairy, chilled pre-prepared and frozen food all fell in 2021, with bakery and chilled-prepared foods now lower than in 2019.

Two years ago WRAP published best practice guidance on Redistribution of Own-Label surplus food products within the supply chain to drive up redistribution; after consulting with the FSA, Defra, UK retailers, suppliers, redistribution organisations and sector bodies. The climate change NGO continues to work with businesses to implement this best practice across supply chains, but warns that uptake could be faster.

Catherine David, Director Collaboration and Change at WRAP, “It’s devastating to see how much food continues to be wasted from supply chains when so many people are struggling to afford the basics, and food redistributors say they can take more. Whilst we welcome the increased amount of food being redistributed in the UK, we know there is a huge amount of good food – 200,000 tonnes of it every year – that could be feeding people. Wasting food also feeds climate change, as all the resources taken to produce the food are thrown in the bin with it. We urge all food businesses and their suppliers to adopt our guidance on redistribution as a priority and help more food get to the people who need it. The surplus food is there, and there is so much more that could be saved at this difficult time for UK families.”

To read more, click here.

Defra want to know what you think about different options being considered to improve food waste reporting. They will be seeking views on the following:

• Options to improve food waste reporting
• Types of businesses in scope
• Material in scope to be reported
• The reporting process which businesses in scope may need to follow
• Costs and impacts
• Enforcement of any regulations

To find out more about this consultation, or to complete the online survey, click here.