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Warwick House, Unit 7, Long Bennington Business Park, Main Road, Long Bennington, Newark, Notts, NG23 5JR
+ 44 (0) 1400 283090
Food crime is a significant threat to any food or drink business operator, with many associated food safety risks. Even when the issue is not one of safety, fraud such as misrepresentation or substitution can have huge reputational and financial costs for implicated businesses and brands.
Campden BRI have therefore produced the Beating Food Crime eBook on how to address and manage the threat of food fraud, food defence issues and other criminal activities.
You can download this eBook here
The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) have published an interesting article which, based on Kantar data, looks at how our eating habits have changed since the Covid pandemic and what the main drivers are behind our dietary decisions.
The article reveals that typically, 56.9% of main meals eaten at home contain meat, fish or poultry, this is in comparison to vegetarian meals (including eggs or dairy) at 24.8% and plant-based meals at 18.3%. (Kantar Usage, Total main meal occasions, 52 w/e 18 February 2024)
Also the total number of meals eaten within the home has decreased by -2% year on year due to more people returning to the office, consumers eating on the go or treating themselves to a meal out. When looking closer at the types of meals eaten within the home, it can be seen that meat-based meals have declined by just -1.2%, compared to vegetarian meals at -2.4% and vegan meals at -0.8% year on year. (Kantar Usage, Total main meal occasions, 52 w/e 18 February 2024) .
And in terms of the latest trends within the GB population, consumers are increasingly likely to be a ‘Meat, Fish or Poultry (MFP) Non-Avoider’* (72%) or a Flexitarian**(23.4%).
You can read the article in full here
To equip Scotland’s food and drink businesses with the tools to reduce their emissions in line with the national 2045 target, the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership’s Net Zero Commitment has launched a handbook to make sense of the technical language and jargon around sustainability.
Whilst this handbook is aimed at Scottish food and drink businesses, much of the content will be useful for the whole of the UK.
The handbook can be downloaded for free here
Defra have today (30.09.24) issued a formal update, via their Defra Agri-Food weekly bulletin, regarding the proposed GB-wide ‘Not for EU’ labelling, stating that it will now NOT progress from the beginning of October 2024 as originally planned. Please see below for full detail.
Defra statement issued 30.09.24
Having carefully reviewed the evidence from the consultation carried out earlier this year and through comprehensive engagement with businesses, we will no longer proceed with the introduction of UK wide ‘not for EU’ labelling from the beginning of October 2024.
But our objective, to safeguard the supply of goods into Northern Ireland and protect consumer choice, remains paramount.
To that end we will continue to monitor the UK Internal Market to track, and if necessary intervene to protect, the availability of goods in Northern Ireland
That will mean working with industry on a data-driven approach to protect consumer choice in Northern Ireland, gathering quantitative and qualitative data on the market and flow of goods.
Recognising the clear commitment we have heard from business to serve customers across the United Kingdom, we want to work with you and tackle any issues that arise. Collaborating with everybody across the supply chain will be an important part of our strategy, as will individual businesses acting in good faith to maintain supply.
However, we will put in place the legislative powers necessary to apply labelling requirements across GB as a contingency measure if that is required. These powers will enable us to target intervention, where the evidence shows that there is a risk in the delisting of goods resulting in less choice for consumers in NI, and our efforts to maintain supply are being unsuccessful. The details are still being developed, but we envisage having a power in place to bring in GB-wide labelling on a commodity-by-commodity basis.
We will set out further details in due course, and recognise we need to be clear on timelines and expectations. But we will continue to do everything required to support Northern Ireland’s integral place in our internal market, and we will not hesitate to intervene if that proves necessary.
It is important to be clear that as agreed in the Windsor Framework, Phase 2 of the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme begins from October 2024, bringing more dairy products into scope of the labelling requirement for moving goods GB to NI. This remains unchanged.
The BFFF have received an urgent call for information regarding the ongoing mustard contamination incident (peanut contamination).
The FSA would like to discuss any responses at their Food Industry Liaison Group meeting (FILG) on 2nd October, at which the BFFF will be present so, whilst we understand this is short notice, your consideration before then would be very much appreciated. Any additional information on industry impacts and insights will help bring this incident to a more rapid conclusion.
Please see the call for information below.
Should you wish the BFFF to send the response on your behalf, please ensure you send them through to deniserion@bfff.co.uk before close of day 1st October.
Should you wish to respond directly to the FSA, you can do so using the email address Preventionteam@food.gov.uk
FSA call for information received 27.09.24:
Mustard Powder Contaminated with Peanuts – Message for Food Businesses
Further to our communication on 20th September on this matter. We are writing to get a better understanding of the scale of the situation, to support the risk management of this ongoing incident.
As you will already be aware, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) are managing this ongoing incident after being made aware that batches of mustard, mustard seed, mustard powder and mustard flour imported to the UK from India, have been found to contain undeclared peanut.
Although we are unable to provide bespoke risk assessment or risk management advice to industry in relation to specific products or companies, additional information from industry would be beneficial for FSA/FSS to further develop our understanding of the current situation on a UK-wide basis and identify wider implications for the food industry and consumers.
Confidential: As this survey is being carried out to understand industry impacts and insights, it is therefore confidential. However, we stress that if unsafe food is identified, there should be no deviation from the normal regulatory conditions, and you should notify your local authority immediately.
Questions: Please answer as many as are relevant.
As much as possible we would appreciate a response by 2nd October.
Thank you very much in anticipation of your response!
The BFFF held their annual Technical Conference on Tuesday 24th September and what a fantastic day it proved to be!…
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