Throughout July 2023 the Food Standards Agency (FSA) held a consultation seeking views across England and Wales on plans to enhance the investigatory powers of the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU). The summary of stakeholder responses to that consultation has now been published.

As explained in the consultation, the FSA believes enhanced legal powers are necessary for the NFCU to be able to execute its remit and mandate to lead investigations, and to provide case files to the Crown Prosecution Service for prosecution, around serious, organised, and complex food crimes, independently.  The powers sought (which include both section 18 of PACE and several other provisions which have previously been consulted on) concern the ability to apply for search warrants, seize evidence and interview suspects.

There was broad support for the granting of section 18 PACE powers from all respondents with many feeling it was a logical, necessary and proportionate next step in further enabling the NFCU to operate more effectively on food fraud matters and with more resilience.

Secondary legislation will now need to be tabled to equip the food crime officers with the additional powers and the NFCU will also need to devise and deliver a clear implementation plan.

You can read the responses and conclusions in more detail here

FAO PUBLISH INFOSAN ACTIVITY REPORT FOR 2020–2021

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have recently published a report from the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) which provides information on the number of times they have responded to food safety events, detail on the causes, the types of food affected and the area in which the events occurred.

In 2020-2021 INFOSAN responded to 375 international food safety events which was almost twice the amount recorded for 2018-2019 and the highest number since 2004.

Biological hazards remain the reason for the largest number of INFOSAN events, followed by undeclared allergens, physical hazards, chemical hazards, and several cases involving unspecified hazards.

The foods most implicated in the incidents were fish and other seafood, followed by milk and dairy, meat and meat products, and snacks and desserts.

Most of the events involved EU Member States, followed by the African Region, the Americas, the Western Pacific Region, the Eastern Mediterranean Region, and the South-East Asia Region.

You can read the report in full here

BRCGS ‘ASK THE EXPERTS’ WEBINARS OFFER SUPPORT ON FOOD SAFETY STANDARD

In January, BRCGS launched a new ‘Ask the Experts’ webinar series to support sites transitioning to Food Safety Issue 9.

They have now hosted nine episodes in the webinar series, all of which are available for download: 

• Food Safety Culture
• Production risk zoning – high risk, high care and high ambient high care
• Allergen management
• Internal audits
• ‘Free-From Special’ – Gluten-Free
• Labelling (on-pack)
• Food fraud
• Listeria management
• Managing food borne pathogens

The next episode is scheduled to take place on 12th October and will focus on the topic of Product Testing, including uncertainty of measurement. You can register here.

 

If you have not yet attended a webinar, the format is slightly different to what you would normally expect. There is no pre-planned content and no slides providing an open forum for certificated sites to pose questions to an expert panel on a range of topics. Attendees can ask questions (in advance or live) and hear discussion and practical guidance to overcome the challenges of today’s industry.

FSA ANNUAL ANIMAL WELFARE REPORT 2022/23

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) have published a board paper to provide an update on their activities delivered through the ‘Deter, Prevent, Detect, Enforce’ Animal Welfare Action Plan and its objective of making ongoing improvements to animal welfare in slaughterhouses in England and Wales.  The paper also highlights additional work completed in the period and summarises:

• the progress made in delivering against the Animal Welfare Action Plan and positive reactive work that impact the delivery of animal welfare policy within slaughterhouses resulting in a 5% reduction in non-compliances.
• the progress made relating to farm and transport activity resulting in a 2% reduction in non-compliances.  Noting that the FSA works in partnership with APHA and LAs who are responsible for regulation and enforcement of non-compliant producers and transporters.
• the ongoing activities to improve animal welfare implementation and assurance in slaughterhouses in England and Wales on behalf of policy owning departments, particularly in the areas of farm and transport referrals to APHA and LAs, and religious slaughter.
• the FSA position of zero tolerance towards any breaches of animal welfare with proportionate enforcement and collaborative working with other regulators.

You can read the paper in full here

Defra’s latest update on the Avian Influenza situation in the UK has revealed that there have been 206 confirmed cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 since 1st October 2022:

• 160 cases in England
• 37 cases in Scotland
• 8 cases in Wales
• 1 case in Northern Ireland

There have been 294 cases of (HPAI) H5N1 in England since the H5N1 outbreak started in October 2021.

In the United Kingdom, there has been 1 confirmed case of low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) H7N3 since 1st October 2022. This case was confirmed in Scotland on 20th March 2023.

This means that the risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 in wild birds in Great Britain is assessed as high (the event occurs very often).

However, the risk of poultry exposure to HPAI H5 in Great Britain is assessed as:

• low (event is rare but does occur) (with high uncertainty) where there are substantial biosecurity breaches and poor biosecurity.
• low (event is rare but does occur) (with low uncertainty) where good biosecurity is applied.

You can access the update in full here.

 

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) have published a report reviewing the current state-of-the-art of allergen testing methodologies and the remaining challenges.

The work combined a critical literature review of testing methods with assessments of allergen proficiency testing data and included consultations with stakeholders from the food industry, and industry experts.

The aim is to find a suitable harmonised testing protocol that facilitates allergen risk management. Suitable workflows outlining recommended testing protocols are presented for priority allergens to provide a resource for compliant testing and incident management.

Estimates of the cost of setting up new testing laboratories to support allergen workflows are also included, as well as the cost of testing by established laboratories.

You can read more here