The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) recently published their ‘Our Food’ report, which reviews food safety and standards across the UK for 2024.  

This is the fourth report since the UK left the EU and is an independent and evidence-based annual assessment of food standards across all four nations. 

The report reveals that overall, food safety and authenticity standards were stable in 2024, but several aspects of the food system remain under considerable pressure.  

Local authorities still do not have enough resources to address the substantial backlog of inspections, nor deal with the growing number of new food businesses that should be inspected.   

There has been progress in implementing documentary and physical checks at our borders, however more comprehensive and accurate data would allow consumers to be better protected.  

It is also still the case that too many households are struggling to afford food, and that more action is required to improve the healthiness of the food we eat.  

The decline in local authority food sampling rates which takes them below pre-pandemic levels is also a concern as surveillance sampling shows that labelling issues are responsible for most non-compliances.  

As in previous years, there are still examples of products containing allergens that are not labelled correctly.   

Recruitment of Official Veterinarians (OVs) has improved but remains challenging and we need a more sustainable recruitment pipeline to ensure high standards are maintained in the meat industry.    

The FSA and FSS are now calling on government, industry, and regulators to work together to respond to these risks in our food system, to uphold high food standards, and to achieve a food system that works for everyone.   

Access the full report here  

The agenda and papers for the FSA Board meeting, which was held in Birmingham on 18th June 2025, have now been published. The agenda covered the following subjects:  

• Next steps for National Level Regulation  

• Market Authorisation Modernisation  

• Evaluation of the Meat Charging Discount Regime  

• Annual Report of Incidents, Resilience and Prevention 2024/25  

• Glycerol in slushie ice drinks 

• Annual Science Update from FSA’s Chief Scientific Adviser  

• FSA Strategy: Annual Update on Progress Indicators  

• Report from the Director of FSA in Northern Ireland 

 

The agenda and papers can be accessed here 

A video recording of the meeting can also be found here  

 

The FSA Board holds its meetings in public and publishes meeting agendas, papers and decisions. You can view meetings in person or online to see the Board’s discussions about their policies. 

 

The next FSA Board Meeting is due to take place on 17th September 2025 in Belfast. Registration usually opens around a month before the meeting and at that point you will be able to register here.