FSA review
FSA surveyed local authorities between March and May 2018 across
the three countries and 104 replied. It assessed how local
authorities plan and prioritize food standards work, the
resources and capacity they have and how they measure success of
programs.
The current approach to delivery of food standards controls is
set in the Food Law Code of Practice (FLCOP), which has separate
versions covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Michael Walker,
Referee Analyst and head of the Office of the Government Chemist,
LGC welcomed the review:
“Food must be safe and consumers must have the information they
need to help make informed choices about the food they buy;
responsibility for this rests firmly with those who make and sell
food. There is however a legitimate expectation of government
oversight. There is ample legislation covering food standards
including the quality, composition, labelling, presentation,
chemical contamination and advertising of food. But policy
responsibility for and delivery of official controls of food
standards (i.e. ‘enforcement’) exist in a complex landscape.
I welcome this review and its findings. The conclusions are
refreshingly candid in recognising the failures in the system.
FSA is to be applauded in its aims to address the failures.
Much can be done to improve consistency of approach and effective
targeting of resources. But it is openly acknowledged in the
report that it is highly unlikely that available resources to
deliver food standards controls will increase in the near future
without intervention by central government. Thus there is a
tension between the ambitious aims of the review and the
practical ability to deliver sustainable modernisation in the
short term.
With the community’s full support, and knowing the calibre and
experience of the team responsible for Regulatory Compliance in
FSA, I look forward to the successful outworking of this review.”
A full article on the review and the GC response can be found
on Food Safety
News and the published review can be found on
the FSA website.
