FSA Board supports new plans to strengthen the food safety system

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) Board has agreed to move forward with designing plans to build a modern system that protects the public, supports businesses and keeps food safe now and in the future.

Under the Future of Food Regulation programme, these proposals aim to reform the whole system. This includes strengthening local delivery across the UK, giving local authority food teams the tools they need, introducing a more consistent national approach to scrutinise the very largest food businesses, and ensuring high food standards are maintained in a changing market.

Professor Susan Jebb, Chair of the Food Standards Agency, said: 

The system that protects our food has served us well for many years, maintaining some of the highest food standards in the world. But the way people buy, sell and produce food has changed enormously, and we need to keep pace with that change so that we can be confident of continuing to keep food safe into the future. 

Local authority food teams are the backbone of food safety in this country. Their expertise and deep knowledge of the businesses and communities they serve is irreplaceable. 

We have engaged with over 1,200 stakeholders across the UK to better understand the challenges facing the current system and the changes needed to support local delivery. This feedback will inform the plans as we move into the next phase of design. 

As a Board, we're confident that our proposals can strengthen food safety as a whole, improving the local system of regulation for the vast majority of businesses, and complementing that with national scrutiny for a handful of very large businesses in order to strengthen public protection in the future. This is in line with the Government's ambitions for growth and for decision-making at a local level by default. 

I'll continue to engage with ministers, who will make the final decision on proposals, to make sure our work aligns with their priorities. I'll also talk with devolved governments and Food Standards Scotland, to make sure the programme reflects the needs of communities across the UK. 

We are at a formative stage of the programme, and we need to continue working in partnership to ensure that any reforms deliver on our ambition: a regulatory system that works for people, for businesses, and for the people delivering it. 

The plans to be designed in further detail include: 

• supporting and strengthening the huge value of local expertise, by giving local authority food teams the tools they need to act on problems and support the businesses in their communities that need it most 

• improving the way food businesses register from the outset, so there is a clearer picture of who is operating in the food system, helping those who do the right thing to thrive, and tackling those that don't 

• applying the right level of regulation to different types of business, with local authority food teams continuing to regulate and support businesses in their communities, while national oversight focuses on a handful of the very largest businesses, where it can be used to strengthen protection for consumers 

• making better use of data and intelligence from across large businesses' supply chains, to see the whole picture, resulting in a fairer, more proportionate response and helping regulators focus on the areas of greatest risk 

• giving clearer guidance that helps businesses do the right thing and supports a consistent approach 

• providing more effective enforcement powers and tools, so local food teams can tackle the root causes of poor food safety practices 

• being more open about food hygiene, so the public and businesses can make informed choices, including making it compulsory to display food hygiene ratings online across the UK, and in shops and restaurants in England 

The vast majority of food businesses over 99.5% are micro, small and medium businesses but over 97% of food sold in shops comes from 10 national retailers with extensive global food supply chains.  These businesses have huge reach with consumers, and considerable influence with their supply chain.   

The recent trial carried out by FSA with retailers had demonstrated that national level scrutiny of their data could be used to identify food safety issues and risks at a systemic level, alongside checks on the ground.  

In the autumn 2025 Budget, the government asked the FSA to develop proposals for a national system of regulation for large food businesses in England, starting with major retailers. The Board has previously agreed that this approach has the potential to strengthen oversight and improve visibility of risk across the sector, and plans for this approach will now be designed in further detail.   

The Board has also been clear that these proposals must be developed alongside improvements to support local authority delivery of regulation. 

Following the Board's discussion, the FSA will work with local authority food teams, businesses and other partners through a technical advisory committee. This group will help develop the approach and work through the detail of each change as part of a system-wide regulatory model. 

The programme will continue to involve partners as it reaches key milestones. It will return to the FSA Board in March 2027 with developed proposals for the whole system, including changes needed to strengthen local delivery alongside proposals for a national approach to large retailers. This will be followed by a public consultation later in 2027.