IFST Webinar: Unfit or Unsafe? – ten years on lessons learned from horsemeat

Organised by Regulatory SIG

In terms of context, the food industry faces an era of unprecedented risk due to climate change and global conflict affecting global supply chains, compounded by inflationary pressure. This impacts on both food security, authenticity, and specification compliance due to pressures businesses are under to maintain margin. On the 10th anniversary of the horsemeat incident a major meat fraud incident occurred which is still under investigation so whilst it’s too premature to be comment on how this occurred, i.e., have lessons been learnt, we can use this as an opportunity to educate IFST members by explaining the formal terms of the Food Safety Act, how this should be practically applied by businesses for due diligence and the enforcement perspective of unfit versus unsafe and when the precautionary principal may be applied.

What participants will learn about: The purpose of general food law, how it came about, the meaning of key principles and how this applies to businesses.
The enforcement perspective and draws on some case law examples to illustrate how the key principles are practically applied and what businesses can do via due diligence to defend themselves.

Who should attend: IFST Members and non-members in technical and quality management roles at all levels

Chair: Bruce Lambourne, Director Food Technology & Integrity Consulting

Speaker: Richard Hyde, Professor of Law, Regulation and Governance, University of Nottingham

Richard Hyde joined the School of Law at the University of Nottingham as an Assistant Professor in January 2013 and became an Associate Professor in August 2016 and has been Professor of Law, Regulation and Governance since August 2019. He was Deputy Head of School (Education and Student Experience) between August 2020 and July 2023. He previously lectured at Northumbria University. He has an LLB (Hons) from the University of Durham and a LLM in International Criminal Justice and Armed Conflict and a MA in Socio-Legal and Criminological Research Methods from the University of Nottingham. He is currently the Co-Director of Undergraduate Studies in the School of Law and the academic director of the University's Pathways to Law project, which is funded by the Sutton Trust and the Legal Education Foundation, and seeks to encourage sixth form students to aspire to a career in the law. In 2015 he was awarded a University of Nottingham Dearing Award for outstanding achievements in enhancing the student learning experience. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He currently teaches courses concerning tort, contract and consumer law in the School of Law, and food regulation in Biosciences.

Richard's Ph.D research, which was conducted at the University of Nottingham and funded by the ESRC, examined the protection of consumers in the context of incidents of food-borne illness.His book, Regulating Food-borne Illness was published by Hart in August 2015.. He has published on general consumer and food law issues. He is a member of the leadership team for the University's flagship Future Foods Research Beacon. He is currently involved in a project which examines the use of whistleblowing disclosures by regulatory bodies, and has used this work to contribute to the current debate on the future direction of whistleblowing protection. His work on whistleblowing was favourably cited by the National Audit Office in their report on disclosures to regulators. He is also interested in civil liability, and is a Associate Editor of Charlesworth and Percy on Negligence.

Richard is interested in business and public engagement, and has given training to small and medium sized businesses and has appeared on Rip-off Britain, Food Detectives, Supermarket Shopping Secrets, Tricks of the Restaurant Trade and Supershoppers talking about food law issues. He is currently involved in a project that uses a virtual reality game to increase the awareness of food hygiene requirements.

Richard is a non-practising solicitor. In practise, he worked for Browne Jacobson LLP. His practise focused on Risk and Regulation, and he represented a number of large businesses and public authorities. He has experience in advising clients on food safety and food standards matters, providing advice prior to product launch, aimed at minimising regulatory risks, and representation during investigation and enforcement action taken by regulatory bodies. Richard has particular expertise in all aspects of branding, advertising and marketing of food products, including packaging and labelling, and with food hygiene regulations. Further, he was responsible for the provision of licensing advice to a number of businesses, and was seconded to a local authority to assist with the implementation of the Licensing Act 2003. He also had experience in advising clients in areas such as environmental law, health and safety and trading standards. During his training contact Richard also experience seats in property and corporate and commercial litigation.

Speaker: Nicola Smith, Partner Squire Patton Boggs (Uk LLP)

Nicola Smith specialises in regulatory compliance. Her expertise is broad ranging and covers alcohol and entertainment licensing, food and feed law, and general product compliance, safety and recall (including general consumer products, cosmetic products, medical devices and food contact materials). Nicola also specialises in road vehicle/driver laws, including public inquiries before traffic commissioners.

Nicola acts for a wide range of businesses, from listed companies to entrepreneurs, and in addition to advisory work, she represents clients in enforcement action, including at interviews under caution, as well as hearings.

Nicola provides support on corporate, property and insolvency transactions, and is experienced in reviewing and advising upon due diligence systems. She has drafted operations manuals and compliance documents for numerous clients following such reviews.

Nicola also provides training to clients and other organisations. Examples include training to managers on licensing requirements, including inspections, test purchases and even conducting mock interviews; the management of global product recalls; food law requirements, including in relation to allergen laws (presenting twice to representatives of the Chinese Food and Drug Enforcement Agency visiting the UK to understand the application of medicines and food and drink laws); and UKCA marking and name and address changes following Brexit. In addition, Nicola has written for the Food edition of the American Bar Association (ABA) publication on recalls due to labelling errors, as well as authoring numerous practice notes on alcohol licensing for LexisPSL and numerous articles for Sedgwick’s Product Recall Index.

Nicola writes client updates on topical legal issues for the licensed trade in England and Wales, and is a member of the Institute of Licensing and the Food Law Group.

Live Q&A: Bruce Lambourne, Richard Hyde, and Nicola Smith

IFST member - Free
Non-IFST member - £25.00

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Please note: IFST is a registered charity with the mission of ‘recognising and empowering food professionals by promoting excellence in science and its application throughout the food chain’. Each year, we are proud to run over 60 events, including webinars and workshops, which engage with thousands of food professionals worldwide from over 50 countries. IFST members attend all webinars free of charge. All non-members who would like to attend our events will be charged a small fee and all attendees will receive a certificate of attendance. You can find details of our membership packages here.