At its quarterly Board Meeting on 19 June 2019, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Board discussed an update on the Government’s Allergen labelling review, a model for food standards official controls, the Science Council’s recommendations on horizon scanning, the FSA’s sampling strategy and the FSA’s approach to regulatory enforcement.
The Chair confirmed she had written to Defra Secretary of State Michael Gove to inform him of the Board’s decision to recommend full ingredient labelling on prepacked for direct sale food. It was noted that dialogue was ongoing with the industry to ensure that concerns around the challenges of implementation were addressed, and adequate resourcing was available to work towards the ambition for making the UK the best place in the world for people living with food hypersensitivities.
The Board also discussed the FSA’s plans to design a modernised model for food standards official controls as part of the Regulating Our Future (ROF) programme. The new system will be risk-based and intelligence-led, providing improved levels of public protection.
In addition, the Board were also given an update on official controls on animal feed. They recognised the progress made by the FSA on feed controls since the organisation was set up almost 20 years ago, and the proactive approach which has led to the organisation being at the vanguard of regulatory reform. It was agreed that objectives and outcomes on this issue should be aligned across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a flexible delivery model to accommodate the different circumstances in the three nations.