School of Food Biosciences, The University of Reading, UK
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Food Law Internet Project (F.L.I.P.)

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The United Kingdom (UK)

General Information

January 2007

• See JOINT FAO/WHO FOOD STANDARDS PROGRAMME FAO/WHO COORDINATING COMMITTEE FOR EUROPE, Twenty-fifth Session, Vilnius, Lithuania, 15-18 January 2007, "INFORMATION ON NATIONAL FOOD CONTROL SYSTEMS AND CONSUMER PARTICIPATION IN FOOD STANDARD SETTING (CL 2006/21-EURO, PART A)" (CX/EURO 07/25/4), Information submitted by Austria, European Community, Finland, France, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Available at: ftp://ftp.fao.org/codex/cceuro25/eu25_04e.pdf

Key Legal Documents

Food Safety Act 1990

An Act to make new provision in place of the Food Act 1984 (except Parts III and V), the Food and Drugs (Scotland) Act 1956 and certain other enactments relating to food; to amend Parts III and V of the said Act of 1984 and Part I of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985; and for connected purposes.

Food Standards Act 1999

An Act to establish the Food Standards Agency and make provision as to its functions; to amend the law relating to food safety and other interests of consumers in relation to food; to enable provision to be made in relation to the notification of tests for food-borne diseases; to enable provision to be made in relation to animal feedingstuffs; and for connected purposes.

Links to Organisations involved in Food Law

• Since April 2000, the administration of food law and related matters has been the responsibility of the Food Standards Agency. Their web site can be found at: http://www.food.gov.uk/

Information (listed by date)

January 2002

The results of the evaluation of the official foodstuffs control system by the European Commission Foodstuffs Assessment Team in the United Kingdom can be seen at:

• First Visit: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sfp/oc02uk_en.pdf
• Second Visit: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sfp/oc03uk_en.pdf

The result of a subsequent visit organised by the EU Food and Veterinary Officeassessing food hygiene can be found at:

• Third Visit (2002): http://ec.europa.eu/food/fs/inspections/fnaoi/reports/food_hygiene/united_kingdom/fnaoi_rep_unik_8514-2002_en.pdf
• Fourth Report (2004): http://ec.europa.eu/food/fs/inspections/fnaoi/reports/food_hygiene/united_kingdom/fnaoi_rep_unik_7065-2004_en.pdf

Information last updated - February 2007