Foodlaw-Reading Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
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Food Law News - UK - 2021

FSA Consultation, 28 May 2021

MEAT HYGIENE / OFFICIAL CONTROLS - Consultation on Early Proposals for a Future Delivery Model for FSA-Delivered Official Controls in the Meat Sector

FSA Consultation: Consultation on Early Proposals for a Future Delivery Model for FSA-Delivered Official Controls in the Meat Sector A copy of the consultation document is available on this site (click on image). For the consultation page, see: FSA Consultation - Meat Sector Controls. The closing date for comments is 23 July 2021. Provided uder the Open Government Licence. The original document was accessed from:

Who will this consultation be of most interest to?

Consumers, the meat industry (Food Business Operators, meat industry Trade Bodies), third party assurance organisations for meat, professional and other trade bodies (veterinary, meat hygiene, food safety, trading standards, business interests), commercial providers of meat hygiene inspection and veterinary resources, retailers (supermarkets), government regulatory and policy departments (veterinary and food safety inspection, EU Secretariat, devolved administrations, environmental and public health, trade, and others), Local Authorities, Trade Unions and other interested stakeholders.

Consultation subject

Early proposals for the development of a Future Delivery Model for FSA-delivered Official Controls in the meat sector. 

Purpose of the consultation

The purpose of this consultation is to gather stakeholders’ views on an early proposal for reform of FSA-delivered Official Controls in the meat sector as part of our wider evidence gathering process.

The following is taken from an early section in the consultation document:

Case for Change

Over the last twenty years, the FSA has striven to keep consumers safe, improved UK consumer trust in food safety, supported export-led growth and operated a successful food regulation model.

However, there are ever changing global and domestic developments, which are rapidly reshaping the UK’s food system. Our evidence and research demonstrates that there are several factors that are increasing pressure on our current delivery model, including:

• Technology is changing the speed and methods of food production.
• In recent years there has been a significant increase in the availability of data, through supplier/customer relationships, that is being used across the industry.
• COVID-19 has highlighted the challenges caused by the resource-intensive nature of the current model, as well as offering opportunities to work differently.
• The current model does not strongly incentivise compliance, as regulatory activity experienced by compliant vs non-compliant Food Business Operators (FBOs) is not significantly different. The regulatory regime does not adequately take into account consistent compliance and reflect this in the nature, intensity and frequency of Official Controls.
• The end of the Transition Period has had a significant impact on the resources required to provide trading partners with the necessary assurances about the UK’s food control system, including through increased import and export controls and, in parallel, has affected the arrangements for recruitment of veterinary resources from EU member states. This has led to increased pressure on the availability of resource needed to carry out Official Controls and ensure the maintenance of the current high levels of food safety, a baseline that the FSA is unwilling to compromise on in the best interests of consumers.

These developments, along with rising delivery costs mean that now is the opportune time to progress the FSA’s Operational Transformation Programme.

Domestically, whilst departure from the EU and the terms of the EU/UK Trade Cooperation Agreement (TCA) create the opportunity to review the Official Controls regime for England and Wales, the programme should deliver within the context of the UK’s Four Country frameworks and recognise the importance of meeting the requirements of international trading partners.

The FSA recognises that the current food regulatory system has remained relatively unchanged for several years and in 2019 the National Audit Office commented in relation to the delivery of Official Controls: “the existing [food] regulatory system has not kept pace with technological change, or the changing environment, and is becoming unsustainable”

In summary, the current model was not designed as an end-to-end system and many additional processes have been ‘bolted on’ over a number of years to remedy specific problems. Consequently, the resulting model has become cumbersome, complex, and not always in line with FSA’s strategic direction of travel. These complex processes have many hand-offs which introduce additional risk and inefficiency which need to be addressed by the Operational Transformation Programme.

This consultation is intended to gather early views from stakeholders on the proposals set out below, before progressing work on the FSA’s future vision in this area.