Foodlaw-Reading
Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
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FSA News Item, 11 October 2023
The FSA, working with food industry partners, today publishes a stakeholder message which sets out proposals from the Food Fraud Working Group.
The stakeholder message outlines proposals [see text below] to strengthen the collective response to food crime:
People are often unaware that they are a victim of food fraud, but food crime can be seriously harmful to consumers, food businesses and the wider food industry. It can involve selling food or drink that isn’t what it says it is, or that includes cheaper ingredients than the ones listed on the label. This activity places a heavy burden on businesses and local authorities, as well as the criminal justice system.
The Food Standards Agency has also, today, published two research reports, one estimating food crime costs the UK economy up to £2 billion a year and another which makes recommendations on food crime prevention. ‘The Cost of Food Crime’ research has found the cost of food fraud to consumers, businesses and government is between £410 million and £1.96 billion per year.
Also published today is a report called ‘What works to prevent food fraud’ [see details below] which highlights ways to complement our existing food fraud prevention work and strengthen lines of defence against fraudsters.
Emily Miles, CEO of the FSA said:
“The UK has some of the safest and most authentic food in the world, but there will always be a threat of criminality in the food system. Food businesses are the first and most important line of defence and we want to support them. This is one of the reasons why we launched a working group to explore together whether some areas of our collective response to food crime can be improved. Together, we’re making it easier to share intelligence and information by helping people who work in the food system to share their concerns with us freely and confidentially.
"Our research suggests that for businesses and consumers feeling the financial strain, the cost of food crime still matters.”
Helen Sisson, Director and Co-Chair of the Food Industry Intelligence Network said:
"We are pleased to be taking action with the FSA and our partners in the food industry to strengthen the way we can prevent food crime in our supply chains. Cooperation and communication between every part of the food system is vital to protect the public and the global reputation of UK food."
If you suspect food fraud, report it to Food Crime Confidential always available on food.gov.uk or by phoning 0800 028 1180 (0207 276 8787 for non-UK mobiles and calls).
Case study 1: NFCU partnership working with West Northamptonshire Council
The NFCU, working with West Northamptonshire Council worked on a council led operation which resulted in several tons of food being destroyed. After sharing intelligence and supporting West Northamptonshire Council the NFCU accompanied the local authority on an unannounced visit which identified a food business operating from a site without approval and without appropriate food safety management in place. This led to the detention and subsequent destruction of the food and the closure of the unapproved activity.
Case study 2: NFCU partnership working with Wiltshire Council
The NFCU worked with Wiltshire Council in a local authority led operation. The team raided car washes on in Devizes and in Ludgershall in 2020 after a tip off about illegal meat cutting plants. The serious hygiene breaches led to an emergency closures of the locations and we issued a national food alert, to warn that meat that had been supplied was unfit for consumption. About 5.1 tonnes of beef and lamb, with an estimated value of £35,700, was confiscated and later destroyed. In court, it was estimated during the period from January to November 2020 the defendant profited £150,000 from meat trading.
Stakeholder Message
FSA Blog Posting, 10 October 2023
Posted by: Emily Miles, Chief Executive
Earlier this year I wrote to you about a criminal investigation being carried out by the FSA’s National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) into suspected meat fraud.
Since then, we have been working with representatives of the food industry, through our Food Fraud Working Group, to identify where we can strengthen the food system to protect against criminal activity.
There are three lines of defence for making sure that food is safe and authentic – food businesses, local authorities, and regulators. But there are ongoing risks from criminals who want to break the rules, so we must continue to improve the system to make this more difficult.
The Food Fraud Working Group agreed that strong and clear whistleblowing arrangements are an important part of the protections against food fraud. With different telephone numbers being run by industry and government, it’s not always clear where whistleblowers should report their concerns. So, the FSA has launched a new whistleblower hotline where people can report suspected food fraud.
The new number for Food Crime Confidential is 0800 028 11 80.
All members of the working group have agreed to help promote or otherwise support this hotline within the food industry in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The FSA will provide communications material in a range of languages to help them.
We’re strengthening the role that third-party assurance schemes play in passing on information to regulators. The FSA has historically worked with FSA-approved schemes. Building on our experience of information sharing with schemes like Red Tractor, we're now going to be working closely with a much broader range of assurance schemes that have agreed to share important data with us to help prevent food fraud. Initially, they will share the details of food manufacturing businesses that have been removed from their schemes, and we're working with them and their members to explore further intelligence sharing in the future.
The working group has also helped the FSA to improve the way we share intelligence-based alerts to better warn businesses about potential food fraud. We have now refined the format of the FSA’s alerts to help businesses check their supply chains, without jeopardising the integrity of any criminal investigations underway.
We expect our food to be safe and what it says it is, but there will always be risks from rogue actors within the food system. This is highlighted in new research published today by the FSA which shows that food crime in the UK costs up to £2 billion per year. The Cost of Food Crime report shows us how the cost of food fraud is shared by consumers, businesses and regulators alike. We’ve also published the What Works to Prevent Food Fraud report which sets out the ways in which we can further strengthen our lines of defence [see details below].
If you have any questions or comments on these reports, or on food crime more generally please comment below.
You can report a food crime to the FSA on our new number 0800 028 11 80, or on our dedicated Report a food crime webpage.
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FSA Guide: What works to prevent food fraud The guide is available on this site as a pdf document (click on image). A few of the tables have not been incorporated correctly. The full document is available on the FSA website at: https://www.food.gov.uk/research/food-crime/what-works-to-prevent-food-fraud Provided under the Open Government Licence. The original web page accessed from: |
