Businesses with a good record of food standards compliance will be inspected less frequently under a new code of practice.
A new model for delivering food standards checks is being introduced under the revised Food Law Code of Practice for England and Northern Ireland.
Local authorities are being helped to take a more risk-based and intelligence-driven approach to inspection, focusing their time and resources on food businesses that pose the greatest risk to consumers.
The Food Standards Agency’s new guidelines will drive more frequent checks on non-compliant businesses, while reducing the checks on businesses that can demonstrate good levels of sustained compliance.
Local authorities will be given greater flexibility to check compliance in different ways, for example through remote checks where appropriate, and there will be an increased use of intelligence to inform understanding of risk in the food chain.
This will help to ensure that action taken at the right stage of the supply chain, for example one intervention at the single point of manufacture or import rather than multiple interventions in a range of retail outlets.
Katie Pettifer, FSA Director of Strategy and Regulatory Compliance, said: “Local authorities are a critical line of defence against inauthentic or adulterated food.
“The FSA is very concerned about the decline in local authority resources for food standards work. The number of professional staff working on food standards in local authorities has halved over the last decade or so.
“The updated guidance will enable local authorities to use their resources more effectively, targeting their efforts towards the greatest risks within the supply chain.
“The new model emphasises the use of intelligence to disrupt the supply of fraudulent or unsafe food further up the food chain, before it hits the shelves.
“The changes are also good news for responsible businesses. Many businesses with a good track record of compliance will face less frequent inspections, while those with a poor track record will face greater scrutiny.”
