Official Statistics 2014/2015 The Food Standards Agency (“FSA”) has today published official statistics for the year 2014/2015 on food law enforcement across the UK, compiled from information given to them by local authorities. The returns from local authorities cover food hygiene (microbiological quality and contamination of food by micro-organisms or foreign matter) and food standards … Continue Reading
On 2 July, the Administrative Court ruled in the Food Standard Agency’s (FSA’s) favour over a decision by an FSA veterinary contractor based at a slaughterhouse (following an inspection by a Meat Hygiene Inspector) to declare a beef carcase as unfit for human consumption [i]. The Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMs) together with the … Continue Reading
At the end of May 2015, Stericycle Expert Solutions released its European & US Recall Index and Notification reports. In the EU Recalls and notifications dropped in the first 3 months of 2015 but, the nut subgroup experienced a 67% increase, highlighting the importance of monitoring imported foods. EU Recalls and Notification Reports Q1 2015 … Continue Reading
In the sphere of European food law, 2014 ended with somewhat of a bang, because the long-anticipated EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation (“EU FIC”) came into force on 13 December. The Regulation introduced and consolidated various requirements for the information accompanying food, whether given on the pack itself, or by some other means where food is loose/ non pre-packed. We … Continue Reading
What is Nanotechnology? Nanotechnology is a generic term used to describe the design, engineering, production and use of substances and materials at the nanoscale (1 nanometre representing 1 billionth of a metre). To illustrate, one sheet of standard paper is approximately 100,000 nanometres thick and one nanometre is roughly how long a human fingernail will … Continue Reading
It has been widely reported in the UK that maximum fines available to magistrates will soon increase fourfold; and that the lower courts will also be able to levy unlimited fines for some offences in England and Wales. The greatest attention in the popular press has probably been on the impact these powers will have … Continue Reading
The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has recently published the results of its biannual public attitudes tracker. The results show that the top food safety concern for respondents is food hygiene when eating out. Perhaps more noteworthy though is the increased awareness of the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS), often called “scores on the doors”. The … Continue Reading
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) in the UK is inviting applications for a research project into food allergies. The project will look at how people with food allergies and intolerances prefer information to be provided when eating out. The FSA comment that ‘this work will inform the implementation of the new allergy requirements under the EU Food Information … Continue Reading
Background The recent European horse meat investigation uncovered that a number of products sold or labelled as beef across Europe contained equine DNA (horse meat). A number of sample results also indicated the presence of porcine DNA (pork meat) in beef and chicken products, which can have particular relevance to faith groups where products are … Continue Reading
