UK reviews COVID and Brexit impact on food standards
A reduction in food business inspections and the delay in full import controls are two major issues identified by a recent report on food standards.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) report covers 2019 to 2021, a period when the United Kingdom was affected by leaving the European Union and the COVID-19 pandemic.
A fall in the number of inspections of businesses is due to resourcing pressures faced by local authorities. The delay in establishing full UK imports controls for high-risk food like meat, dairy and eggs from the EU has reduced the ability to prevent unsafe food entering the UK market. These checks should be in place by the end of 2023.
Findings come amid plans to cut the number of civil servants to 2016 levels in three years, a loss of full access to the EU’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) and losing a place in the Heads of Food Safety Agencies, a group of EU bodies that meet to share good practices.