Food Standards Agency updates Food Law Codes of Practice

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has published the updated Food Law Code of Practice (CoP) and Practice Guidance for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The primary audience of the CoP are local authorities to help them investigate and enforce food law. 

Key updates include: 

• Adopting a risk-based approach to allow local authorities to triage businesses when they first register as a food business; 

• Allow local authorities to remotely assess food businesses; 

• Widen the scope of who can undertake certain activities in relation to food enforcement; 

• Introduction of the Food Standards Delivery Model in Wales (i.e., a risk assessment scheme designed to provide local authorities more flexibility). 

Food business across these nations should be alive to the enforcement positions of local authorities including the powers at their disposal. The CoP is a statutory code of practice issued by the FSA directed to local authorities to assist them in enforcing food standards laws in the pursuit of a consistent enforcement approach nationwide.