The food regulatory system

The Food Standards Agency operates in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales and has different policy responsibilities within these countries.

Food Standards Scotland is the non-ministerial government department of the Scottish Government responsible for food safety, food standards, nutrition, food labelling, feed official controls and meat inspection in Scotland.

Our areas of policy responsibility

Across England, Northern Ireland, and Wales:

• food and feed safety and hygiene
• food safety labelling, including allergen labelling

In Northern Ireland and Wales:

• compositional standards and labelling

In Northern Ireland only:

• nutritional standards, and labelling
• dietary health and surveillance

Others’ areas of policy responsibility

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Other food labelling in England (includes composition standards, country of origin)

Department of Health and Social Care: Nutrition standards, nutrition food labelling in England

Welsh Government: Nutrition standards, nutrition food labelling in Wales

Who enforces food controls?

FSA delivery

Meat Hygiene Inspectors and Official Veterinarians conduct hygiene, document and physical checks and take samples from approved producers of meat (including abattoirs and cutting plants).

Qualified Veterinarians conduct checks on animal products and deliver animal welfare checks. (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) is responsible for the meat operations delivery on behalf of the FSA in Northern Ireland).

Wine Standards Inspectors conduct quality authenticity, labelling and traceability checks, and provide guidance and support to growers, wine producers and traders.

Dairy Hygiene Inspectors inspect primary production premises, check liquid raw milk, raw cows drinking milk and raw drinking milk production, whilst promoting best hygiene practices.

Imported food controls delivery

Local and port health authorities in England, local authorities and the Animal and Plant Health Agency in Wales, and local authorities and DAERA in NI are responsible for imported food controls delivery.

Port Health Officers conduct risk-based document checks, identity checks, physical checks, and take samples of food imports.

Official Veterinarians and Official Fish Inspectors conduct checks on animal products.

Local authority delivery

Food Safety Officers conduct food safety and hygiene official controls. They inspect premises to check that food is stored and prepared safely.

Food Standards Officers check that food meets safety, composition and nutrition labelling standards (for example, labelling of allergens, use-by dates, nutritional and compositional information).

Food businesses covered by local authorities include food producers, food processors, catering establishments, takeaway and food delivery, retailers and approved dairy, meat and fish establishments.

Delivery of animal feed controls is the responsibility of local authorities in England and Wales, and DAERA in NI.

The FSA and local authorities together deliver shellfish official controls.

Food and feed businesses responsibility

Under UK food and animal feed regulations, it is the responsibility of food businesses to ensure that all food and feed placed on the market is safe, that its quality is what consumers would expect and that it is not labelled in a false or misleading way.