About food law enforcement

Responsibility for enforcement is shared between central and local government bodies. While the making of legislation in the UK is the function of central government, the enforcement of food law is primarily (but not solely) the responsibility of the 499 local authorities in the UK, and more specifically Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) and Trading Standards Officers (TSOs).

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is an independent Government Department and is an enforcement authority in its own right. It is also responsible for enforcement support, advice and audit of enforcement activity with respect to local authority food safety and standards controls.

More information about local authorities, including port health authorities, and how they work with the Agency, can be found at the link below.

Where food law enforcement does not rest with local authorities, it is carried out by central Government or its enforcement agencies.

The FSA, acting through its executive agency the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) in England, Scotland and Wales, and through the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) Veterinary Service in Northern Ireland, is the enforcement authority in respect of around 1,700 licensed premises in the UK producing meat for sale for human consumption. Such premises include slaughterhouses, cutting plants and cold stores. Inspection of the meat industry is essential to protect public health and promote consumer confidence. More information about the MHS can be found at the link below. Formal enforcement, including prosecutions and investigations, is the responsibility of the Agency itself.

The Agency aims to ensure that EU wine regulations are enforced in the UK. Our enforcement responsibilities apply to all premises and traders within the production and marketing chain, including wholesalers, warehouses and vineyards. More information about wine standards can be found at the link below.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has two executive agencies - the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) - which carry out European Union (EU) surveillance programmes for residues, and also act as the enforcement agencies for these areas. More information about Defra, PSD and VMD can be found at the links below.

Inspectors within Defra enforce areas such as marketing and horticulture, at all but the retail level. There are also separate arrangements for dairy hygiene enforcement, which is the responsibility of the Dairy Hygiene Inspectorate (DHI). More information about the DHI can be found at the links below.

The Egg Marketing Inspectorate (EMI) is an Inspectorate within Defra responsible for checking standards in egg production, packaging and distribution centres. EMI works throughout England and Wales, wherever eggs are produced, graded, packaged, imported, exported, bought or sold. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own Inspectors. More information about the EMI can be found at the link below.

Effective enforcement of food law is essential to protect the consumer. The FSA aims to promote more consistent and effective enforcement services, targeting risk in a proportionate way. We also want to improve transparency in enforcement performance at both national and local level.

The Food Standards Agency is looking to introduce fundamental changes to the whole approach to food law enforcement by local authorities. The aim is to provide local authorities with a suite of flexible interventions for improving business compliance.

To develop this work, the Agency's Enforcement Division is leading a major policy review called the Changes to Local Authority Enforcement (CLAE) project.

More information about CLAE can be found at the link below.