News Centre

Most recent news stories

• FSA publishes Food and You 2012 survey results

  Tuesday 26 March 2013

  The Food Standards Agency has published the second wave of its biennial survey exploring the public’s attitudes and reported behaviour on food safety issues.

• Updated results of FSA UK-wide survey of beef products

  Tuesday 26 March 2013

  Further test results from the first two phases of the FSA’s UK-wide sampling programme of beef products have now been confirmed. The results show 352 out of 362* samples were negative for the presence of both horse and pig DNA.

• Agency welcomes new allergy project

  Monday 25 March 2013

  The Food Standards Agency is supporting an international study into food allergy which has just launched.

• Hungarian horse meat labelled as beef

  Friday 22 March 2013

  The Food Standards Agency has been informed by Lancashire County Council that it has identified 100kg of horse meat imported from Hungary labelled as beef.

• March issue of FSA e-News published today

  Thursday 21 March 2013

  The latest issue of FSA e-News, which is now available online, includes news and updates on some of the Agency’s activities over the past month.

• Hygiene rating schemes: evaluation findings

  Wednesday 20 March 2013

  The Food Standards Agency is today publishing early findings from an ongoing evaluation of the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) and the Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS).

• HPA publishes Cryptosporidium investigation findings

  Tuesday 19 March 2013

  The Health Protection Agency (HPA) today published findings of an investigation into an outbreak of Cryptosporidium infection that affected around 300 people in England and Scotland in May 2012.

• Cutting plant suspension lifted

  Monday 18 March 2013

  The Food Standards Agency has granted conditional approval to the Aberystwyth meat plant that had its approval suspended during the horse meat investigations.*

• Views wanted on a novel food supplement

  Monday 18 March 2013

  A Japanese company has applied to the Food Standards Agency for approval to market a strain of the bacterium Clostridium butyricum as a novel food ingredient for use in food supplements. Views are wanted on the draft opinion prepared by the FSA's independent committee of experts.

• Agency warning on lead in Pascalite powder

  Friday 15 March 2013

  The Food Standards Agency is today issuing a warning about the levels of lead in Pascalite powder in batches from Pascalite Inc, which may be bought on the internet.

• Latest research published by the FSA

  Tuesday 12 March 2013

  The Agency has produced a summary of its research published in February and March 2013. The eight areas of research include an evaluation into reducing the shedding of E.coli in cattle in the UK, the safety of sous vide foods and new approaches for managing foodborne disease outbreaks.

• GACS open meeting

  Monday 11 March 2013

  The General Advisory Committee on Science (GACS) is issuing an open invitation to its 11th meeting, which will be held in London on Thursday 21 March 2013.

• Research call for poultry assessment

  Monday 11 March 2013

  The Food Standards Agency is putting out a research call to provide a better understanding of public health risks associated with partially eviscerated (effilé) poultry production.

• Update on progress of FSA beef product surveys

  Friday 8 March 2013

  Sampling of the first and second phases of the Food Standards Agency's UK-wide survey of beef products has been completed and the initial test results published today. The results show that 212 of the 224 samples taken in phase one are negative for both horse and pig DNA at or above the 1% threshold.

• Slaughterhouse suspension lifted

  Friday 8 March 2013

  On February 12, the FSA announced that it had suspended operations at Peter Boddy Licensed Slaughterhouse, Todmorden, West Yorkshire as part of its ongoing investigation into the mislabelling of meat products.

• No particles found in Dalgety Bay seafood

  Friday 8 March 2013

  No radioactive particles have been detected in winkles, mussels and cockles from Dalgety Bay since sampling started in February 2012.

• Board meeting available online

  Thursday 7 March 2013

  Tuesday's Agency open Board meeting is now available as a video-on-demand and as a podcast. The agenda included discussion on the horse meat incident, the Review of Delivery of Official Controls and the Balance of Competence Review.

• Check before you choose, on Mother's Day

  Wednesday 6 March 2013

  Treating your mum to a meal out this Mother’s Day (Sunday 10 March)? Make sure you show her you care by checking the food hygiene rating, as well as the menu, before you make a booking.

• Royal assent for Wales hygiene ratings law

  Tuesday 5 March 2013

  A new Welsh law to drive up hygiene standards in Wales' food businesses has been granted Royal Assent by Her Majesty the Queen.

• FSA notified of BSE control breaches

  Tuesday 5 March 2013

  The FSA has been notified of a series of BSE control breaches that took place last year. The risk to human health is very low as it is very unlikely that any of the animals would have been infected.

• Agency invites tenders for E.coli shedding

  Tuesday 5 March 2013

  The Food Standards Agency is inviting tenders to improve the understanding of the factors which lead to E.coli O157 shedding by cattle and intervention strategies for on-farm control.

• Agency invites tenders for study on shellfish

  Monday 4 March 2013

  The Food Standards Agency in Scotland is putting out a research call to review the current evidence for the use of indicator shellfish species. This will be for biotoxin and chemical contaminants monitoring in Scottish shellfish production areas.

• Consultation on new food body for Scotland

  Friday 1 March 2013

  The Scottish Government has launched a 12-week consultation seeking views on the roles, responsibilities and functions of the new food safety body that is to be established in Scotland to replace the Food Standards Agency.

• Third FSA update on testing of beef products for horse DNA

  Friday 1 March 2013

  The FSA has received the third set of test results from the food industry, which has been checking for the presence of horse DNA in products that are labelled as beef.