Review of official controls delivery

The Agency is responsible for protecting public health from the risks that may be caused by food. This includes risks resulting from the way food is produced or supplied. To do this, we need a system that ensures food businesses are able to fulfil their responsibility for safe food production.

The majority of the checks and activities needed to achieve this are delivered on our behalf by local authorities and port health authorities – known as competent authorities.

Initial evidence suggests there may be some inconsistencies across the current UK official controls delivery model that need investigation. In January 2011, the FSA Board decided it was time to review the current delivery structure to be sure we’re meeting our responsibilities to protect consumers’ interests in relation to food. The decision to review was made for a number of reasons:

• The effectiveness of the current delivery system has been questioned in a number of reports, including the public inquiry into the September 2005 outbreak of E.coli O157 in Wales, and Lord Young’s report ‘Common Sense, Common Safety’
• The European Commission, through its Food and Veterinary Office (FVO), has expressed concern about the complexity of the UK delivery model.
• There is a need to understand the impact of budgetary pressures and consider how best to secure efficiency, resilience and sustainability in this public health protection function.

This review will look at all food safety and standards official controls undertaken by local authorities and port health authorities, which fall within the Agency’s remit. This will include:

• food hygiene in all UK countries
• food safety issues for food composition and labelling in all UK countries
• food traceability and imports in all UK countries
• feed hygiene, composition, labelling, traceability and imports in Great Britain
• the adequacy of laboratory and analytical support for delivering official controls

An outline of the proposed review process was presented to the Agency Board on 12 July 2011. Details of the meeting and the Board papers can be found at the link below.

There are four key stages to the review:

• outlining the principles and outcomes and identifying, collating and analysing evidence, which will be completed by March 2013
• describing and comparing the different options, which will be completed by July 2013
• consultation on the recommendations from September 2013 to March 2014
• implementation from April 2014 onwards

A governance structure is in place to ensure the integrity of the review, as well as to provide a mechanism for independent challenge and to encourage engagement with stakeholders. A programme manager is responsible for the day-to-day management of the review.

• The FSA Board will decide between the options and recommendations to be put forward for public consultation. These decisions will be based on input from the FSA Executive Management Board. All Board discussions on the review will be held in open session.
• The Executive Management Board will oversee the work of the programme manager, and ensure the work is delivered on time and within budget.
• An external advisory group has been established to provide independent challenge to the review team.
• A consultative group, made up of representatives of key stakeholder groups, has also been established to provide specialist knowledge and expertise.