Food standards in the UK are high and we should be proud of that. But the truth is our regulatory system, designed several decades ago, hasn’t kept pace with the way people buy food today, from the rise of ordering online to new types of food businesses appearing on the high street and in apps. We need to look honestly at where it can work better.
We have now been given the opportunity to bring about change and strengthen the system as a whole. In the 2025 autumn budget, the Food Standards Agency was given government funding to develop proposals for a national system of regulation for large food businesses in England, starting with major retailers. This follows a pilot we ran a few years ago.
By bringing together data from across an entire business and combining it with in-person checks, we could spot food safety risks more quickly and address them across a whole chain – not just one store at a time. This should support the government’s ambition to boost growth for businesses, as well as protecting consumers.
This is not deregulation. There has never been a question of any food business regulating itself. All food businesses must be independently regulated and will continue to be subject to in-person checks. What we are doing is finding smarter, more effective ways to oversee the food system as the sector evolves.
Future reforms for the FSA
National-level regulation for the largest businesses is one part of a wider set of reforms we’ll be considering. Most of the UK’s 600,000 food businesses are small and medium-sized businesses, and we recognise the critical role that local environmental health and Trading Standards teams play in helping those businesses keep food standards high. We hear from both businesses and local authorities that there are challenges across the system and we want to address these.
We are already considering how we might enhance the registration system to make it work better for local authorities and businesses. We want to explore updates to the way food law is enforced and improve the way we provide guidance to businesses and those carrying out food safety and hygiene checks in person. We also want to build on the current strength of the food hygiene rating system, including by realising our long-held ambition to make the display of ratings mandatory in England, as it is in Wales and Northern Ireland.
We are at the start of this journey. Now that our board has agreed to the scope of the Future of Food Regulation programme, we can develop these ideas in more detail.
As we explore reform options, there are some crucial principles that will always hold true. Protecting public health and consumers will always come first and food businesses will always be independently regulated – that will not change.
Plus, however the regulatory system evolves, frontline local authority officers will always play a vital part. They deliver essential consumer protection by providing businesses with expert advice and taking enforcement action when needed. Their expertise and their local knowledge of the businesses they work with is invaluable.
We have already been working closely with consumer groups, local authorities and businesses across the food system, and this collaboration will continue as we develop our proposals further. We will be listening to these partners to help shape future policy that best meets their needs and continues to protect public health.
We don’t pretend to have all the answers. That’s why I’m inviting stakeholders across the food industry to work with us as we design these proposals, so we can make the regulatory system work for everyone.
This is a pivotal moment as we begin a journey to deliver a food regulation system that is effective, resilient and trusted by consumers and businesses alike.
Katie Pettifer is CEO of the Food Standards Agency
No comments yet