Industry bodies have welcomed the publication of Professor Chris Elliott’s interim review into the UK food chain, with different groups highlighting different messages but all united in the need to address the report’s recommendations.
Some have also used it as an opportunity to highlight their own work, post-horsegate, in helping to make the meat supply chain more robust.
For example, the BRC has set up a scheme to certify agents and brokers – to be rolled out in the New Year – and the FDF has designed a ‘plan of action’ for industry.
On the political front, Labour has used the report’s publication as an opportunity to call for the reversal of what it says was “the misguided decision to fragment the Food Standards Agency, which split responsibility for food safety and authenticity”.
See below for more reaction – and full responses to the report – from the meat and wider grocery industry as well as from Labour.
The Food Standards Agency said it welcomed the interim report from the Elliott Review which “recognises the high standards of food safety standards in the UK food industry”.
“However, the need for a more co-ordinated and proactive approach to food crime is the principal theme of the report and Professor Elliott is right to highlight that there is a role for central government, local authorities and the food industry to play in this area.
”The need for a more co-ordinated and proactive approach to food crime is the principal theme of the report”
FSA
“We know from the horse meat incident that food supply chains are complex and international. We support the European Commission in its work to establish a European Union food fraud unit, to which the FSA has seconded staff, so we are better able to protect consumers from fraud along the whole food chain across the whole of Europe.
“The FSA is already working with Defra and local authorities to detect and deter food fraud. For example, we are carrying out a study to test that products which are labelled from the UK are in fact from the UK; we have introduced unannounced inspections of meat-cutting plants; and we have increased to £2m the funding to local authorities to support their own testing programmes.
“We look forward to the discussion on the interim report’s recommendations over the coming weeks.”
The British Retail Consortium said the report “acknowledges that the UK supply chain is fundamentally robust but sets out some useful recommendations for addressing any areas of weakness and criminal behaviour”.
BRC director general Helen Dickinson added: “The report is an important and thorough contribution to the review of supply chains. We are pleased Professor Elliott makes it clear UK supply chains are amongst the safest in the world and that he is addressing the specific issue of food crime, an issue that warrants serious attention. We absolutely share his focus on consumer confidence; it is at the heart of all retailers’ businesses.
“We know the importance of intelligence in tackling fraud and have consistently pushed the government to improve the flow of information in Europe”
Helen Dickinson
“Major retailers and the BRC have been addressing many of the issues raised in his report since the horsemeat incident, building on existing controls on safety to deal with issues of fraud. Retailers have reviewed and revised their supply chains, improved the way they audit their suppliers, targeted testing and worked with the BRC and industry partners to improve the exchange of intelligence.
“The BRC has reviewed its food certification scheme to account for issues raised in the incident. It already offers unannounced audits as well as a scheme covering distribution but will add to these a certified scheme for agents and brokers in the New Year. We look forward to working with Professor Elliott on the implementation of this new scheme and continued delivery of the storage and distribution standard.
“We know the importance of intelligence in tackling fraud and have consistently pushed the government to improve the flow of information in Europe. We welcome the professor’s comments on ensuring information flows from industry whilst preserving commercial confidence and are examining the best mechanism for providing that to the FSA.
“We also welcome the professor’s comments on increasing the government focus on food fraud. We certainly don’t see it as a victimless crime and look forward to new proposals to target criminals.”
The Food and Drink Federation’s director general, Melanie Leech said:
“It’s clear from the interim findings published today that UK consumers have access to perhaps the safest food in the world. Professor Elliott’s recommendations provide industry with a solid platform from which to build a joint strategy with government and enforcement bodies to combat food fraud.
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“We have developed a plan of action to help manufacturers protect their business and customers. Building on FDF’s sustainable sourcing work we have produced a best practice guide, ‘Food Authenticity: Five steps to help protect your business from food fraud’ focussed on the robustness, resilience and sustainability of supply chains.
“Additionally through our network of committees and working groups we are constantly engaged with members on incident prevention and horizon scanning for emerging issues. Furthermore we continue to maintain an open dialogue with UK and European regulators to ensure that manufacturers can access relevant information with regard to threats to the authenticity of food supply.”
Nick Allen, sector director of EBLEX, the English Beef and Lamb sector body, said: “EBLEX fully supports all efforts being made to ensure that serious incidents such as ‘horsegate’ do not happen again. Provenance is important and consumers should continue to look for fresh, assured beef products for confidence in provenance and traceability.
“We should embrace new available tools and science that may help to improve traceability and provide information on provenance.
“Integrity of the supply chain is paramount and the industry must be prepared to let independent auditing take place, alongside the Red Tractor and Quality Standard Mark (QSM) assurance schemes, to protect consumer confidence and enable it to move forwards.”
The British Meat Processors Association said: “The interim report is a valuable analysis of the challenge of food crime both to consumers and to what the report recognises as ‘the vast majority [in the food industry] who are committed to complying with the law’.
“The report sets out a large number of timely and constructive recommendations to combat food crime, many of which relate directly to the food industry as a whole and to the meat industry in particular.
“We need to consider the report carefully in order to identify how to respond to and implement its recommendations.
“In doing so, we will need to work closely with our member companies, with other industry bodies and organisations and with government in order to develop a coordinated and effective approach.
“In the light of the horsemeat episode, many companies are reviewing their supply chains and carrying out regular testing of products in order to strengthen the integrity of their operations, in addition to the considerable level of audits that are conducted under a range of assurance schemes.
“We note and welcome the report’s statement that ‘UK consumers have access to perhaps the safest food in the world’. But we also recognise that food crime, even when it does not pose a food safety risk, undermines public trust and confidence in the food industry. It is paramount that we restore and maintain that trust and confidence.”
Huw Irranca-Davies MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for the Rural Economy, Food and Farming said: “David Cameron approved changes to the structures of government that weakened consumer protection, culminating in the horsemeat scandal. He should now admit he got this wrong and reverse the misguided decision to fragment the Food Standards Agency which split responsibility for food safety and authenticity.
“David Cameron should now admit he got this wrong and reverse the misguided decision to fragment the Food Standards Agency which split responsibility for food safety and authenticity”
Huw Irranca-Davies MP
“The interim report of the Elliot Review rightly says that consumers should be put first, yet under this government that has clearly not been the case. Ministers must now learn the lessons from this scandal and act on all the recommendations in this report including a much stronger focus on criminality in the food chain, greater co-ordination across the European Union and statutory guidance for providing food to vulnerable people.”
In response to Labour’s comments, a Defra spokeswoman said: ”The decision in 2010 to move responsibility for food labelling to Defra allowed the FSA to focus on its core responsibility of food safety. This change had no impact on the food inspection regime or consumer protection.
”No variation in the responsibilities of Government departments could have prevented horsemeat being fraudulently sold as beef. This was a crime committed across European borders by a minority of people working in the food supply chain. The UK government led co-ordinated action across the EU and completed the largest ever food testing programme to ensure that the UK’s high food standards cannot be undermined by the work of criminals.”
Dan Crossley, Executive Director of the Food Ethics Council, said: “We’ve long argued that in order to make progress towards a safe and sustainable food system, consumers need to understand that so-called ‘cheap’ food is not actually cheap at all.
“There are huge social and environmental costs in producing food that’s cheap at the supermarket till – like costs to human health and animal welfare that were all too evident in the horsemeat scandal.
“We look forward to reading Professor Elliott’s full report, which is due out in spring 2014. We hope that the government and food businesses will take note of his recommendations in order to protect the integrity and assurance of the food on our plates.”
Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: “It is only right the Elliot Review has recognised that consumers must be put first if we are to start restoring the trust so badly knocked by the horsemeat scandal, which saw half of consumers changing their shopping habits.
“We support these steps towards a joined up approach to tackle food fraud and want to see the responsibilities for food labelling and standards move back to the Food Standards Agency to tackle the web of confusion exposed by the horsemeat scandal.”
NFU Deputy President Meurig Raymond said: “We are pleased that the government is taking the horsemeat issue seriously in a bid to ensure that consumers can have 100% confidence that the meat they buy is exactly what it is supposed to be – and when they want to back British, they can.
“This scandal has underlined the importance of a short, traceable supply chain”
Meurig Raymond
“This scandal has underlined the importance of a short, traceable supply chain. British farmers are rightly proud of their products and NFU research shows that British people would like to buy more food produced in this country.
“It is right that action is being taken to ensure that meat labelled as British is British and has all the high standards associated with British farming. Although we approve of plans to set up a new system of authenticity, we await with interest on details as to how that will be implemented. We would not want added costs passed on to our farmers, who have not been implicated in any way during this scandal.
“In the meantime, we would urge consumers to look out for the Red Tractor logo to be absolutely sure of where their food comes from and of the standards it has been produced to.”
Emma Hockridge, Soil Association head of policy, said: “As an organisation that fundamentally believes in the public’s right to know where their food comes from, we welcome any steps to enhance integrity of the supply chains. The recommendations in Professor Elliot’s interim report focus on preventing fraud in the food system and this underlines the value of the integrity of supply chains and traceability of sources, such those found in organic.
“Organic is a highly regulated food system. Any product sold as ‘organic’ must comply with strict rules assuring consumers they are buying genuine products that can be fully traceable back to the farm. Independent organic inspectors accredit every step of the supply chain, meaning buying organic offers consumers a more confident choice about the food they buy and eat.
“We contributed evidence to Professor Elliot’s interim report and will offer further detail, as part of the final report due in spring 2014.”
Mark Driscoll, head of food at NGO, Forum for the Future, said: “We welcome today’s Elliot review into the horsemeat scandal that governments must do much more to tackle food fraud and put more resources tackling criminal activity and profiteering from the drive towards cheaper food. We particularly welcome the need to strengthen the role of the Food Standards Agency.”
However, he criticised the report for not going far enough. “We remain concerned that this review does not address issues at the heart of the problem. The way we eat and consume food comes at a huge environmental and social cost and the review fails to tackle some of the underlying drivers of cheap food.
”We need a better understanding of where and how our food is produced and measures to improving both transparency and traceability within food supply chains. Our supply chains are often too long, involving far too many intermediaries. This requires governments and others to develop a more strategic, holistic approach to food policy and food security if we are really to achieve a more secure and sustainable food system in the future.”
Jim McLaren, Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) chairman, said: “Any sensible measures aimed at deterring unscrupulous operators whose illegal activities may threaten the integrity of the meat supply chain must be welcomed.
“In Scotland, our industry takes great pride in the Scotch Beef PGI and Scotch Lamb PGI brands. These brands are trusted around the world and it is important that as an industry we remain on the front foot and vigilant for any sensible and workable opportunities to further strengthen the existing measures to protect them.
“Any sensible measures aimed at deterring unscrupulous operators whose illegal activities may threaten the integrity of the meat supply chain must be welcomed”
Jim McLaren, QMS
“One example of this is the new licencing scheme for those in the supply chain beyond the abattoir which QMS introduced earlier this year as an extension to the rigorous requirements already in place to guarantee the authenticity of Scotch Beef and Lamb .The scheme makes it mandatory for anyone who uses the Scotch Beef and Lamb brands to be licensed by QMS.
“Over the past two decades Scottish farmers and others involved in the production chain behind Scotch Beef and Scotch Lamb have made a major commitment to embrace quality assurance. The benefits of having adopted a robust system, which does not cut corners, become very clear at a time when the integrity of the meat supply chain around the world remains under intense scrutiny.
“The Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb and Specially Selected Pork brands are currently underpinned by six quality assurance schemes, covering areas including cattle, sheep, pigs, feed, haulage, auction markets and primary processors.”
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