Food standards bosses have written to ministers warning they will need a major injection of funds if they are to become the regulator for a new system of compulsory health targets.
The Grocer revealed earlier this month that the government was planning for the Food Standards Agency to become the policeman of the industry’s war on obesity, in the form of new mandatory reporting and targets planned under health secretary Wes Streeting.
However, despite strongly welcoming the plans, FSA chair and leading obesity researcher Professor Susan Jebb said the FSA would not be able to fulfil the role unless it received considerable new resources in the way of staffing and technology.
“I very much welcome the policy direction here,” Jebb told the latest FSA board meeting.
“When we lunched the FSA strategy in 2022 we said we wanted to work with government priorities on delivering healthier food, and this is a prime opportunity for us to do just that.”
She said putting the agency in charge of regulating the industry in improving the healthiness of its products was a change to “enhance transparency and accountability” and build on its existing regulatory capability.
However, Jebb added that the FSA would need to carry out “significant work” if it was to be able to take on the job, alongside other major commitments, including the huge ongoing job of the SPS checks reset with Europe, which The Grocer revealed last last week is also facing a funding crisis.
“We would need to recruit more people and potentially procure new digital systems, which we would not be able to do without additional funding,” Jebb added.
“The resourcing issue is really going to be the pinch point for us, and whilst I would love us to be jumping all in on this, it’s come at a time when that’s not going to be possible.”
Meanwhile FSA CEO Katie Pettifer warned the funding shortage could jeopardise the government’s plans for new mandatory reporting rules for large food companies to come into place by 2029, with plans for mandatory targets to follow.
Pettifer said the lack of resources “risks us not being able to meet whatever timetable the government has, if it is a quick one”.
The FSA’s warning comes after industry sources told The Grocer earlier this month they did not think the FSA had sufficient resources to take on the new role.
The Grocer understands a consultation on the government’s plans for mandatory reporting and targets is still expected to be published in the spring, despite fears from supporters that it will be delayed because of the economic situation caused by the war in Iran.
Last week The Grocer revealed the government was pushing ahead with plans for a major toughening of rules underpinning restrictions of junk food advertising and in-store promotions, despite warnings from the IGD that it could delay the mandatory reporting programme and targets.
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