FSA Food Codes of Practice Update

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has published an update of the Food Codes of Practice and guidance across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

So, what does this mean and most importantly what does it mean for businesses like yours?

The FSA have been speaking with EHOs, businesses and other bodies across the food, drink and environmental health sectors for the past two years to find out how the current system worked, how it didn’t and to shape the changes that they wanted to make. This was followed by a 12-week open consultation, the results of which were published in August this year.

The point of this work was to look at how the FSA regulates food, to try and streamline processes and to work to a risk-based approach instead of a one size fits all when it comes to inspecting food businesses.

This means that instead of just putting everyone into a list and inspecting them in order of receiving their registration received, there will be an attempt made to assess some initial information about the business as part of a ‘triage’ process.

Understanding a business’s level of risk e.g. food types, frequency of trading etc will be used to initially risk assess and then determine who needs to be inspected earlier than others.

The FSA say that ‘the changes are designed to help local councils target resources to where they make the most difference to public health outcomes.

The updated Codes and Practice Guidance reflect the FSA’s wider commitment to modernise the food safety system in response to evolving food practices, changing consumer habits and ongoing pressures in the food industry.’

The updates include:

• A more flexible, risk-based approach to prioritising initial official controls of new food businesses, allowing the flexibility for local councils to triage businesses when they first register
• Greater use of alternative control methods, including, in some cases, remote assessments allowing local councils more choice to support more efficient use of resource
• Broadening the cohort of professionals who can undertake certain activities to support delivery of official controls in England and Wales to ensure that officer’s expertise is dedicated to where it can have the most impact
• The introduction of the new Food Standards Delivery Model in Wales. This updates how local councils regulate food standards within food establishments in Wales. This was implemented in England and Northern Ireland in 2023.
• A revised competency standard for EHOs which may be used to ensure that officers undertaking food safety checks are appropriately trained and competent

These changes will affect you in terms of type of inspection, frequency of inspection and who carries out your inspections.

Your NCASS membership comes with our Safety Management System, risk assessments, resources and the NCASS food safety app. The better you are at using these systems and evidencing that you are, the lower the risk you are in the eyes of your local authority.

Being trained and having proof of training also shows you are a lower risk business, take advantage of the hugely reduced training courses you get as part of your membership.

Our in-house EHO is here to support you with whatever you need, from inspection questions to risk assessments, advice on LPG and everything in between.

We have a Primary Authority Partnership which means that you are protected if you disagree with an EHOs score or advice as long as you are following the NCASS systems.

Remember, being an NCASS member gives you everything you need to stand out as food business for all the right reasons.

To find out if you’re missing out on any of the benefits of being an NCASS members, give us a call on 0300 124 6866 or email us on [email protected] to catch up with your account manager.

Useful Links:

You can read the Food Law Code of Practice here

Feedback from the consultation

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