UK Food Safety Law: Who Enforces It and What You Must Do

UK food law looks complicated because enforcement sits in one place and standard setting sits in another, and the arrangement differs across the four nations.

The short version: the Food Standards Agency sets policy and standards for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Food Standards Scotland does the same in Scotland. The inspections are carried out by local authority Environmental Health Officers in all four.

The officer at your door works for the council. The rules they enforce come from the FSA or FSS.

The Food Standards Agency

The FSA is a non ministerial government department set up in 2000, in response to a series of high profile food scares including BSE. It was created deliberately at arm’s length from ministers, so that food safety advice would not sit alongside the promotion of the food industry.

Its objectives are straightforward: food produced and sold in the UK is safe to eat, consumers have accurate information to make choices, and food safety regulation is enforced.

Food Standards Scotland was established in 2015 and performs the equivalent role in Scotland, with its own guidance and its own hygiene scheme.

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme

FHRS rates businesses from 0 to 5 following an inspection, and it is assessed on three things:

1. Hygiene compliance. How hygienically food is handled, prepared, cooked, cooled and stored.
2. Structural compliance. The condition of the building, layout, ventilation, pest proofing and equipment.
3. Confidence in management. Your documented food safety management system and the evidence it is being followed.

Display rules differ by nation

Ratings are published online regardless of whether display is mandatory, so a poor score is visible to customers and to prospective trade buyers either way.

The legislation

Four pieces do most of the work.

• Food Safety Act 1990. The general framework offence structure, covering food that fails food safety requirements or is not of the nature, substance or quality demanded.
• Regulation (EC) 178/2002, the General Food Law, retained in UK law. Contains the traceability and withdrawal duties in Articles 18 and 19. See what Article 18 requires.
• Regulation (EC) 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs, retained in UK law. This is the one requiring a permanent procedure based on HACCP principles from every food business operator.
• Food Information Regulations 2014 and Regulation (EU) 1169/2011, covering labelling and the fourteen declarable allergens.

The Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 and their equivalents in the other nations provide the enforcement machinery for the retained EU hygiene rules.

What Brexit did and did not change

Very little in substance. The EU hygiene and general food law regulations were retained in UK law, so the underlying obligations on hygiene, HACCP, traceability and withdrawal are the same as they were. What changed is that the UK now diverges over time rather than automatically following EU updates, and that food moving between Great Britain and the EU, including Ireland, faces documentary checks and physical inspections.

For a business trading both ways, that raises the value of good traceability records rather than lowering it. See how the Irish side works.

Natasha’s Law and PPDS

The most significant UK change of the last decade for small food businesses.

Since October 2021, food prepacked for direct sale must carry the name of the food and a full ingredient list with the fourteen allergens emphasised. The rule followed the death of Natasha Ednan Laperouse in 2016 from undeclared sesame in a baguette, in a category that at the time required no ingredient list at all.

It catches people out because the category is defined by when the food was packed rather than what it is. Packed this morning and put in a chiller is PPDS. Made to order is not. See PPDS labelling explained.

What a food business operator must do

1. Register with the local authority at least 28 days before trading.
2. Put in place a food safety management system based on HACCP principles, proportionate to the business, and keep it maintained.
3. Keep records that evidence it. Accurate, dated, attributable and available on request.
4. Maintain traceability, one step back and one step forward.
5. Withdraw unsafe product and notify the FSA or FSS where you have reason to believe food you placed on the market is unsafe. See withdrawals and recalls.
6. Train staff commensurate with their work activity. See what that actually requires.
7. Meet labelling and allergen information duties, including PPDS where it applies.

Where enforcement is heading

• Local authority capacity. The FSA and FSS have repeatedly flagged concerns about inspection backlogs and falling sampling rates, which means longer gaps between visits and more weight on your own records when a visit does come.
• Allergens. Undeclared allergens are the leading cause of UK recalls by a wide margin. Expect continued attention on labelling and on precautionary statements.
• Online and delivery only businesses. A category the inspection model was not designed for, and an area of active regulatory focus.
• Divergence from the EU. Retained law will drift over time, which matters if you trade in both markets.

Frequently asked questions