Foodlaw-Reading Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
..... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....

Food Law News - UK - 2015

FSA Enforcement Letter (ENF-E-15-029), 7 October 2015

ENFORCEMENT – Revised Food Law Practice Guidance 2015 published by the FSA

The following is an extract from the letter. A copy of the new Guidance is available on this site.  See: Food Law Practice Guidance 2015

The FSA has today published the revised Food Law Practice Guidance (England). A link is available at the following: FSA Website.

The Practice has been revised to primarily provide guidance on:

• registration, particularly in determining whether a mobile business has been registered and inspected by an authority and the frequency of official controls required as such establishments (Chapter 3.2); and
• the newly introduced “competency-based authorisation” system for LAs undertaking official controls (Chapter 4)

In relation to the new competency framework, we would like to remind local authorities that the FSA is not asking officers who do not currently hold the baseline qualification to ‘upskill’ to meet the baseline.  There is no explicit requirement to do this – this decision is entirely down to individual local authorities.  The baseline qualification (or an equivalent qualification) is required to undertake the full range of official controls and enforcement sanctions (other than official fish inspection at a Border Inspection Post which require the Authority to appoint a qualified Environmental Health Practitioner).

Additional changes have also been made to reflect current enforcement practices and to clarify some existing policies. These include updates on:

• Enforcement Sanctions (Chapter 6)
• updating of terminology and links; and
• the removal of historical references and requirements that are no longer relevant.

Way forward

The FSA proposes that the Practice Guidance will be a “living document”, which means that it will be edited and updated periodically, as and when new enforcement policies are introduced or existing ones revised. We feel that by changing the Practice Guidance into a dynamic document, officers will have the latest updates in the Practice Guidance itself and not through separate standalone documents, which can become ungovernable in the long run. We will notify officers as and when the Guidance is updated or revised.

Moving forward, we would also like to streamline and improve the Practice Guidance to maximise its usability for officers undertaking official controls. We therefore appreciate your feedback on its contents, overall layout, ease of use and understanding.

For further information on the Code of Practice and the Guidance, see: http://www.food.gov.uk/enforcement/codes-of-practice/food-law-code-of-practice-2015