POLICY, GUIDANCE & LEGISLATION

Policy & Guidance
Legislation
UK Food Sampling Guidance

This section contains important Government policy and guidance documents related to food authenticity testing and fraud fraud prevention.

Document	Source	Uploaded
Elliott review into the integrity and assurance of food supply networks: final report	DEFRA (gov.uk)	29-04-2015
Government response to the Elliott review of the integrity and assurance of food supply networks	DEFRA (gov.uk)	29-04-2015
Authenticity Methods Working Group (AMWG) response to the Elliott review	DEFRA (gov.uk)	07-12-2015
Government Chemist Compendium of Food and Feed Law Legislation reviews	Government Chemist (www.gov.uk/government/organisations/government-chemist)	03-12-2019
POSTnote on food fraud	The UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) note on food fraud.	27-05-2020
UK Food Security Report 2021	The UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) 2021	28-03-2022
POSTnote on Genome Editing	The UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) note on genome editing	28-03-2022
FVO Report on International and national regulatory strategies to counter food fraud	FVO Report on International and national regulatory strategies to counter food fraud	11-04-2022
JRC Report: Fighting fraudulent and deceptive practices in the agri-food chain	JRC Report: Fighting fraudulent and deceptive practices in the agri-food chain	05-04-2023
FAO Risk Based Imported Food Control Manual	FAO Risk Based Imported Food Control Manual, Food safety and quality series ISSN 2415-1173	02-05-2023
Measuring sustainable environment-food system interactions - POST (parliament.uk)	The UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) note on measuring sustainable enviroment-food system interactions	25-07-2023
An Annual of Food Standards across the UK - 2022	Our Food 2022 - An Annual of Food Standards across the UK	09-10-2023

This section contains UK and EU legislation and regulatory instruments related to food authenticity testing.

EU regulations

EU Food Information for Consumers regulation (FIC).

The EU regulation on country of origin or place of provenance for fresh, chilled and frozen meat of swine, sheep, goats and poultry.

National regulations

The national Food Information Regulations (FIR) are at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1855/contents/made.

The guidance on complying with the FIC and FIR is at https://www.gov.uk/food-labelling-giving-food-information-to-consumers.

Products containing Meat (England) Regulations (PMR): http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/3001/pdfs/uksi_20143001_en.pdf.

Guidance on PMR can be found via the FIC / FIR guidance above.

The Country of Origin of Certain Meats (England) Regulations 2015 are at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/518/made.

New (2015) honey regulations are at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/1348/pdfs/uksi_20151348_en.pdf

Guidance on requirements for products listed under food standards legislation, such as bottled water, milk, fish and meat; table of UK mineral waters; 'best before' dates can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/food-standards-labelling-durability-and-composition

Equivalent legislation exists for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Government Chemist Food and Feed Law: legislation reviews

The Government Chemist undertakes quarterly reviews of developments in food and feed law and related scientific and regulatory issues. The reports track changes in food and agricultural legislation, concentrating on legislative changes that relate to chemical measurement and the role of the Government Chemist. They also includes general issues in food and feed to ensure contextual awareness.

The collection of quarterly review reports can be found at: Food and Feed Law: legislation review - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) makes funding available to enforcement authorities for sampling and surveillance of animal feed.

Scottish local authorities receive grant funding from Food Standards Scotland (FSS) to undertake food sampling, including microbiological, chemical and authenticity, in a number of targeted areas.