Food law | UK Regulatory Outlook October 2024

New Regulatory Innovation Office

The UK government has launched the Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO) to streamline regulatory processes and support the swift market entry of innovative products and services.

One of the four initial areas of focus for the RIO is on engineering biology, which can create new products such as cultivated meats. This initiative is part of a broader strategy to attract investment and improve regulatory collaboration. Read our Insight for more.

Regulatory sandbox for cell-cultivated products

The government announced that a £1.6 million award has been given to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to create a regulatory sandbox for cell-cultivated products (CCPs).

The sandbox will offer pre-application support to CCP companies and answer key questions that must be addressed before they can enter the market; for example, around labelling. It will allow businesses to test new developments under regulatory supervision and, with the newly-launched RIO facilitating product approval, it is hoped this will reduce the time and cost of applying for regulatory approval helping get products to market quicker.

The announcements of the RIO and sandbox underscores the government's commitment to bringing innovative foods, such as alternative proteins and novel foods, to market.

Government to introduce regulations under Precision Breeding Act

At the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit on 30 September, minister for food security and rural affairs, Daniel Zeichner, announced that the government will introduce secondary legislation under the Precision Breeding Act as soon as parliamentary time allows.

The press release states that the legislation will simplify the authorisation process for bringing new products to market, to make "things fairer for SMEs and boosting investment", and will allow precision-bred products to be rolled out across the country. It also adds that measures will be introduced to reduce the use of pesticides.

This announcement, alongside the establishment of the RIO, could lead to an advancement in the development of precision-bred products in the near future, and businesses should stay informed about progress in this field.

FSA issues guidance on caffeine in food supplements

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) have issued guidance on caffeine in supplements following an incident where a man died after miscalculating the amount of caffeine powder he was meant to use.

The guidance for businesses sets out the legislation and registration requirements as well as advice for food business operators. This includes providing clear dosage guidance, complying with labelling requirements, and ensuring for those products sold on online platforms, the information is accurate. Businesses placing supplements containing caffeine on the market should refer to this guidance to ensure they are compliant.

Government not to proceed with GB wide 'not for EU' labelling

The government announced on 30 September that it will not be proceeding with the introduction of "not for EU" labelling across Great Britain from 1 October 2024. The update does however outline that it "will develop legislation to apply ‘not for EU’ labelling in Great Britain in the future in a targeted way, if there is evidence of need."

As previously reported, the "Not for EU" label still needs to be affixed to those in-scope agri-food products which are being placed on the Northern Ireland market via the Northern Ireland Retail Scheme ("the green lane"). Phase 2 of those products required to be labelled came into force on 1 October 2024.

This means that from 1 October 2024, all prepacked meat, prepacked meat products, meat packed and dairy products needs to be labelled with "Not for EU" if they are being moved between GB to Northern Ireland via the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme.

Consultation on best practice guidance - allergen information for non-prepacked foods

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has launched a consultation to develop a consistent approach to allergen labelling for food business operators providing non-prepacked food. Currently businesses are required to tell customers if the food they are serving contains any of the 14 mandatory allergens, choosing how to provide this information whether it be written or verbal.

The FSA is now proposing to update its best practice guidance to state that written allergen information is to be made readily available and presented, and ensure staff can support this with a conversation. This written allergen information should be easy to use, clear, comprehensive and accurate.

In regards to presenting this information, the guidance states that businesses can choose whether to provide the information using words or symbols with accompanying words. If symbols are used, the name of the allergen should form part of it (for example, be written underneath). However, if the allergen name does not make up part of the symbol, a legend or key with the allergen name in written form, clearly defining which allergen each symbol represents, must be present allowing easy cross-referencing for consumers.

In addition, the guidance emphasises the importance of conversations, including encouraging consumers to make businesses aware about allergen requirements and ensuring staff are asking about any requirements. The guidance adds that when allergen requirements arise, businesses should decide who is best place to deal with them. Further, food businesses should ensure staff are trained to have a conversation about allergens, as well as deciding if additional safeguards should be used, such as messages on a sign, for example, "Please talk to us if you have a food allergy, intolerance or coeliac disease. We want to cater safely for everyone".

The consultation closes on 27 November 2024 and businesses should consider whether they wish to respond. The FSA will collate the responses they receive and aim to publish the updated guidance in early 2025.

Committee calls on government to develop new strategy to fix food system

The House of Lords Food, Diet and Obesity Committee has published a report calling on the government to develop a long-term new strategy to fix our food system which it describes as "broken". The committee outlines this strategy should be accompanied by a new legislative framework which gives the FSA "independent oversight of the food system and responsibility for reporting to Parliament on progress against targets to reduce sales of less healthy food and associated health outcomes." As well as this, the report sets out a number of further recommendations for the government, including to:

• introduce mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling that clearly distinguishes healthier and less healthy products;
• ban location and price promotions of HFSS (high in fat, salt and sugar) food and drink by out-of-home businesses with more than 50 employees, and for smaller out-of-home businesses and franchise premises if practicable;
• make large food businesses (those with more than 250 employees) report on the healthiness of their food sales; and
• ban the advertising of less healthy food across all physical and digital media by the end of this parliament.

The government should aim to, if possible, respond to the report within the next two months.