Food agencies raise resource concerns in food standards report

According to a report by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS), a lack of resources and staff shortages continue to threaten food standards.

The review analyzes a range of data to assess whether food standards improved, declined, or were maintained during 2023. Evidence comes from local and port health authorities, government departments, and the FSA and FSS’s own sampling and surveillance programs.

FSA and FSS research shows that at least 12 percent of people continue to take risks in storing, preparing, and cooking food to save money each month, increasing their chances of becoming unwell. However, the agencies have not yet seen any clear links between such behaviors and the number of reported cases of foodborne disease.

Inspection backlog

After a decline in numbers, pressure on the local authority workforce of environmental health and trading standards officers continues, with a significant backlog in the amount of food businesses awaiting inspection.

Data from the second half of the financial year to April 2024 showed that 52 percent of inspections were delivered on time, meaning 101,000 businesses had checks overdue. These were mainly in the lower-risk categories, with 98 percent of inspections to higher-risk sites delivered on time.

In September 2023, 39,000 businesses in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland were awaiting their first Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) inspection – over twice as many as before the pandemic in March 2020. In Scotland, fewer than one in five food businesses were visited in 2023, nearly one in five of 73,987 registered businesses were awaiting their first inspection, and 36 percent were overdue.

“The evidence suggests that food hygiene teams across the country are currently working under significant and sustained pressure levels. Our concern is that this is likely to aggravate existing problems with retaining staff and discourage new entrants into the profession,” said FSA and FSS.

The report also finds that without reliable and secure resourcing for official veterinarians, there is an increased risk of disruption to the UK meat chain in the years ahead due to staff shortages and rising costs that will be passed on to businesses and consumers. FSS has had to use agency staff, while the FSA has used temporary registration to bolster numbers.

Concerns raised again

Heather Kelman, chair of FSS, said workforce shortages are stretching resources and placing extra strain on the agencies responsible for keeping food safe. 

“This is now the third year where concerns have been raised, and we need to act now to maintain high standards and ensure public trust in our food supply chain. FSS has been vocal for some time about the sustainability of the current model and the impact the lack of resources is having on the regulation of food businesses. We know the system needs reform, and we have reform proposals, but we don’t have the necessary funding to deliver changes to the current system.” 

By October 2023, there were 9.1 percent fewer food hygiene officers and 32.5 percent fewer food standards officers in post compared to 2012/13, despite a 5.7 percent increase in the number of businesses in the past decade.

In 2023, 1,935 notified incidents were reported, down from 2,221 in 2022. Meat and meat products (excluding poultry) have consistently been the food category with the highest reported incidents in the past five years.

The most common type of hazard was pathogenic microorganisms, accounting for 23 percent of all alerts. This included a Listeria outbreak linked to smoked fish that caused 20 cases and three deaths between January 2021 and July 2023. The outbreak strain was detected in implicated products below the legal limit.

The latest sampling figures are still lower than pre-pandemic levels but indicate that local authorities are gradually reintroducing such activities. Insufficient testing activity could pose a threat to public health and consumer confidence due to the risk of food safety or authenticity issues being missed.

Professor Susan Jebb, chair of the FSA, said: “The food system across the UK continued to experience significant challenges throughout 2023, with the rising cost-of-living and inflation continuing to impact grocery bills for consumers, and food businesses grappling with labor shortages and increased supply chain costs.

“Despite these pressures, our food standards remain high, and there is much to be celebrated for the resilience of the UK’s food system. I remain concerned, however, about the ongoing shortages in the key professionals we need to keep our food safe.”

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