Incident levels steady for FSA but complexity increases

The number of incidents handled by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has remained stable but the authority has warned investigations are getting more complex.

The FSA was notified of 1,825 food and feed safety incidents in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales during 2024-25. This is down slightly from 1,837 incidents in 2023-24.

The agency said the type of incidents and foodborne outbreaks being managed are becoming more complex, with a rise in high and medium priority incidents.

The top hazard types were pathogenic microorganisms, allergens, residues of veterinary medicinal products, and poor or insufficient controls. The number of incidents related to poor controls rose from this past year, largely because of illegally imported products.

Highlighted hazards
Out of 436 incidents involving pathogen contamination of food, 15 were linked to foodborne disease outbreaks. Salmonella was the most recorded agent.

Imported cheese products from France contaminated with Listeria or E. coli led to prevention strategies and enhanced scrutiny at border control points.

Listeria saw a rise to 17 outbreaks or clusters of interest, up from 13. Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) went up from 12 to 13, and Salmonella from nine to 11. Of two Clostridium botulinum alerts, one related to an imported food product and the other to poor domestic controls in the UK.

In 2023, the FSA investigated 59 new or ongoing outbreaks and incidents of gastrointestinal illness linked with foodborne disease.

A major E. coli O145 outbreak sickened 275 people. It had been investigated in 2023 but the source was not confirmed. Seven hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) cases were recorded in 2024 and two people died, with one death linked to E. coli infection. Apollo lettuce, grown in the UK, was the most consistent ingredient in affected products. The outbreak was also genetically related to patients from 2023 and a few from 2022, suggesting a persistent contamination issue. 

RCA, INFOSAN and Hepatitis A
A series of industry awareness and prevention events in grey market goods helped to manage and reduce the number of reported incidents. There has been a reduction in the proportion of U.S. grey market incidents from 5 percent to below 3 percent. These items can have incorrect allergen labeling or unpermitted additives.

From root cause analysis reports from companies, the main incident types were allergens, pathogens, and foreign bodies. Labeling and cross contamination were the top causes of incidents related to allergens whilst contamination of source materials was the main issue for microorganisms. Industry will issue communications for smaller businesses to prevent incidents linked to Salmonella in raw meat and poultry by September this year.

Following the withdrawal of U.S. funding support for the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN), the FSA is working with international regulators who rely on the system to facilitate safe trade of foods and will look for ways to mitigate the risk of a reduction in capacity. The FSA engaged on 1,147 food safety notifications with INFOSAN, an increase from 987 in the previous year.

In terms of recent incidents, a routine inspection and sampling at a Hertfordshire farm detected STEC in raw cow’s drinking milk. While sales were suspended, UKHSA reported two cases from the same household with illness onset in January 2025. Following an investigation and resolution of issues, sales were permitted to resume.

Also, two clusters of hepatitis A are under investigation across the UK. As previously reported, in one cluster 23 of 31 cases occurred since August 2024. However, the number of people sick in the second cluster has gone up with 62 of 73 cases recorded since December 2024. Strong links have been made in both clusters to imported berries; one to fresh berry imports and the other concerns frozen berries.

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