Government agrees to set up Food Crime Unit following Elliott Review

A new Food Crime Unit is to be set up after the Government accepted all of the recommendations of the Elliott report on food integrity and assurance of food supply networks.

The report by Professor Chris Elliott was commissioned in the aftermath of the horse meat crisis of 2013 to examine ways to prevent food fraud incidents from happening.

Prof Elliott issued eight overarching recommendations:

1. Consumers First: The Government “should ensure that the needs of consumers in relation to food safety and food crime prevention are the top priority.” This would be achieved in part by urgent measures including targeted testing, intelligence gathering and surveys.
2. Zero Tolerance: “Where food fraud or food crime is concerned, even minor dishonesty must be discouraged and the response to major dishonesty deliberately punitive.” Measures would include giving support to the development of whistleblowing and reporting of food crime, plus the provision of guidance on public sector procurement contracts.
3. Intelligence Gathering: “There needs to be a shared focus by Government and industry on intelligence gathering and sharing.”
4. Laboratory Services: “Those involved with audit, inspection and enforcement must have access to resilient, sustainable laboratory services that use standardised, validated approaches.”
5. Audit: “The value of audit and assurance regimes must be recognised in identifying the risk of food crime in supply chains.” New unannounced audit checks by the food industry should be introduced to protect businesses and their customers.
6. Government Support: “Government support for the integrity and assurance of food supply networks should be kept specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely (SMART).” Support should be given to the Food Standards Agency’s strategic and co-ordinated approach to food law enforcement delivery, guidance and training of local authority enforcement officers. A National Food Safety and Food Crime Committee should be introduced.
7. Leadership: “There is a need for clear leadership and co-ordination of effective investigations and prosecutions relating to food fraud and food crime; the public interest must be recognised by active enforcement and significant penalties for serious food crimes.” The new Food Crime Unit would be hosted by the Food Standards Agency, which should also be supported in taking the lead on national incidents and reviewing where existing legislative mechanisms exist.
8. Crisis Management: “Mechanisms must be in place to deal effectively with any serious food safety and/or food crime incident.” All incidents should be regarded as a risk to public health until there is evidence to the contrary. The recommendations of the Troop report should be implemented by the Food Standards Agency.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said: “We’re taking action to make sure that families can have absolute confidence in the food that they buy. When a shopper picks something up from a supermarket shelf it should be exactly what it says on the label, and we’ll crack down on food fraudsters trying to con British consumers. As well as keeping up confidence here, we need to protect the great reputation of our food abroad….

“The action we’re taking gives more power to consumers - meaning they’ve got better labelling on food, better education about where their food comes from, and better, locally-sourced food in schools and hospitals.”

The Government’s measures include new country of origin labeling in April 2015.

The Trading Standards Institute (TSI) welcomed the Government's acceptance of the Elliott Review recommendations, but warned against further cuts to trading standards “who will be the eyes and ears of the new food crime unit”.

It pointed out that trading standards staffing levels had dropped by 45% since 2009.

TSI's operations and policy director, Andy Foster, described the acceptance of the Elliott Review recommendations as a major step forward for the food industry.

“While we look forward to working with the Food Standards Agency in implementing the measures we worry about what is happening at local level to trading standards officers who are responsible for ensuring food laws are followed and whose numbers have nearly halved since 2009,” he added.

“The development of a UK intelligence and investigative facility specifically focussed on food crime is a very welcome move but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that responsibility for inspection and testing the food chain across the UK rests with local council officers. Unless something is done about restoring local enforcement capability then this could risk undermining the effectiveness of any national unit and the quality of the intelligence at their disposal."