In a speech presented to the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS) on April 25, 2025 at the Butchers Hall in Central London, Katie Pettifer, Chief Executive of the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA), described actions FSA is undertaking to modernize its regulation of the meat industry.

According to Ms. Pettifer, the meat industry contributes £10 billion to the UK economy annually, including exports worth approximately £2 billion. “If our high [meat food safety] standards in the UK slip, or if people don’t trust in our food, that’s disastrous for the industry and for our economy,” she said, highlighting the importance of close collaboration between FSA and industry to achieve the shared goal of ensuring the safety of UK meat.

Ms. Pettifer went on to describe FSA’s vision for and work toward a modernized future of UK meat regulation that is effective and efficient, even in light of current economic challenges and the present instability of global trade. She outlined FSA’s ongoing efforts in several areas to enhance UK meat regulation.

New Technology and Modernization: Self-Service Portals, Automated Data Delivery, and AI 

FSA is developing an online self-service portal that will give meat businesses real-time access to their own plant-specific contravention data, with the goal of providing a comprehensive platform for businesses to access all relevant information, from invoicing to approvals, in a single location. The portal is currently in the testing phase of development.

Additionally, FSA has completed a successful trial on the collection and communication of inspection results, demonstrating that post-mortem data can be transferred directly from business systems to the agency without manual intervention. Although the technology has been proven to work, Ms. Pettifer acknowledged that successful implementation depends on business buy-in and investment, and expressed that FSA wants to work with industry to make the technology practical and beneficial.

Regarding artificial intelligence (AI), FSA has no intent of prescribing how businesses should implement such technology in their processes; rather, the agency wants to ensure industry has a clear understanding of the implications of regulation. FSA has already been collaborating with industry on several initiatives in this area, including work with AIMS on contamination scanners that can identify fecal contamination invisible to the human eye. Although AI could eventually reduce the need for physical, boots-on-the-ground inspections in abattoirs, that is only a future possibility and it is not yet permitted by law.

Negotiating a Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement With the EU for Food Exports

Ms. Pettifer revealed that FSA will be providing expert advice to the UK Government to inform negotiations for a new agreement with the EU on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) controls for food exports. Although relevant UK Government offices will have final say on such an agreement, FSA will advise on the potential public health implications, which means looking at how different arrangements might affect food safety controls, standards verification, supply chain transparency, and ultimately consumer confidence.

To provide such advice with the interests of the meat industry in mind, FSA will be seeking stakeholders’ input on current trade barriers, opportunities for streamlining processes without compromising standards, and how an SPS agreement could best support businesses.

The Need for More Domestic Veterinarians Entering the Regulatory Workforce

According to Ms. Pettifer, every year, UK meat hygiene inspectors (MHIs) and official veterinarians (OVs) inspect approximately one billion animals, conduct more than 800 unannounced inspections in FSA-approved cutting plants, and make 300 animal welfare assurance visits in FSA-approved abattoirs. Although the agency has made a concerted effort to boost the skilled workforce required to do this work—recruiting 24 MHIs in 2024, an improvement over previous years—the number of official veterinarians employed by FSA remains a challenge.

With too few domestically trained vets entering public health veterinary medicine in the UK, FSA has increasingly relied on the recruitment of veterinarians from outside of the UK. Overseas veterinarians have prevented the shutdown of any abattoirs due to a lack of OVs—for now—which was a “real fear” in the recent past. However, as the cost of hiring foreign veterinarians increases due to stricter post-Brexit entry requirements and visa rule changes, there remains a need to improve the domestic pipeline of veterinarians.

Increased Inspection Charges and Possible Elimination of Discounts

As the costs of delivering regulation increase, so are inspection charges for 2025–2026. In response to these increased inspection charges, which were shared with industry in February, AIMS launched legal action against FSA.

Although Ms. Pettifer did not comment on the increased charges themselves, she did describe work FSA is undertaking to evaluate the discount the agency currently offers for such charges, which is currently weighted to provide the greatest support to the smallest businesses. “In recent years, more than a quarter of the cost of meat regulation has actually been borne by the taxpayer, with the smallest businesses eligible for a discount of up to 90 percent on their charges,” she said.

Ms. Pettifer acknowledged industry’s concern with the fact that FSA is undergoing an evaluation of its discount scheme. She explained that it is being required by the UK Treasury as part of a broader justification for the agency’s spending, and the future of the discount scheme is ultimately in the hands of the Treasury ministers. However, FSA is collecting input from businesses on what the discount means to them (which can be shared via email to meatchargingpolicy@food.gov.uk). A summary of responses will be presented to the FSA Board to inform recommendations to the Treasury.

Ms. Pettifer clarified that FSA has not yet made any proposal to stop the discount, as some stakeholders believe.  

New Authorities for the National Food Crime Unit

Finally, Ms. Pettifer shared FSA’s plans to strengthen the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) by granting it new powers to apply for warrants and seize evidence, which are authorities that the unit previously had to outsource to local police. She highlighted the importance of an empowered NFCU as complex supply chains and economic challenges create vulnerabilities to food crime. She provided a recent example of NFCU’s work in convicting three individuals who conspired to commit chicken theft and poultry fraud worth more than £300,000, as well as another NFCU case in which a poultry farmer was fined £50,000 for falsifying Salmonella testing certificates for birds.