UK Food Agencies Concerned about Resources Available for Safety Inspections
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Two UK agencies are concerned about the availability of resources for food safety testing.
Food Standards Scotland (FSS) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) raised the concerns in a report titled “Our Food 2024: An annual review of food standards across the UK.” The report specifically cites backlogs stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Local authority food standards resources are under pressure, with a long-term decline in occupied food hygiene and food standards posts,” the report states. “In Scotland, 20 percent of all total allocated food safety roles were unavailable or vacant at the end of 2024, and although staffing levels in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland showed some improvement between 2022/23 and 2023/24, post-pandemic backlogs persist.”
The report notes that nine out of 10 UK food businesses covered by the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) and Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS) continue to hold satisfactory or better ratings. However, there is a backlog in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland of 95,000 overdue inspections, including 871 high-risk businesses. In Scotland, 17.2 percent (12,533 out of 72,950) of registered businesses were unrated in December 2024.
The inspection backlog persisted in 2024 despite the number of inspections carried out in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland exceeding pre-pandemic levels for the first time.
The report notes that FHRS and FHIS ratings are given only to businesses that sell or serve food directly to the public.
Managing the Post-Pandemic Backlog
As described in the prior-year report (Our Food 2023), local authorities have been managing high volumes of overdue inspections accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite some workforce growth, backlog issues persisted in 2024.
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One of the challenges is that a sizeable proportion of the newly recruited staff are either still in training or require additional support and supervision as they build up their professional experience. “Local authorities also report difficulties in recruiting and retaining competent officers, while some food safety officers are being diverted to deal with other demands outside of food safety,” the report notes.
“As a result, the impact of increased staffing numbers is expected to take time to translate into any marked reductions in overdue inspections,” the report says.
Meat and Dairy Establishments
The report says the vast majority of UK meat and dairy establishments are compliant with hygiene standards.
All approved meat establishments in Northern Ireland and the majority in England, Wales, and Scotland had achieved a good or satisfactory rating as of December 2024. Compliance in dairy farms in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland remained consistently high in 2024, with 98.7 percent to 99.9 percent meeting required hygiene standards.
In Scotland, despite a larger number of inspections in 2023/24 (230) than in 2022/23 (73), there were fewer enforcement actions needed—11 in 2023/24 versus 24 in 2022/23—as the scope of audits broadened beyond the immediate post-pandemic focus on higher-risk farms.
The entire report can be found here.
