International Standards/Harmonization

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If adopted, the draft regulations would bring mandatory allergen labeling, a new business licensing scheme, and updated food hygiene rules to the British Crown Dependency.

The guidance defines the scientific data required to evaluate if a food additive is safe under the proposed conditions of use as part of new food additive applications in the EU.

In a new report, the EU Court of Auditors say control systems for olive oil are “comprehensive but unevenly applied,” with some Member States inconsistently conducting contamination, authenticity, and traceability checks.

On January 1, three new EU reference laboratories for foodborne and waterborne diseases became officially operational, bringing the total number to nine. These laboratories will help national public health laboratories improve testing, data quality, and outbreak preparedness related to food- and waterborne pathogens.

The UK-based Chilled Food Association (CFA) has produced an industry-led good practice guidance for manufacturers and retailers of ready-to-eat (RTE) foods that may support the growth of Listeria monocytogenes to support compliance with UK and EU regulations on the microbiological criteria for foods.

The European Commission has published a revised guidance document on monitoring and shelf-life studies for Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods in compliance with recent amendments to Regulation (EU) 2073/2005 on the microbiological criteria for foods.

Some EU and UK food law changes in development could arrive sooner than expected, and others will take more time to go into effect. This article discusses food law changes to watch for in 2026.

At the 55^th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH), prompted by the ongoing infant botulism outbreak linked to ByHeart formula in the U.S., CCFH decided to initiate work related to the control of Clostridium botulinum in powdered infant formula.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) convened its eighth annual Stakeholder Forum on November 24 in Brussels, Belgium, where more than 100 agri-food stakeholders and regulators explored how risk assessment can be accelerated without compromising food safety.

The proposed EU Food and Feed Safety Simplification Package targets "overlapping and disproportionate rules" that burden agri-food businesses and national authorities, covering plant protection, feed additives, official controls, and animal health. The package's pesticide deregulation measures have garnered criticism from environmental protection groups.