The main pieces of UK and European general food legislation are:
- The Food Safety Act 1990, which provides the framework for food legislation in Great Britain and creates offences in relation to safety, quality and labelling.
- The Food Law Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, which creates general principles and requirements of food law across Europe.
- The Food Hygiene Regulations 2006, which provide for the enforcement, including penalties of certain provisions of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 and amended the Food Safety Act 1990 to bring it in line with this regulation.
- The European Communities Act 1972, under which European food law is transposed into national legislation.
The following core European Union (EU) food hygiene regulations apply throughout the UK:
Specific hygiene requirements for food business are explained in more detail in a Food Hygiene: A Guide for Businesses on the FSA website.
The FSA works with enforcement officers (primarily in local authorities) to ensure that food and feed law is applied across the entire food chain. The responsibilities of all the enforcement authorities in the UK are set out in the Single Integrated National Control Plan for the UK.
The FSA’s interaction with local authority enforcement officers is set out in the Framework Agreement on Local Authority Enforcement. This document gives a structure to the Agency’s supervision of local authority enforcement work.
The FSA also produce a Food Law Code of Practice and an equivalent Feed Law code. These codes set out the way local authorities should apply food and feed law, and how they should work with food and feed businesses.
Practice guidance is also provided as a further help to enforcement officers.
The Agency also provides guidance on specific regulations which are relevant to enforcement officers and food businesses to ensure that the law is clear.