Brexit and food – standards could get even worse
Erik P Millstone, University of Sussex and Tim Lang, City, University of London The UK’s food safety regime is not working properly. It is failing to ensure an acceptably safe food supply. Food poisoning rates are too high; confirmed cases of the Campylobacter bacteria, for example, increased by about 46% from 2008 to 2012 . The food supply is too dirty; since 2014 the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has said that poultry isn’t clean enough that it can safely be washed without the risk of spreading infection. Meanwhile, consumer trust is understandably low, and the food industry is focused on the uncertainties arising from Brexit . In these circumstances, for the UK’s food regulator, the FSA, to be planning a major reorganisation is, at the very least, poor timing. We argue it is worse. The programme of change the FSA plans – known as Regulating Our Future – will do little or nothing to improve food safety or nutritional public health. But it will do a lot ...