FIA Daily News Bulletin Features Brexit Article from FOCUS

Food Safety And Brexit: What Lessons Are Being Learned?

By Maxwell J. Heston, analyst, GIC Group/GFSF

UK: Brexit - A hard landing for UK food safety?
Source: Global Food Safety Forum Newsletter (coverage as attached)
• Opinion editorial by Maxwell J. Heston, analyst, GIC Group/Global Food Safety Forum. In this article, Heston notes that Brexit may cause implications, such as the issue of food safety, with the ambivalence over the UK's legislation framework.
• Heston highlights that although the UK has been a great contributor to food safety in the EU, there are doubts to whether it has taken food safety seriously on a national level. He notes cuts in funding for food safety and the closing of 24 out of 30 total public food analysis laboratories over the past 20 years.
• The author concludes by saying that it is crucial for the Food Safety Authority (FSA) to take steps so that food safety regulation and standards do not retrograde, in view of huge challenges ahead for FSA and the food industry in the UK, in line with whether Brexit will lead to a “hard” or “soft” landing.