Imported food

About half the food on sale in the UK comes from abroad, and a new Agency booklet for local authorities on imported food regulation shows the importance of using sampling and scientific analysis to assess business compliance with food standards, protect public health and provide consumer choice.

Local and port health authority food law enforcement officers sample imported food at point-of-entry (sea ports and airports) and, because imported food can appear in almost any type of UK food premises, inland. This type of surveillance and control activity is used to detect naturally occurring toxins, contaminants, use of unsuitable ingredients, excessive addition of additives, and failure to declare the presence of ingredients to which a consumer may be allergic. This sampling activity helps protect public health, such as when detecting illegal carcinogenic dyes in spices and palm oils.

Sampling is also used to tackle fraudulent activities. Consumers can sometimes end up not getting what they are paying for, as a direct result of deliberate activity to defraud. In many cases, sampling and analysis is the only way in which fraud or mislabelling of imported food can be detected, as inspection of the manufacturing process in another country is not an option.

Supporting consumer choice is important as consumers are looking increasingly to product labelling to help them make informed choices about what products to buy. Such labelling information ranges from details that may provide guidance on: the country of origin  (perhaps of interest to consumers who are concerned about high ‘food miles’, the increasing distances over which food is transported and any negative environmental and socio-economic impact), nutritional information (such as the proportion of key ingredients) to information on the presence or otherwise of substances that a consumer may wish to avoid, for ethical or health reasons (such as foods that contain allergens), for instance. Sampling is a vital tool to help to check the accuracy of labelling information.

This is all very important work, and the Agency wants to keep it high on the local authority agenda.

Earlier this year, the Agency, the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services and the Association of Port Health Authorities set a national target that imported food should make up 10% of the food samples taken by local and port health authorities. Nearly 24,000 samples of imported food were taken by UK enforcement authorities in 2006/7.