Transparency data

Chief Executive’s Report to the Business Committee

Updated 18 September 2026

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

Report by Katie Pettifer

1. Response to allegations of animal welfare breaches

1.1 As I reported to the Business Committee in June, the FSA has been investigating breaches of animal welfare law identified through covert footage. Following receipt of these allegations, we immediately launched a full investigation at Hartshead Meats Ltd, which led to enforcement action, including revoking and suspending the licences of certain individuals to work with live animals at the site.

1.2 Having thoroughly reviewed all the evidence, including the business’s compliance history and the nature of the concerns identified, we are satisfied that the plant is safe to continue operating. We will continue to have a presence in the plant, with FSA Officials carrying out routine inspections, CCTV monitoring, audits, and welfare checks, as required by law in all approved sites.

1.3 Our criminal investigation into whether laws were broken is still ongoing. Once this investigation is complete, we will consider referral of the case to the Crown Prosecution Service, who would decide whether to bring criminal charges.

1.4 Following widespread circulation of this footage online, we have received a significant number of enquiries from concerned members of the public. In our response, we have addressed concerns and confirmed that animal welfare remains a key regulatory priority for the FSA. To date, we have responded to approximately 670 complaints and enquiries from the public, 50 Freedom of Information requests, and 28 letters to MPs.

2. Effects of hot weather

2.1 Animal welfare remains a priority during hot weather.  Food business operators are responsible for protecting animals from avoidable suffering during transport, lairage and slaughter, including taking appropriate measures to prevent heat stress. FSA officials and Official Veterinarians continue to monitor compliance, with all cases of animal suffering linked to transport or on-farm issues referred to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and Local Authorities.  Urgent cases, such as those caused by extreme heat, must be reported immediately to enable rapid intervention.

2.2 In addition to Official Veterinarian reporting, the FSA, working with Defra, the Welsh Government and APHA, introduced an Extreme Weather Reporting Protocol in 2023. The protocol provides a coordinated response to significant weather events and is activated when the UKHSA issues either a red alert or multiple amber alerts.

2.3 Hot weather conditions have had a notable impact on animals on farm and during transport this year compared with recent years, with the number of animals affected by heat stress increasing significantly:

Animals affected by heat stress - poultry

	May	June	July
2024	2825	1910	839
2025	1974	2402	1443
2026	6110	22633	12353

Animals affected by heat stress - pigs

	May	June	July
2024	0	1	10
2025	5	75	5
2026	16	501	12

2.4 In July 2026, the FSA animal welfare team has taken a leading role in a multi-agency review of the Extreme Weather Protocol to strengthen animal protections through earlier risk identification, improved intelligence sharing and faster intervention.  Key improvements include extending reporting during amber weather alerts, classifying all heat stress cases as urgent, strengthening guidance for Official Veterinarians, promoting industry measures to reduce heat-related risks, and developing earlier preventative interventions with transporters. The improved protocol will be activated from August 2026.

2.5 There have also been impacts to a poultry abattoir which had a restricted water supply due to drought measures. This prevented them from operating whilst contingency measures were put in place.

3. Qurbani meat

3.1  This year’s Eid Al-Adha festival ran smoothly with no significant issues.  No enforcement activity was required, and the participating plants were all able to meet the requirements set out in the industry-led mitigations that have been in place for the past three years. All additional and extended shifts requested by Food Business Operators to produce Qurbani meat were managed effectively, and most plants completed production within the first two days of the festival.

4. National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) activity

4.1  The NFCU is continuing to partner with rural policing teams to increase knowledge of and reporting on food crime. This has recently included attending several agricultural and countryside shows, including the Royal Three Counties show alongside West Mercia Police and the Royal Lancashire Show in the Police Village.

4.2 We continue to deliver food crime prevention training to the food industry. This quarter we have delivered our food fraud prevention exercise for the first time in Northern Ireland and have had positive publicity in Food Management Today.

Operation Bewdley

4.3  This fraud investigation concerns a Staffordshire Food Business Operator that is allegedly falsely labelling food items with the approval numbers of legitimate food business operators. On 9 June, one person was arrested and interviewed, and his business premises searched. Approximately 25,000kg of food was seized and subsequently disposed of as animal by-products due to lack of traceability.  This food business distributes food nationally and a Food Alert For Action was issued. The NFCU continues to work with local authorities to coordinate visits to over 300 food outlets to recover and destroy unfit food.

Operation Mars

4.4 This fraud investigation concerns a cold store registered with Dudley local authority. On 29 July, the NFCU supported the local authority to execute a warrant under the Food Safety Act alongside HMRC, Immigration Enforcement and the Police.  Evidence was secured that linked an unregistered food business in the neighbouring premises to the cold store. Four staff were detained by Immigration Enforcement for not being eligible to work in this country.

4.5 Multiple serious hygiene offences were identified together with evidence suggesting Polish chicken was being re-labelled as British and use-by dates being extended. This business distributes to fast food establishments and independent retail shops including halal outlets.  Food items on site were voluntary surrendered for disposal and a Remedial Action Notice served. Working with Incidents team, a Food Alert For Action was issued on 31 July, with the NFCU supporting Dudley local authority to engage with identified customers.

5. Incident response and prevention

5.1  In May, this year we published working principles agreed with the Institute of Grocery Distribution for the operation of a Targeted Response Forum to provide a structured three-tiered method for earlier, cross sector sharing of information and signals across the food supply chain. We recently had the first Targeted Response Forum mobilisation at Tier 2 of the agreed framework, during  an evolving foodborne disease outbreak. Here, we brought UKHSA to a roundtable with directly impacted industry stakeholders to exchange relevant information earlier, and stakeholders were then able to make swifter, better informed decisions in response. Within the span of a week, the likely vehicle of infection was identified and the product removed from the market. We received positive feedback from the UKHSA CEO on its application and the improvement in response times as a result. Tier 3 of the framework would involve a Targeted Response Forum of sufficient scope to support situational assessment of risks, impacts and burden of response, in a multi-brand, sector wide food safety concern; we will trial that when such an incident emerges.

5.2 Other incidents of note since my last report to the Committee include a non-routine response involving tracing over 2 million kilograms of imported chicken due to Listeria monocytogenes contamination. A precautionary withdrawal of the product ensured it was removed from the UK supply chain, including in catering establishments and healthcare settings.

5.3 A second non-routine response has seen Incident Response teams working closely with UKHSA, the product manufacturer and their local authority in an ongoing investigation into potential contamination of a formula product for infants with special medical needs, as well as providing specialist advice and co-ordination with other agencies in the UK and Ireland.  We also liaised with UKHSA to consider whether reports from parents of potential issues with the product constituted a wider pattern of illness.  The local authority is satisfied that there is no ongoing or potential serious risk to public health at present.

5.4 Incident Response teams are also supporting a the UKHSA-led public health investigation into an outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis first identified in May this year. Ongoing food chain investigations indicate a potential link to consumption of eggs supplied to a number of hospitality and catering businesses.  Action continues to trace the source of the outbreak; at this time there is no identified link to UK-produced eggs or poultry, but there are potential links to imported eggs.  Most UK hen flocks are vaccinated against Salmonella and have strong biosecurity and monitoring for Salmonella in place; this is required by the British Lion mark and Laid in Britain assurance schemes.

5.5 At the timing of writing this report, we have issued advice to consumers, including through a new food fact check blog and media interviews with our Chief Scientific Adviser. We have emphasised that UK produced eggs with the British Lion mark or produced under the Laid in Britain assurance scheme are safe to eat, but have advised vulnerable consumers to ensure eggs are thoroughly cooked if they are uncertain of the provenance of them, for example when eating out.  We will continue to take any action necessary to protect public health.  The FSA safe egg handling advice was also revised and published on gov.uk on 14 August.

6. Meat charging

6.1  Following the High Court judgment handed down on the judicial review challenging aspects of the FSA’s 2025/26 meat charges, we have sought permission to appeal from the Court of Appeal. We expect to find out if permission has been granted mid autumn, after the Courts’ summer recess.

6.2 Without prejudice to our appeal, we have been considering the legal and potential financial impact of the judgment on the 2025/26 charging year (to which the judgment applies) and working through options on how we might apply changes to 2026/27 (current year’s) charges.

6.3 The ruling has created uncertainty for operators, so on 4 August I wrote to individual operators to advise them of next steps.  These will include reconvening the FSA/Industry Meat Charging Stakeholder Group (which was engaged on discount reform) so that we can work with industry to ensure that any revised 2026/27 rates are aligned with the judgment.  An initial meeting took place on 12 August.

6.4 We are also exploring how the information we publish about our charges could be improved to ensure that it is sufficiently transparent, clear and meets the needs of operators, representative bodies and other interested parties.

7. Resourcing

7.1 At 30 June, the FSA was forecasting an underspend of £9.5m (5.9%) against its total budget of £160.1m.  Of this, £7.7m relates to Westminster resource budgets, and £3.6m of that is centrally held contingency funds which are deliberately being retained to manage in-year risks and emerging pressures. £3.9m of the underspend primarily relates to staff costs.

7.2 Since HMT agreed to provide additional SPS funding in April we have been recruiting staff as quickly as we can, but it has obviously not been possible to fill roles for the whole financial year, hence some underspend. We have undertaken a significant programme of recruitment and capability investment, including 117 recruitment campaigns for c.230 roles. This represents one of the largest recruitment and mobilisation exercises undertaken by the FSA and has substantially strengthened our readiness for SPS implementation.

7.3 Alongside recruitment, we have invested additional funding into other key activities that were not affordable through the original business planning process because SPS delivery was prioritised.  This includes further development of the Food System Intelligence Hub; extending our Innovation Research Programme; Anti-Microbial Resistance surveillance aligned to SPS requirements; work on meat charging reform and further investment in technology. These investments will strengthen the FSA’s ability to deliver SPS commitments and respond to future regulatory and operational requirements whilst living within constrained budgets.

7.4 Given the FSA’s flat-cash settlement and ongoing inflationary pressures, we must continue to improve productivity and ensure resources are aligned to its strategic priorities. As part of this, workforce restructuring through the FSA Ready programme will support a more sustainable operating model. 

7.5 Our £3.6m of centrally held contingency is in fact below the level of contingency typically expected by HM Treasury. However, this position was agreed with HMT during business planning and reflects the Agency’s assessment of financial risk at that time.

7.6 Currently, key risks include the extent of the impact of the meat charging judicial review and the fact that the SPS funding uplift is currently confirmed for 2026/27 only.  The financial impact and timelines associated with the judicial review are uncertain and are dependent on legal processes.  On SPS, we continue to actively engage with HMT on future-year funding requirements and securing multi-year funding is a priority.  However, we are also considering moving some of our underspend into 2027/28 to align funding with the revised delivery profile following delays to the SPS Summit.

7.7 The financial position will continue to be monitored closely with potential further investment opportunities being considered and balanced against likely draws on contingency based on the perceived level of financial risk. I will continue to update Business Committee and the Board.

8. People

8.1 Our newly recruited Director of System Resilience, Clare Dinnis, joins us on 1 September.  Clare’s newly established System Resilience Directorate will bring together work that FSA does across the food system to manage risk and to strengthen resilience, including our incident response and prevention work and our role in monitoring the performance of local enforcement authorities.

8.2 We have submitted our pay remit for grades AO to Grade 6 for Ministerial approval. While the FSA is not allowed to commence formal pay negotiations before the pay remit has been approved, informal discussions with trade unions are ongoing.

8.3 Pay for Senior Civil Servants is centrally managed by the Government following recommendations from the Review Body on Senior Salaries.  This year all Senior Civil Servants received an award of at least 2.5%. A new element is performance-related progression.  Additional uplifts of between £750 and £4,000 were payable based on grade, 2025/26 end of year performance rating and position in the pay range. The award was paid in July.

8.4 There continues to be considerable Cabinet Office-led work on Civil Service pensions. The FSA continues to attend all HR Director updates convened by the Cabinet Office. Staff are updated via regular intranet communications, while the People and Finance Teams continue to respond immediately to any applications for transitional loans.  Three have been issued to date.