Policy paper

Food Standards Agency (FSA) economic growth goals

Published 8 July 2026

This was published under the 2024 to 2026 Starmer Labour government

Applies to England

Introduction

In March 2025, the government set out in the Regulation Action Plan its vision for overhauling the regulatory landscape so that it:

• protects consumers
• supports competition
• encourages growth

At the Regional Investment Summit in October 2025, the Chancellor gave an update on delivery of the Regulation Action Plan, setting out the progress made and where the government would go further and faster. As part of this, the government announced that it would ensure the ‘key regulators’ (the 16 regulators named in the plan) had clear direction on how they can support its overriding mission to deliver economic growth. This commitment sat alongside the announcement that the existing Growth Duty would be strengthened.

Government departments have since been developing outcome-focused growth goals, where no equivalent framework already exists. These goals provide regulators with a structured set of priorities that clarify how their actions should support economic growth. They are designed to be measurable, with specific results to enable progress tracking, and accompanied by an ‘impact narrative’, which explains how regulators’ actions are expected to encourage economic growth.

This document sets out the growth goals that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has agreed with the Food Standards Agency (FSA), as set out in a letter to the FSA chair.

Goal 1: support delivery of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement with the EU to maintain food standards and safety and remove trade barriers

Outcome goal

Support delivery of the government’s commitment to secure and implement an SPS agreement with the EU by mid-2027 to maintain food standards and safety while removing barriers to trade.

Key result

The FSA will aim to have made the necessary operational and policy changes to deliver dynamic alignment^{[footnote 1]} by mid-2027, while maintaining food and feed safety.

This includes delivery of food safety and standards legislation. This is all of the legislation within the FSA’s remit, including around 80 pieces of legislation out of approximately 500 that will be affected by the SPS agreement. This will remove trade barriers with the EU on agri-food areas of trade.

The FSA’s work should also lead to businesses being aware of the impacts of the agreement and ready to implement changes. The FSA will support cross-government efforts to ensure businesses across the UK understand how the agreement will impact them. 

Impact narrative

The FSA’s core function of maintaining a regulatory framework for food safety and standards already facilitates exports worth over £24 billion a year. The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has estimated that the SPS agreement could add up to £5.1 billion to the UK economy each year.

The FSA will play a substantial role in the cross-government programme to deliver legislative realignment and to support business readiness, which is critical to bringing benefits to the UK economy.

Goal 2: national approach to regulation for large food businesses in England

Outcome goal

Develop a new national approach to regulation for large food businesses in England.

Key results

The FSA will deliver an effective, resilient and trusted regulatory system that is fit for the future. This will ensure that food is safe and what it says it is, reducing unnecessary burdens and keeping consumers safe.

The FSA will aim to:

• by the end of June 2026:
  • develop a detailed workplan for the programme, outlining a path towards delivering a national approach to regulation as part of wider programme of reforms. An update on the progress of the programme was published in the FSA chief executive’s report to the board in June 2026
  • complete an intensive round of stakeholder engagement with sector representatives on design choices for high level frameworks and understand the implications of changing the current system
• by the end of July 2026 - establish technical working groups and advisory committees, comprising sector representatives, to commence detailed policy design and development
• by the end of September 2026 - report back to the FSA board through a published paper on progress towards detailed design frameworks and legislative development following an extensive programme of stakeholder engagement
• by March 2027 - develop and publish in a board paper detailed proposals for the FSA board on planned options for a new national approach to regulation for consultation in 2027

Impact narrative

This supports the Chancellor’s commitment to deliver regulation in a proportionate way that reduces the administrative burden of regulation on businesses. Subject to further policy development work, we currently expect that these reforms are likely to require primary and secondary legislation. Using centralised data and streamlined processes, it will ensure the sector and consumers can benefit from modern, efficient and effective regulation which:

• supports growth
• reduces unnecessary burdens
• keeps consumers safe

Goal 3: deliver a regulatory sandbox programme for cell-cultivated products

Outcome goal

Supporting businesses in bringing forward new and innovative products through clear regulation.

Key result

The FSA will aim to deliver a regulatory programme (known as a sandbox) for cell-cultivated products (CCPs), from February 2025 to February 2027.

This sandbox enables the FSA and Food Standards Scotland to work with industry, academic bodies and other experts to gather knowledge about these new-to-market products to inform the regulatory approach. A full list of 8 industry representatives, 3 academic bodies, and 2 trade bodies was published in the FSA’s Business Committee Paper March 2025 (archived).

The sandbox outcome will be that, by February 2027, the CCP industry has a clearer understanding of what information they need to provide to achieve regulatory approval. This will be delivered through a new business support service and the publication of bespoke industry advice. 

The overall key performance indicators (KPIs) for the programme are:

• industry understands and can use the guidance to inform their decisions about what data to include in safety dossiers
• enhanced engagement with prospective applicants and current applicants compared to pre-sandbox
• guidance published regularly about common safety hazards and tests companies need to conduct to generate data to prove mitigation
• published positions on important policy questions - considered and agreed on a 4-nation basis
• increased clarity about regulatory process to improve investor confidence

Impact narrative

Oxford Economics estimates that CCPs could contribute up to £2.1 billion to the UK economy by 2030. The FSA’s work will help to:

• attract investment in Great Britain through innovative food products
• enhance Great Britain’s role as a global leader in food safety regulation

Goal 4: using modern technology and AI approaches

Outcome goal

Use modern technology and intelligence‑led approaches, including artificial intelligence (AI), to strengthen the delivery of official controls, core regulatory responsibilities and food incident management, focusing regulatory effort where risks to consumers are greatest, while supporting the safe and appropriate use of AI by food businesses.

Key results

The FSA will aim to:

• by September 2026 - pilot AI‑enabled tools within priority official controls, audit and food incident management activities to improve risk assessment, intelligence analysis, evidence handling and reporting. Benefits include:
  • stronger use of intelligence to identify emerging risks
  • a faster, more consistent incident response
• by December 2026 - replace manual, duplicate handling of incident, inspection and intelligence data with AI‑assisted workflows that automatically capture, validate and share information in real time, enabling regulators to focus effort where risk is highest. Benefits include:
  • better targeted and more consistent regulatory activity
  • reduced unnecessary burden on compliant businesses
  • improved speed and effectiveness of consumer protection
• by March 2027 - evidence improved regulatory outcomes through enhanced risk prioritisation, including quicker identification and management of food incidents and more effective and timely food recalls. Benefits include:
  • reduced consumer harm
  • increased confidence in the safety of the food system

Impact narrative

The FSA will work with partner safety regulators to ensure that regulatory approaches keep pace with technological change in the food system, supporting innovation for the UK operating within the global food system, while maintaining strong protections for consumers. A shared approach to the use of AI and AI‑generated data will provide consistency for businesses, minimise friction dealing with the regulation and underpin trusted, evidence‑based regulation.

Within the FSA, greater use of AI will strengthen risk assessment, intelligence gathering and decision‑making across official controls and food incident management. By improving the quality, timeliness and use of regulatory data, the FSA will be better equipped to anticipate emerging risks, respond rapidly to incidents and focus regulatory effort where it has the greatest impact. This will deliver clearer regulatory expectations for industry and better outcomes for consumers, for example faster and more effective food recalls.

Full implementation and scaling will be dependent upon the feedback from the pilot.

Goal 5: healthier food targets and reporting 

Outcome goal

Support the delivery of government priorities in the 10 Year Health Plan to ensure access to safe, healthier and sustainable food.

Key result

A key result of this DHSC policy will be the introduction of a mandatory reporting scheme and targets for some businesses. Healthier food reporting intends to drive positive change across the sector by generating accessible, reliable and comparable information, so that government, industry, and consumers have a clear picture of what is being sold and how healthy products are.

Healthier food targets aim to improve the healthiness of sales. Depending on funding, the FSA’s role would be to input and advise on enforcement elements of the scheme. Subject to DHSC-led legislation and public consultation, the FSA may subsequently be responsible for regulating the scheme.

Impact narrative

Overweight and obesity, along with poor diet, are major risk factors for serious and long-term diseases. They cost the UK economy up to £30.8 billion per year and 0.5% to 1.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) through reduced productivity and labour supply. Healthier food targets and reporting will increase transparency in the food sector, helping to:

• ensure a fair and consistent approach across the food sector
• encourage a healthier food environment

These policies support the shift from treatment to prevention envisaged in the 10 Year Health Plan, to:

• reduce long-term pressure on the NHS
• improve workforce participation and productivity

1. Dynamic alignment between countries’ regulations refers to the principle that parties to a trade agreement maintain equivalent regulatory standards to each other. ↩