Transparency data

FSA Business Committee report: 2 September 2026

Updated 15 September 2026

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

Report to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) September 2026 Board meeting.

The Business Committee met on 2 September 2026 to consider the following items.

1. Chief Executive’s report (FSA BC 26/09/03)

Katie Pettifer provided an update covering animal welfare, food incidents, food crime activity, organisational resilience and financial matters.

The Committee discussed the impact of prolonged hot weather on animal welfare and evidence of heat stress affecting poultry and pigs during transportation to slaughterhouses during the summer period. Animal welfare within slaughterhouses, where Food Standards Agency (FSA) is responsible for enforcement, could be protected in hot weather through mitigation arrangements, including flexibility around operating patterns and animal handling. However, animal welfare during transportation and on farm (enforced by local authorities and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA)) remained an area of significant concern. Members welcomed engagement with Defra, APHA and wider stakeholders to consider both immediate mitigations and longer-term preparedness.

The Committee welcomed continued success by the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) and noted a series of enforcement outcomes and increased visibility of operational activity. Members were encouraged by evidence that prevention and engagement activity was generating higher-quality intelligence and improving stakeholder awareness of food crime risks.

The Committee heard that the new industry incident response framework developed with the Institute of Grocery Distribution had been successfully trialled and new arrangements had enabled faster information-sharing and improved coordination between industry and regulators.

There was also discussion of incidents involving listeria contamination in imported chicken, concerns regarding infant formula and a salmonella outbreak potentially linked to imported eggs. It was noted that targeted sampling was already taking place to confirm the source, but large numbers of samples would be required to achieve confidence in results.

Members noted the year-to-date underspend position. Much of this reflected the timing of Sanitary/Phytosanitary (SPS) funding approvals and the recruitment lag associated with building additional capability, which is now in hand.

2. Performance report Q1 2026-27 (FSA BC 26/09/04)

Incidents

Incident volumes had been low during April and May before increasing in June. Officials advised that the new reporting arrangements provided improved visibility of incident trends and operational pressures.

The introduction of new measures relating to open incidents and incident management was welcomed and Members also welcomed investment in additional resilience arrangements, noting that a larger emergency response support pool was being developed to provide additional surge capacity when needed.

National Food Crime Unit

The Committee welcomed evidence of continued operational effectiveness.

Intelligence referrals continued to improve in quality and quantity, reflecting stronger relationships with industry and increased awareness of food crime reporting mechanisms. Members welcomed the greater visibility of NFCU successes and noted increasing media coverage of enforcement outcomes.

The Unit was managing a larger number of active investigations than normal. There was discussion of the implications for digital-forensics capacity.

Local authority performance

On local authority performance, the Committee recognised the continuing pressures across the regulatory system but welcomed signs that staffing numbers were gradually recovering towards pre-pandemic levels and recent qualification routes appeared to be increasing the supply of food standards officers available to local authorities.

There was discussion of the need to fill the gaps in national food standards data as well on compliance issues, where it was explained that underlying rates remained broadly stable but additional data would be required to fully understand trends.

Members also noted the potential implications of local government reorganisation in terms of resourcing over the course of the next two or three years, and the need to monitor impacts on future food standards capability.

Market authorisations

The Committee was updated that twenty-one applications had been completed during the first quarter and that the active caseload had reduced. A number of cannabidiol (CBD) applications had been withdrawn following engagement with applicants. Members welcomed the introduction of a new reporting tool providing greater transparency regarding milestones, risks and dependencies.

Discussions were ongoing with Food Standards Scotland (FSS) on some aspects of the workplan which had not yet been agreed.

It was also noted that the first three precision bred organism applications had been received. All three were tier one applications, meaning they would not go through a full FSA safety assessment.

Finance

The Committee heard that one of the principal drivers on the underspend remained staffing vacancies. Recruitment activity, undertaken following confirmation of SPS funding, was outlined. Appointments already made were welcomed and the significant effort required to increase organisational capacity at pace was recognised.

The Committee was reassured that active steps were being taken to manage risks while maximising delivery of organisational priorities.

Change portfolio

The Committee considered new reporting arrangements covering major organisational change programmes.

Members welcomed the improved visibility of programme performance and agreed that the new format provided a clearer picture of delivery status, risk and organisational capacity pressures. Discussion focused on the Future of Food Regulation programme. While recognising the programme’s red RAG status, Members acknowledged the inherent complexity and scale of the work, and welcomed ongoing efforts to clarify scope and priorities

The Committee also discussed the cumulative impact of multiple concurrent change programmes on organisational capacity and requested continued reporting on resource pressures.

3. Science performance report 2025-26 (FSA BC 26/09/05)

The Committee considered the first annual Science Performance Report and welcomed the revised approach to reporting. Members agreed that an annual report provided a more meaningful assessment of scientific capability, outputs and resource utilisation than previous quarterly reporting arrangements.

The report gave a clear picture of the breadth of scientific activity undertaken by the FSA and the relationship between scientific investment and operational delivery.

The Committee discussed the challenge of measuring scientific impact and agreed that future reporting should continue to develop evidence demonstrating how scientific activity informed policy, regulation and consumer behaviours.

4. Animal feed business committee report (FSA BC 26/09/06)

The Committee heard that the overall regulatory controls remained effective and levels of delivery remained high. Members acknowledged the challenges for the feed sector in preparing for dynamic alignment under a future SPS agreement, particularly in relation to market authorisations. The feed sector faced particular challenges because of historical authorisation issues and the obtaining of approvals.

The Committee suggested additional analysis explaining variations in completion rates would be useful and welcomed ongoing partnership working between local authorities, industry and the National Agricultural Panel.

Members also heard about collaborative work supporting improvements to the feed materials register.

5. Regulatory sandbox for cell-cultivated products (FSA BC 26/09/07)

The Committee reviewed progress within the Cell-Cultivated Products Regulatory Sandbox and welcomed continued delivery against programme objectives.

Officials reported publication of new scientific, regulatory and business guidance, ongoing engagement with industry participants and continued international collaboration. Members welcomed evidence that guidance and support mechanisms were improving the quality of applications submitted to the FSA.

One of the original programme ambitions: completion of two full risk assessments before conclusion of the sandbox, was unlikely to be achieved owing to delays in receipt of applicant data. The Committee accepted that this risk had always depended on applicant behaviour and welcomed agreement of alternative performance measures.

On SPS implications, international regulatory cooperation and forthcoming guidance on labelling. Members recognised that labelling guidance was likely to attract considerable consumer, governmental and industry interest.

6. Progress against economic growth goals (FSA BC 26/09/08)

The Committee heard delivery remained broadly on track across agreed objectives. There were updates covering SPS implementation, Future of Food Regulation, the Cell-Cultivated Products Sandbox, healthier food initiatives and AI-enabled transformation projects. The Committee welcomed progress in establishing healthier food programmes, including agreement of funding arrangements and recruitment of dedicated staff.

Opportunities from wider adoption of AI and digital technologies were discussed and Members recognised the potential benefits of emerging technologies. A broader strategic discussion with the whole Board on AI adoption and future opportunities was suggested.

7. Any other business

No additional business was raised. The next Business Committee meeting would take place on 30 November.

Annex

Business Committee papers considered at the meeting on 2 September 2026:

• Business Committee Papers - 2 September 2026