Letter to Professor Susan Jebb, Chair of the Food Standards Agency (FSA): FSA economic growth goals
Published 8 July 2026
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2026
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-to-the-chair-of-the-food-standards-agency/letter-to-professor-susan-jebb-chair-of-the-food-standards-agency-fsa-fsa-economic-growth-goals
Dear Professor Jebb,
I am grateful for your ongoing leadership of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and its board. I would like to express my personal thanks to you, the board, the chief executive and FSA staff for the important contribution the FSA continues to make to protect public health by maintaining high standards of food and feed safety and protecting the interests of consumers in relation to food, while also supporting economic growth.
We recognise that the FSA’s core job as a food safety and standards regulator supports a thriving UK agri-food sector, giving consumers and trading partners the confidence to trust and buy British food, and providing certainty and a level playing field for businesses. I am pleased that all of your additional commitments within the Regulation Action Plan for 2025 to 2026, which committed to overhauling the regulatory system to support growth, have been delivered.
As you will be aware, in October 2025, the Chancellor gave an update on delivery of the Regulation Action Plan, where she committed to ensuring that every key regulator has clear strategic direction from government on its role in delivering this government’s Growth Mission.
Over the past few months, the FSA and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) officials have worked alongside officials across Whitehall to translate this commitment into agreed outcome-focused growth goals for the FSA. These goals aim to establish agreed priorities for FSA activities to support economic growth. They are designed to be measurable, with specific results to enable progress tracking, and accompanied by an ‘impact narrative’ explaining how the FSA’s actions are expected to encourage economic growth.
The annex sets out 5 growth goals for the FSA in relation to England, agreed between DHSC and the FSA. These goals collectively aim to support economic growth, reduce trade barriers, enable innovation in the food sector and maintain high standards of food safety and consumer protection:
- supporting the delivery of the UK’s agri-food trade ambitions by implementing changes required for a future sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement with the EU and helping businesses to understand and adapt to new requirements
- delivering the future of food regulation programme, including proposals for a new national approach to the regulation of large food businesses that reduces unnecessary burdens while maintaining public confidence, playing a key role in driving a more proportionate and effective regulatory system
- supporting innovation in the food sector by providing clearer regulatory pathways for emerging products, for example through work on cell-cultivated foods
- strengthening the use of data, intelligence and emerging technologies, including AI, to target regulatory effort more effectively and respond more quickly to risks
- supporting DHSC’s 10 Year Health Plan commitment of introducing healthier food targets and reporting, subject to future policy and funding decisions
Thank you for your continued engagement on these goals. I look forward to our continued close working on these priorities.
Yours sincerely,
The Rt Hon Sharon Hodgson MP
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention