Food crime unit set up following ‘horsemeat’ review

The Government will set up a new Food Crime Unit, ensure the UK has a resilient network of food analytical laboratories to test food consistently; and improve coordination across government to protect food integrity and tackle food crime.

The Elliott Review into food crime and food fraud also cautioned against adversarial practices from retailers that push prices paid to suppliers to below what produce is reasonably worth.

The Review also recommended supporting the development of whistleblowing and fuller reporting of food crime.

It urged industry to adopt incentive mechanisms that reward responsible procurement practice and encouraged industry to conduct sampling, testing and supervision of food supplies at all stages of the food supply chain.

It also said the Government should encourage the food industry to ask searching questions about whether certain deals are too good to be true.

In the interim Elliott Review, published last year, the cold chain was highlighted as a point of weakness.



Chris Sturman, CEO of the Food Storage and Distribution Federation (FSDF) said: "FSDF agrees fully with the need to rebuild and maintain the highest levels of consumer confidence in food. We have already indicated our disagreement with Professor Elliott after his interim report highlighted cold storage and transportation being weak links in the supply chain.

"FSDF member companies, which are predominantly in the stand alone sector, but with a few manufacturing companies with cold stores aligned to factories, are [already] working to high standards.

"That said, the FSDF and its members will work with Government and Agencies at all levels and play our part in driving out criminality at all levels in the food supply chain. We already work with Government (DEFRA) on issues of Food Chain Resilience and look forward to the opportunity to work with FSA to address data collection and intelligence about illegal activities across the supply chain. After all, we can provide real, on the ground experienced based input into any outputs which may move foreword into Regulation and/or Standards.”

Sturman added: "Food Security, supply chain resilience and management of the threat of malicious attack has been on the agenda for more than the thirty years which the writer has been in middle and senior management positions in the Third Party and manufacturing sectors of the temperature controlled food sector. This has been more a focus on defending food and drink from ideologically motivated and other forms of malicious attack on food and drink products and the supply chain arrangements, and is an area which has had specific and particular attention from the Security Services (Centre for the Protection of National infrastructure). This work, I know, has not been undertaken in isolation, but with the full collaboration of all sectors of the food supply chain, and also resulted in the production of PAS60, in collaboration with BSI.  The latest update of this very useful document was in 2010, and I believe would be a useful initial structural basis for focus on criminality.”