The auditing of food businesses must be more focused on detecting fraud, according to the highly anticipated Elliot report published today.
Professor Chris Elliott, director of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast, has published the first part of his review of the safety and authenticity of UK food supplies.
Elliot said that data collection and well-structured surveys should be considered a matter of urgency, by both government and industry, to better monitor any criminal activity within the UK food supply network.
He outlined several recommendations including a shared public laboratory for food testing currently undertaken by local authority-owned labs.
The report states that that all parties who operate and manage the food chain must put consumers first over all other aims.
And it suggests that food suppliers to vulnerable people such as hospitals, schools and the elderly, should receive guidance to boost the assurance of their supply chains.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) should have an up-to-date crisis management plan, to ensure their role is clear in the event of a major incident.
Elliott was asked by the government to look at how to check whether food being bought by consumers in the UK is correctly labelled, following the horsemeat crisis in February 2013.
The report also highlights areas where further work will be needed. These include a specialist ‘Food Crime Unit’, to undertake investigations into serious food fraud, and intelligence hubs to gather and analyse information about food crime.
Environment secretary Owen Paterson said: “It is appalling that anyone was able to defraud the public by passing off horsemeat as beef. That is why I commissioned an urgent review into the integrity of our food network.
“We will continue to work closely with the food industry, enforcement agencies and across local and central Government to improve intelligence on food fraud and our response to it.”
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said it welcomes the interim Elliott Review. The BRC said that the report acknowledges that the UK supply chain is fundamentally robust, but sets out some useful recommendations for addressing any areas of weakness and criminal behaviour.
BRC director general Helen Dickinson said: “The report is an important and thorough contribution to the review of supply chains. We are pleased Professor Elliott makes it clear UK supply chains are amongst the safest in the world and that he is addressing the specific issue of food crime. We absolutely share his focus on consumer confidence; it is at the heart of all retailers’ businesses.
“The BRC already offers unannounced audits as well as a scheme covering distribution but will add to these a certified scheme for agents and brokers in the New Year.
“We know the importance of intelligence in tackling fraud and have consistently pushed the government to improve the flow of information in Europe. We welcome the Professor’s comments on ensuring information flows from industry whilst preserving commercial confidence.”
Produce testing company Food Forensics’ managing director, Alison Johnson, said: “As British-labelled food products tend to command a premium price, there’s a huge incentive for fraud.
“Our aim is to protect the unique selling point of British farmers and growers, help our customers to reassure their consumers who want to buy British and re-establish consumer trust.”
Food Forensics uses a process known as ‘stable isotope ratio analysis’ to create an environmental fingerprint of the food sample, allowing its origin to be traced.
Work on the final review will continue and will be published in spring 2014.
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