Enforcement guidance to primary production food and feed hygiene inspections in Scotland - information for local authority food and feed officers

The Food Standards Agency in Scotland is seeking comments on the attached guidance (see Annex C) which has been specifically developed for local authority enforcement officers to help them carry out their duties in relation to the enforcement of food and feed primary production (EC Food Hygiene Regulation (852/2004) and EC Feed Hygiene Regulation (183/2005)).

The EC Food Hygiene Regulation (852/2004) and the EC Feed Hygiene Regulation (183/2005) came into force on 1 January 2006 (although a transitional period existed for feed business operators until 1 January 2008). The main purpose of these regulations is to ensure food and feed safety throughout the food chain. It includes requirements for operational standards for food and feed businesses and traceability measures to ensure that, in the case of a food or feed safety incident, food/feed can be easily traced and recalled if necessary.

EC Regulation 852/2004 applies to almost all food businesses and includes primary production (farming) of food. Primary production includes rearing of livestock for meat and animal products (eggs, milk etc) and growing and harvesting of plant products (fruit, vegetables and combinable crops). Annex I of Regulation 852/2004 lays out the general hygiene requirements that a primary producer must meet.

EC Regulation 183/2005 applies to virtually all feed businesses that manufacture, market or use animal feed, including livestock farms, fish farms and arable farms growing and using or selling crops for feed use. Annex I of EC Regulation 183/2005 sets out the list of hygiene requirements that farmers must observe.

Primary production is a sector that was generally new to hygiene requirements and enforcement, and this guidance has been produced to address the needs of the enforcement officers carrying out this function. Although training and informal guidance has been provided to officers since 2007, it was felt by the Primary Production Enforcement Working Group (a working group of the Scottish Food Enforcement Liaison Committee), that officers, and in turn the industry, would benefit from this guidance, assisting in the consistent application of food and feed law to this sector. The guidance aims to clarify the requirements of the relevant legislation.

This guidance has been produced by a sub-group of the Primary Production Enforcement Working Group, which includes FSA membership. This consultation is being carried out by FSA on behalf of this group.

Due to timing, there are references/links to other guidance not yet published. It is hoped that these will be available before the guidance is issued.

It is the Agency's policy to minimise the impact of Regulations without compromising consumer safety. In terms of EC Regulation 852/2004 and EC Regulation 183/2005, the Agency proposes to achieve this by issuing guidance (as set out in Annex C) to assist enforcement officers consistently and proportionately enforce food and feed law. In the development of this guidance, the group considered that:

• the guidance will help enforcement officers understand what the requirements of the legislation are and, therefore, enforce consistently and proportionately to the food and feed businesses
• the guidance will ensure farmers are being treated consistently across Scotland in relation to the enforcement of Annex I of the EC Regulations (183/2005 and 852/2004)
• the Agency will publish the guidance on its website

Stakeholders and enforcement authorities are now invited to consider and comment on the text of the guidance. All responses received as part of this consultation will be given careful consideration.

All comments received will be summarised and published on the Food Standards Agency website within three months as part of the post-consultation action unless stakeholders particularly request that their comments be treated as confidential. Comments may be made by post, by fax, or by e-mail.

• details on EC Regulation 852/2004 and the EC Food Hygiene Regulation (852/2004) are available below
• the EC Feed Hygiene Regulation (183/2005) is available on the Commission's website, please see link below
• more details on EC Regulation 183/2005 are also available via the link below

Responses are required by close 1 November 2010. Please state, in your response, whether you are responding as a private individual or on behalf of an organisation or company (including details of any stakeholders your organisation represents).

This consultation has been prepared in accordance with the HM Government Code of Practice on Consultation, which states that a consultation must follow better regulation best practice, including carrying out an Impact Assessment (Regulatory Impact Assessment in Scotland). The assessment is included in the consultation documents.

We are interested in what you thought of this consultation and would therefore welcome your general feedback on both the consultation package and overall consultation process. If you would like to assist us to improve the quality of future consultations, please feel free to share your thoughts with us by using the consultation feedback questionnaire.

Consultation feedback questionnaire (Word)

Consultation feedback questionnaire (pdf)

In accordance with the FSA principle of openness our Information Centre at Aviation House will hold a copy of the completed consultation. The FSA will publish a summary of responses, which may include personal data, such as your full name. Disclosure of any other personal data would be made only upon request for the full consultation responses. If you do not want this information to be released, please complete and return the Publication of Personal Data Form. Return of this form does not mean that we will treat your response to the consultation as confidential, just your personal data.

Data protection form (Word)

Data protection form (pdf)

Within three months of a consultation ending we aim to publish a summary of responses received and provide a link to it from this page.

If, after three months, the summary is still not showing, please contact the person who was responsible for the original consultation. Alternatively, you can contact the FSA Consultation Co-ordinator by email: consultationcoordinator@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk