Local authorities
We work closely with local authorities in the UK to help ensure food stays safe and honest. We have agreements and protocols in place to support local authorities in their work and give guidance to explain the regulations and how they can be applied to food businesses.
Find feed and food codes of practice
Contact your local food safety team
FSA Local Authority Information Network (FSA LINK)
As part of the ongoing development of how we communicate with local authorities and provide them with resources to do their roles effectively we have created FSA Local Authority Information Network (FSA LINK); a platform to allow for communication, collaboration and resources aimed at local authority officers working in the food and feed enforcement areas.
This platform will be the main portal for local authorities to locate resources such as forms, templates, toolkits and guidance.
To access FSA LINK you need to create an account. Local authority officers should use their official work email to get instant access and will be able to view all content once the account has been approved; interested stakeholders can sign up for access to Official information.
You can access the archive of enforcement letters between 2008 and 2017 at the National Archives.
Supporting local authorities
We provide local authorities with guidance and frameworks to ensure they are consistent when enforcing the relevant laws for food and animal feed. These include Codes of Practice, Framework Agreements and Practice Guidance.
Food Standards Manual
The Food Standards Manual provides a reference to food composition and food labelling legislation. It also includes useful links to legislation and guidance notes.
The aim of this manual is to assist food safety officers become more familiar with food standards legislation and associated guidance. The manual should give insights to some of the practical applications of food standards legislation, its enforcement and enable officers to identify other sources of useful information.
Framework Agreement
The Framework Agreement on Official Feed and Food Controls by Local Authorities provides us with a way to implement our powers under the Food Standards Act to influence and oversee local authority enforcement activity.
The Agreement details:
- publicly available local service plans to increase transparency of local enforcement services
- agreed feed and food law enforcement standards for local authorities
- enhanced monitoring data with greater focus on inspection outcomes and which provides more detailed information on local authority performance
- an audit scheme aimed at securing improvements and sharing good practice
National Enforcement Priorities
The National Enforcement Priorities (NEPs) for animal feed and for food hygiene at the level of primary production are developed annually in consultation with
- local authority representatives
- National Trading Standards
- regional feed leads
- National Agriculture Panel
- National Animal Feed at Ports Panel members
Incorporating the NEPs into a programme of official controls helps to maintain improvements in compliance levels by feed business operators through intelligence led enforcement. This aims to:
- maintain a level playing field for honest and diligent businesses, which is in the interests of the feed industry as a whole
- reduce unnecessary burdens on business by focusing the activity of local authorities on agreed areas of greatest threat to the human and/or animal health
- create a flexible and effective intelligence-led approach to interventions, while maintaining appropriate levels of monitoring of compliance across England and Wales
- realise our strategic goal of ‘Food We Can Trust’
- drive up the quality and consistency of official controls across England and Wales
- safeguard animal and/or public health
National Food Standards Priorities
The inaugural report on National Food Standards priorities was published to local authorities in May 2024. They have been identified through research and analysis of a number of data sources, including intelligence as recorded on food matters, sampling results from a variety of programmes, reports of customer complaints and information received through food groups.
The priorities were developed following requests from pilot authorities involved in the development of the food standards delivery model. Whilst they are not suggested to be the only issue that a food team may have cause to deal with, they reflect an assessment of the scale of reporting of the issues and the attendant risks around food standards.
The priorities inform the delivery of the FSA directed sampling programme in looking to confirm any suspected non-compliance and they will be reviewed on an annual basis.
Supporting guidance materials for enforcement officers
In addition to the Code of Practice and Practice Guidance, we publish standalone guidance documents on a range of topics. This is often as a result of new regulations coming into force, a development in policy or in response to an incident.
The Food and Feed Law Guide (January 2020 update) is a reference tool for food and feed legislation applicable in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It contains information on the division of responsibility for food and feed law in the UK. We are currently reviewing this list and it remains published for reference purposes as it remains a useful aid.
Training for enforcement officers
We provide training for enforcement officers on different subjects including:
- sampling
- labelling
- intelligence
- the Food Standards Delivery Model
- food safety
- hygiene and standards
- feed safety
- traceability
Links to training materials and online courses for enforcement officers can be found on FSA LINK, our resource and communication portal for local authorities.
Monitoring local authority activity
As a regulator we have a statutory duty to monitor local authority activity so that we have an evidence base regarding the delivery of official food controls. We use this data to assess local authority performance.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, bespoke online returns have been used to collect data in place of the Local Authority Enforcement Monitoring System (LAEMS), with the first annual return in April 2021. There are currently data collections twice a year using an online platform.
Once the data is analysed and evaluated, aggregated country level data, for example on interventions carried out, staff resource within food teams, sampling and enforcement activities are published in reports to the FSA Board. Up until 2020, LAEMS reports containing aggregated data were published, together with local authority level data.
Local Authority Enforcement Monitoring Data
December 2020 to September 2024
- Local Authority Performance Update to the FSA Board paper (September 2024)
- Annual Local Authority Performance Review to the FSA Board (December 2023)
- Local Authority Performance Update to the FSA Business Committee (June 2022)
- Local Authority Recovery Plan Update to the FSA Business Committee (December 2021)
- Local Authority Delivery and Performance Update to the FSA Business Committee (December 2020)
April 2019 to March 2020
Official statistics for England, Wales and Northern Ireland
April 2018 to March 2019
Official statistics for England, Wales and Northern Ireland
April 2017 to March 2018
Official statistics for England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Reports from earlier years can be found on the National Archives website.
Revision log
Published: 26 January 2018
Last updated: 26 September 2024