Emergency planning

The Food Standards Agency's Emergency Planning Branch is dedicated to preparing contingency plans for food safety emergencies and exercising those plans.

Being the lead body for the Government response to incidents involving the food chain, the Agency considers it very important to ensure that all its emergency response plans are regularly maintained and rigorously tested.

The branch regularly tests its Incident Response Protocol through emergency exercises, which are independently assessed. Participants within the exercise programme include other government departments such as the Department of Health and Public Health England as well as local authorities, SMEs and major retailers.

During these exercises, independent observers from industry, the European Union and trade associations are invited to participate, where they also have the opportunity to challenge or query any decisions made by the Agency in its response. Their feedback from the exercises assists the Agency in ensuring that its protocols are kept up to date, widely recognised by its partners and constantly improving.

The Branch also provides support to the Environment Agency led Air Quality in Major Incidents project to provide advice on food safety issues during a major incident where air quality is an issues, and the branch is also actively involved in exercises with both the nuclear industry and other Government department exercises were food safety advice is required.

The Emergency Planning Branch can be reached by calling 020 7276 8776 or 020 7276 8796.