Westminster Annual Report and Accounts (for the year ended 31 March 2022)
Performance Report: overview
England specific
This overview sets out our purpose and how we are organised.
About the Food Standards Agency (FSA)
Established in 2000, following several high-profile outbreaks of foodborne illness, the FSA is the independent government department working to protect public health and consumers’ wider interests in relation to food in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our mission is food you can trust. Our work protects people’s health, reduces the economic burden of foodborne disease and supports the UK economy and trade. The FSA – together with Food Standards Scotland – strives toward these objectives by ensuring our food has a strong reputation for safety and authenticity in the UK and abroad.
Mission, vision, strategic priorities and performance
Our mission: Food you can trust
To safeguard public health and protect the interests of consumers in relation to food
Our vision
Our vision compromising four goals, allows us to deliver our mission.
Strategic priorities
Our priority activity for 2021/2022 continued to be:
- our response to COVID-19
- fulfil our regulatory role in 'doing the day job exceptionally well'
Performance
We measure our performance against these priorities, reporting internally and externally.
The linkages between the above are explained more in the introduction to the activities and performance section below.
How are we organised?
Our objectives, powers and duties are set out in legislation, primarily the Food Standards Act 1999. Our main statutory objective is to protect public health from risks which may arise in connection with the consumption of food (including risks caused by the way in which it is produced or supplied) and otherwise to protect the interests of consumers in relation to food.
Most of food policy making is devolved, so we maintain strong working relationships with the UK Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. However, we act independently of ministers and are governed by an independent board. We work closely with Food Standards Scotland, an independent public body with responsibility for food policy and implementation in Scotland. We always factor circumstances or data specific to each nation into the approaches we take and the advice we provide.
Our strategy 2022 to 2027, published March 2022, covers our role in each country, reflecting our ‘one FSA’ approach.
More than 1,300 people work for us to ensure food you can trust. They include statisticians, analysts, researchers, inspectors, enforcement experts, policy
professionals, economists, veterinarians and more than 500 frontline staff, who work alongside our operational delivery partners to inspect abattoirs and other primary production sites.
Our work is underpinned by the latest science and evidence.