Privacy notice - UK Food Surveillance System

Why we need it

The Food Standards Agency will be what is known as the ‘Controller’ of the personal data provided to us. The UK Food Surveillance System (UKFSS) is a national database for the central storage of analytical results from food and feed samples from enforcement authorities (Local Authorities (LA) and Port Health Authorities (PHA), as part of their official controls.

What we do with it

The personal information we hold consists of:

• Names and contact details of Local Authority sampling officers.
• Names and contact details of food businesses and their representatives

The Food standards agency obtains this information either from individuals themselves or from other third parties such as other public bodies local authorities, official control laboratories and DAERA.

We process this information for the purpose of surveillance and policy development, identifying local, regional and national trends in food and feed sampling, to help define and target future sampling programmes and to meet statutory obligations on reporting monitoring results for chemicals and residues in food and feed to Food Safety Authorities internationally.

We may also analyse this information along with other information we hold about you and information we have obtained from public and/or private sources for the purpose of helping us evaluate risk. We do this in line with the exercise of official authority vested in us under the Food Standards Act and the performance of a task carried out in the public interest.

We do this in line with the performance of our statutory duties under the Food Standards Act. We will not collect any personal data from you which we do not need.

How and where we store your data and who we may share it with

For more information, please see the How and where we store your data and who we may share it with section in our Personal Information Charter.

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to carry out these functions, and in line with our retention policy. This means that this information will be retained for 10 years from receipt.

International transfers

For more information on international transfers, please see the International transfers section in our Personal Information Charter.

EU citizens

For more information on EU Citizens Privacy Notice, please see the EU citizens section in our Personal Information Charter.

Your rights

For more information on your rights, please see the Your rights section in our Personal Information Charter.

Contact us

If you have any queries concerning this Privacy Notice, your personal information or any questions on our use of the information, please email our Data Protection Officer in the FSA, who is the Information Management and Security Team Leader using the address below.