Incident Management Plan: Chief Executive Officer foreword

Document control

Ownership and maintenance of this plan and internal supporting documentation is the responsibility of the Resilience Team, part of the Incidents and Resilience Unit at the Food Standards Agency. This plan is reviewed annually.

Version 9 published: 7 June 2024.

Chief Executive Officer foreword

The main objective of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) 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.

Our work not only protects people but also reduces the economic burden of foodborne illness and supports the UK economy and trade by ensuring that our food has a strong reputation for safety and authenticity in the UK and abroad.

Ensuring food you can trust is central to the FSA’s mission.  As the Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency, I am responsible for ensuring that we respond effectively to food and feed incidents, as well as other crisis management issues, and that our capability is as good as it can be.

Whilst the vast majority of incidents and issues are dealt with through routine procedures, there are occasions when this protocol for non-routine incidents will be invoked due to the nature or scale of an incident or event. As well as food and feed safety incidents, this may include an animal disease outbreak or business continuity event that impacts on our business delivery or an incident that falls outside of our remit but may still require our response.

We are always improving our incident response and crisis management arrangements through training, exercising and by conducting lessons identified activity. In addition to our own internal emergency exercise programme, the FSA routinely participates in cross-government emergency exercises.

We welcome feedback on our plan as these will contribute to regular reviews and ensure that this document continues to be fit for purpose. Should you wish to comment please email the resilience team at resilience.planning@food.gov.uk

Emily Miles
Chief Executive
Food Standards Agency