A reformed system can help ensure high food standards, says FSA chair.

The Chair of the Food Standards Agency Professor Susan Jebb has said that the way the FSA regulates the food system has to evolve to ensure it can meet the challenges of the future.

Professor Jebb was speaking at City University’s Food Thinkers seminar on Wednesday 13 November, where she set out the unprecedented challenges facing the food system and those who regulate it. Risks from global conflict and financial pressures, alongside opportunities offered by new technologies all demand new thinking about our regulatory system, she said.

“There’s clearly a lot of work to be done and some difficult decisions to be made to achieve the efficient, proportionate and trusted regulatory system we all want.” said Professor Jebb.

“I’m very clear that people need to be at the heart of this – people as consumers, people as employees, and people as citizens, making decisions about the society we live in.

“Regulators need to act on behalf of citizens to set the rules, monitor that they are being followed, and take strong enforcement action when they are not. They need to set the guardrails that protect the public from unscrupulous operators, while also supporting the well-intentioned actors to do the right thing. We need to ensure the regulatory framework supports businesses by upholding standards, without adding unnecessary barriers to innovation or unjustified extra costs to consumers.”

Professor Jebb emphasised the importance of investing in people, sharing and using data better, and greater cooperation across governments in the UK and with international trading partners. Professor Jebb’s speech can be found here: FSA Chair's speech to City University's Food Thinkers seminar | Food Standards Agency