The meeting will be held at Crowne Plaza in Central Square, Holliday Street, Birmingham, and chaired by the FSA’s chair, Professor Susan Jebb (Opens in a new window).
It will begin at 9.00am on Wednesday 18 June and is an open meeting for the public to attend in person. Please register here if you wish to attend the meeting (Opens in a new window), in person or online.
Last year African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks in domestic pigs declined by 83% compared to 2023 (from 1,929 to 333), according to EFSA’s latest annual epidemiological report. The drop was mainly due to fewer outbreaks in Romania and Croatia, and it marks the lowest annual total number of outbreaks in the EU since 2017.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland’s (FSAI) Food Safety Consultative Council announced a public consultation to gather views from consumers and food businesses in Ireland on a national food hygiene rating scheme. Food hygiene rating schemes are in operation in a number of countries and provide customers with signage that indicates the level of cleanliness and food safety standards of a food business based on official food safety inspections. The FSAI is calling on consumers and food businesses in Ireland to make their views known through an online consultation which will run until 23rd June 2025.
Researchers have assessed the impact of processing on the presence and transfer of antimicrobial resistant bacteria on chicken meat.
Findings showed that while Campylobacter and E. coli were present in birds entering the plants, their presence and numbers significantly declined along the poultry processing line, especially following procedures such as defeathering and evisceration.
UK checks on certain produce from Europe have been delayed until 2027.
Planned post-Brexit border checks on medium-risk fruits and vegetables will now start beginning Jan. 31, 2027. Controls were scheduled to begin in July 2025 under the UK’s Border Target Operating Model (BTOM).
Scientists have described the main lessons learned from the use of whole genome sequencing (WGS) of E. coli in France.
WGS is routine for surveillance of Shiga toxin–producing E. coli (STEC) human isolates. Experts assessed implementation of WGS between 2018 and 2022 for 1,002 sequenced isolates. From genomic distances of serotypes O26:H11, O157:H7, O80:H2, and O103:H2, they determined thresholds for cluster determination and compared those with 5 allelic differences (HC5) clusters. A cluster is defined as cases grouped in space, time, or both. An outbreak is cases for which an epidemiologic link is identified.
Carbapenemase-producing bacteria, once mainly a hospital concern, are now being detected in food animals and food products across Europe. This is one of the findings of EFSA’s latest scientific opinion on the occurrence and spread of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) in the food chain in the EU/EFTA.
There was a slight rise in food fraud and other non-compliance cases discussed by European countries in March.
The number of notifications reported was 237 in March 2025, which is up from 214 in February but down from a record high of 345 in March 2024.
Issues listed are potential frauds. Non-compliance may prompt investigations by authorities in EU member states. Details come from a monthly report published by the European Commission.
The risk from pesticide residues to human health remains low, in line with previous years, EFSA said in its latest annual report. EFSA analysed thousands of samples collected in 2023 from commonly consumed products.
An analysis of Salmonella in Germany has revealed an overall decline but an increase in imported cases and unknown types of the pathogen.
German national surveillance data on salmonellosis from 2012 to 2023 were analyzed. A total of 160,782 cases of salmonellosis were reported in this timeframe, with seasonal peaks during the summer months. Incidence declined from 26 per 100,000 in 2012 to 13 per 100,000 in 2023. This equates to 20,836 cases in 2012 and 10,666 in 2023.
The European Commission has proposed a change to tuna freezing rules to clamp down on food fraud and the risk of consumers getting sick.
Current rules require vessels to have freezing equipment with sufficient capacity to freeze as quickly as possible in a continuous process and achieve a core temperature of no higher than -18 degrees C (-0.4 degrees F). Freezing vessels must also have enough refrigeration equipment to maintain fishery products in storage holds at the same temperature.
Researchers have reported the food-attributable portions of disease for four important pathogens in the United Kingdom.
Findings will be used to support future Food Standards Agency (FSA) studies estimating the burden of foodborne disease.
While it is inevitable that some buyers in tariffed countries will shift their purchases from U.S. suppliers to avoid the tariffs, it is just as expected that many U.S. food companies will shift their purchasing to domestic supply chains to save costs. And as those food companies move away from expensive imports, domestic growers and manufacturers may experience demand surges, creating a fundamental safety challenge where production pressures increase faster than the food safety infrastructure.
A total of 8,596 complaints and queries were handled by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland’s (FSAI) Advice Line in 2024. Announcing details today of the complaints and queries last year, the FSAI stated that there were 4,996 complaints from consumers, with 32% of complaints relating to unfit food and 29% to suspected food poisoning.
England saw an increase in Campylobacter and Salmonella reports from 2022 to 2024, according to recently released information.
The data comes from the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) first annual report summarizing infectious disease trends.
Between 2022 and 2024, there was an increase in Campylobacter laboratory reports, with the rate per 100,000 population going up by 27 percent from 96.1 in 2022 to 122 in 2024. During this time Salmonella reports also increased by 24.1 percent from a rate of 14.5 to 18 per 100,000 population.
The majority of people in the Czech Republic trust food sold in the country to be safe but at least a fifth struggle with basic food handling rules.
Findings come from an online survey of food safety on the Czech market with more than 1,500 people in March 2025.
It was part of the #Safe2EatEU campaign organized by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and rolled out in the Czech Republic by the food safety department of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Carbapenemase-producing bacteria, once mainly a hospital concern, are now being detected in food animals and food products across Europe. This is one of the findings of EFSA’s latest scientific opinion on the occurrence and spread of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) in the food chain in the EU/EFTA.
As part of the Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO)’s mission to promote a pro-innovation regulatory system, the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has awarded the Food Standards Agency (FSA) £1.4 million to support a new innovation hub. This hub will develop and expand specialist expertise in regulating innovative technologies such as precision fermented foods, making sure these products are safe to eat before they are sold.
Certain food and feed products, known as regulated products, including food additives and flavourings, must be authorised as safe before they can be sold. To do this, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) conduct a thorough safety or ‘risk’ assessment which is included in our recommendations to ministers in England, Wales, and Scotland, who then decide whether the product can be sold.
The Wave 9 report, conducted between April and July last year, shows that more than three-quarters of respondents (76%) would rely on the ‘sniff test’ to assess whether raw meat is safe to eat or cook with. A further 73% of respondents said they would rely on the sniff test for milk and yoghurt, and 65% of respondents said they would do so with fish.
The report also found that many respondents would eat bagged salad (72%) or cheese (70%) after the use-by date, while around six-in-ten respondents would eat yoghurt (63%), milk (60%), or cooked meats (58%) after the use-by date.
