Committee finds significant uncertainty remains over post-Brexit food safety systems
7 March 2019
The EU Energy and Environment Committee has questioned the Public Health Minister and the Chair of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) about arrangements for undertaking food safety risk assessments, and making decisions about managing food safety risks, post-Brexit.
Background
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) provides scientific advice and risk assessments on food safety matters on behalf of the EU. Decisions about how to respond to those risks are then made by the European Commission, Council and Parliament – largely through the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed, where the UK is represented by the FSA. EU Member States also benefit from access to the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) – an EU-wide surveillance and information-sharing system designed to swiftly communicate potential food safety risks – and to food safety audits and inspections conducted by the European Commission's Food and Veterinary Office.
The EU Energy and Environment Committee have been looking at how Brexit will impact on food safety decision making. They held a roundtable with a range of experts in July 2018, have been in correspondence with the Public Health Minister, Steve Brine MP, and, on 6 March 2019, held an evidence session with Steve Brine, FSA Chair Heather Hancock and the UK's Chief Veterinary Officer, Christine Middlemiss.
Key findings
No deal preparation
If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, all the food safety functions currently undertaken by the EU will have to be undertaken domestically. The Committee were pleased to hear that the FSA was confident that it had the resources it would need to take on the functions of the EFSA from 29 March, if required, and that additional systems and capabilities have been put in place to improve the UK's surveillance capability. In relation to where decision-making on responding to food safety risks would sit, the Minister explained these would initially be taken by Ministers but that in future some decision making may be devolved to the FSA (who, the Committee heard, have already set up new governance structures to facilitate this).
During a transition period
If a Withdrawal Agreement with the EU is reached, however, and there is a transition period, Members heard that there was still a significant level of uncertainty over what EU systems the UK could still be a part of and what it would need to undertake itself. The UK would continue to be bound by EU food safety decisions, but the Minister did not know whether the UK could continue to attend meetings of the Standing Committee where those decisions are made. He also did not know what the UK's relationship with the EFSA would be, and whether the UK would retain access to all their food safety risk assessment work (or whether their risk assessments would continue to include data from the UK). He stated that the UK would not be able to vote in the Standing Committee and would not have access to RASFF (although hoped access could be negotiated at a later date). In a subsequent letter to the Committee, however, he clarified full access to RASFF would be maintained during a transition period.
The UK's future relationship with the EU
The Minister expressed his hope that, as part of negotiations on the UK's future relationship with the EU, the UK could continue to work with the EFSA. Members expressed doubts over the feasibility of this, given that third country participation is only possible if the third country applies all related EU legislation. The Minister, however, expressed his personal preference for continued alignment with the EU in relation to food safety; something that might enable EFSA participation and even, he suggested, continued involvement in the Standing Committee.
Chairman's comments
Lord Teverson, Chair of the Committee, said:
"We understand that if the UK leaves the EU without a deal it will have to assess and manage food safety risks itself, and we were reassured by the extent of the preparations that the Food Standards Agency have undertaken in this regard.
“But the other possible scenario from 29 March, which is in just over three weeks' time, is that we enter into a transition period. During this time we will be required to follow the EU's food safety rules and regulations, but we discovered today that the UK Government has no idea whether we will have full access to EU risk assessments, or any access to their surveillance and information sharing mechanisms. This is deeply concerning.”