I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Food and Feed (Regulated Products) (Amendment, Revocation, Consequential and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. The statutory instrument, which was laid before the House on 29 January, uses powers conferred by the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 to propose two reforms to existing regulations for the market authorisation process for regulated food and feed products in Great Britain. First, it removes the requirements for the periodic renewal of authorisations for three regulated product regimes. Secondly, it allows authorisations to come into effect following a ministerial decision based on evidence-based safety assessment advice. Those authorisations will then be published in an official register or list, rather than being prescribed by statutory instrument. These reforms form part of the Government’s mission to kick-start economic growth by increasing investment, driving up productivity and tackling regulatory barriers.
The UK food industry is worth £245 billion in consumer spending, and exports over £20 billion annually. The industry is driving innovation, and nowhere is that truer than for regulated products. Regulated products are food and feed products that need to be assessed for safety before they can be lawfully sold. They include novel foods at the cutting edge of research—for example, in the UK’s growing engineering biology sector, where emerging technology is being used to produce new and innovative foods.
That innovation and growth across the food sector will drive increasing demand for regulated product authorisations, and we therefore need to modernise the market authorisation service. As the regulators, the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland assess applications for regulated products and provide recommendations to Ministers across Great Britain on whether those products should be authorised.
We need proportionate and effective regulation to support innovation and investment in the UK food industry, while continuing to maintain safety and consumer trust. This SI will help to modernise the food and feed regulatory process by removing requirements that are unnecessary for food safety. Currently, certain products that have already been authorised for sale must be reauthorised every 10 years. The SI will remove that requirement; instead, the regulators will carry out safety reviews when new evidence emerges, and most of these products have many years of safe use. The reforms will result in a more efficient regulatory service, where the FSA and FSS are able to focus on detailed reviews of products that potentially pose the most risk, instead of continually reassessing products that have consistently demonstrated safe use.
The reforms build on the regulators’ existing powers to request information from businesses for review. The regulatory framework will remain comprehensive and adaptive, enabling the regulators to respond swiftly and effectively to emerging risks. Where necessary, approvals can be modified, suspended or revoked.
The FSA and FSS have earned the trust of the public through their rigorous approach to risk analysis, and food safety will continue to be a priority. The reforms will improve efficiency, while maintaining robust safety standards. There are 481 applications currently in the service. Around 100 are renewals, and almost 500 additional renewals are expected in the next three years. It is essential that we modernise the system. Removing set renewal periods will allow a more targeted approach to regulation.
The second part of the reforms will allow authorisations to come into force following ministerial decision and to be published in an official public register or list, rather than being prescribed by statutory instrument. That will enable new products to be brought to market more quickly, without compromising consumer safety. That approach aligns with other UK regulators’ authorisation processes for similarly regulated products, such as veterinary medicines and pesticides.
The FSA and FSS provide technical and scientific scrutiny through skilled and experienced staff and expert independent scientific advisory committees. They assess individual applications and provide safety assessments, which they use to develop risk management advice and recommendations for subsequent ministerial decisions. That process squarely aligns with internationally recognised principles. The FSA and FSS will continue to publish authorisation decisions and risk assessments in line with their commitments to transparency.
The FSA has a statutory obligation to consult, and the reforms do not change the consultation mechanisms that are used as part of the authorisation process for regulated products. Authorisations will continue to be subject to public scrutiny. When developing these proposals, the FSA and FSS engaged extensively with industry and consumer stakeholder groups. That included a public consultation, and the reforms have received substantial support.
This is an opportunity to deliver reforms that prioritise both efficiency and safety in the market authorisation service. The FSA and FSS will be able to focus resources on new and innovative products, which may require more input when seeking access to the market. I therefore ask hon. Members to support the reforms in this instrument, which will create a more efficient service that manages the level of risk in a proportionate way, without compromising the UK’s high food and feed safety standards. I commend the regulations to the Committee.