Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to remain a member of the EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed; and what discussions they have had to ensure that food safety is not compromised on the day the UK departs the EU.

The Government is negotiating our exit from the European Union, and our new relationship with the EU should aim for the freest possible trade in goods and services between the United Kingdom and the EU.

The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed enables the management of food and feed safety risks, providing early alerts of health or food contamination issues across the EU. At present this enables the UK to respond quickly to serious risks to public health relating to food and animal feed. The Government is considering potential membership of the EU Rapid Alert System for food and feed as part of a range of options for the management of notification of food and feed safety risks once we have left the EU.

Leaving the EU will not change the Food Standard Agency’s (FSA) top priority, which is to ensure that UK food remains safe and is what it says it is. The FSA is already working hard to ensure that the high standard of food safety and consumer protection we enjoy in this country is maintained when the UK leaves the European Union.

There are several vital food safety functions currently undertaken in the EU that will need to be undertaken in the UK after EU exit. For example, the food safety risk management decisions that are currently managed in Europe, and setting risk-based standards and controls to make sure that food remains safe, whether imported or produced here. The FSA has a critical role in meeting these new requirements.