The Food Standards Agency announces its plans for the future of food regulation

FSA Chairman, Heather Hancock, has today published the department's plans to change food regulation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The document called, 'Regulating Our Future – Why food regulation needs to change and how we are going to do it', sets out proposals to transform the way food businesses are regulated in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Heather Hancock said "The plan is a culmination of an intense 18 month period of engagement with stakeholders about the changes we want to make to the system of food regulation. We have developed the proposals through open policy-making, reflecting our commitment to being open and transparent, in the public interest.

The case for change is overwhelming, and tackling this now is the right response from a responsible regulator. It's not just the on-going and rapid changes in the global food economy, which is changing what we eat, where we buy it, how it reaches us. Our departure from the EU will likely accelerate some changes in patterns of food production, trade and consumption."