Business Forum: Common Sense Protections

What kind of regulations should food & farming businesses demand for fairer food systems?

Food safety, public health and environmental regulation. These are just some of the issues on the potential chopping block. The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill is intended to allow ministers to bring in new domestic legislation to replace EU regulations and directives. However, many organisations, including the Food Standards Agency, have warned that it won’t be possible to ‘sunset’ (automatically repeal) laws remaining at the end of 2023 without a lowering of UK food standards and a significant risk to public health.

Some 4,000 pieces of EU regulation are currently at stake in what has been evocatively coined the “bonfire of regulation”. Many of these relate directly and indirectly to food, farming and fishing. So what could this mean? Which regulations should form the invisible safety net that holds society and food systems together, to paraphrase Unchecked UK, and which regulations are no longer necessary in a new post-EU world for the UK? Join us to explore the profound implications for food & farming businesses.

Together we can shape a future where regulations contribute to food systems that are fairer for people, animals and the planet. Beyond striving to maintain what we already have, surely more can be done to further strengthen existing regulations without adding in what some regard as ‘unnecessary’ bureaucracy and cost.

This in-person dinner meeting in central London will provide an opportunity for participants to:

• Consider what regulation is for and its ethical implications amidst a backdrop of a political desire to deregulate
• Discuss when regulations are, and are not, useful for fair food systems
• Explore what food & farming businesses should do to influence the future of regulation and reshape the narrative around it
• Understand practical actions business leaders can take to stand up for common sense protections

Speakers will be Rebecca Sudworth, Director of Policy at the Food Standards Agency and Phoebe Clay, Director, Co-Director, Unchecked UK, with a short response from Ralph Early, food ethicist and Trustee of the Food Ethics Council.