Bitesize training: food allergen enforcement and compliance

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Overview

With more people developing food hypersensitivity, allergen safety compliance is increasingly scrutinised. Several recent high-profile food allergen-related fatalities have resulted in an increased number of interventions and pressure for prosecution, leaving regulatory officers and industry compliance specialists on their guard.

Prosecutions are high stakes for all parties involved, and the collapse of cases close to trial weighs heavily on people, budgets, and reputations. This session will discuss the challenges of an investigation and equip delegates with the confidence to make the right decisions at the early stage of an inquiry. Early decision making is important for both regulators and industry personnel who benefit from an understanding of what is important to stakeholders on both sides of the legal argument.

Aims

• To provide regulators with the confidence to decide when to prosecute allergen non-compliance issues
• To provide industry practitioners with the confidence to assess their due diligence systems in respect of allergens where prosecution is threatened

Objectives

• To enable regulators to explore and understand how to devise and execute an effective investigation that stands up to external scrutiny
• To enable industry practitioners to understand regulatory techniques and procedures, and the due diligence criteria which must be satisfied to challenge an allergen prosecution

Outcome

Regulatory officers will become familiar with common areas where prosecutions have been exposed. They will understand what makes a good investigation more likely to be successful and will appreciate the importance and context of:

• Effective and timely evidence gathering and its retention
• The burden of proof
• Instructing on, and interpreting, analyst reports
• The due diligence defence and its assessment
• The initial and continuing decision to prosecute

Industry practitioners will be able to understand what makes a prosecution more or less likely to succeed, and will appreciate the importance and context of:

• How different types of evidence are gathered by the prosecution
• Allergen control and labelling systems in compliance terms
• The importance and robustness of allergen elements within general training
• Additional allergen awareness training
• The effectiveness of supervision
• The maintenance of safety systems
• Compliance with procedures
• Various types of records

Who should attend?

• Regulatory officers responsible for allergens compliance inspections and investigations
• Environmental Health Practitioners and Trading Standards Officers
• Food industry safety practitioners with responsibility for allergen control

What past delegates thought:

• "Dr Belinda was an excellent speaker - very well informed and the information was delivered at a good pace."
• "Very informative of an area that I'm less familiar with and a good refresher on legal process"

CPD: 2 hours