Food safety and animal feed incidents

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) issues food alerts to notify consumers about food safety problems. It also copies these notifications to local authorities and port authorities.

Types of food alert

There are different types of alert:

• Food Alert for Action (FAFA) is issued where intervention by enforcement authorities is required. These notices are often issued in conjunction with a product withdrawal or recall.
• Product Recall Information Notice (PRIN) makes the public aware an unsafe food product is being removed from the supply chain, and advises consumers to take appropriate action (for example, to return or dispose of the unsafe food).
• Allergy Alert (AA) tells the public that a product has missing or incorrect allergen labelling.

Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF)

The RASFF is how European Union member states share information about investigations into unfit food or feed. It is co-ordinated by the European Commission.

From 1 January 2021, the UK no longer has full member state level access to the EU's RASFF. However, the EU-UK trade agreement ensures exchange of food safety information which the FSA can then use as part of its incident detection and management system.