Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has announced an eight-week consultation on the introduction of new food ‘compliance notices’ (CNs), to help enforcement officers deal more fairly and quickly with suspected food standards contraventions.

According to FSS, local authority food enforcement officers currently have limited powers in the event of any suspected food standards regulation breach – intentional or not – by a business. Their current abilities include submitting a report to the Procurator Fiscal (PF) or serving a Seizure and Detention notice to remove potentially harmful or non-compliant products from the market.

Raymond Pang, FSS senior enforcement manager, said those processes can often be time-consuming, unduly damaging to the businesses involved, and are not proportionate to what can often be issues as simple as unintentional labelling breaches.

He said: “We feel a report should only go to the Procurator Fiscal, in cases of serious breaches, such as fraud or consistent non-compliance of food standards regulations.

“This proposed notice will highlight the regulation that might have been breached, what a business has to do to comply, and when, before any action is taken.

“As a result, they will give authorised enforcement officers the option of taking a more graduated, step-by-step approach to enforcement. This is a proposed new system of improvement, too, to work alongside businesses to ensure food standards are adhered to.”

FSS is now seeking the views of local authority enforcement officers who inspect food businesses and enforce food legislation, food businesses across sectors such as manufacturing, packaging and labelling of food products, catering and retailers, and consumers.

Pang said FSS aims to ensure businesses that might be affected by the new notices are made fully aware of their potential impacts, including cost.