Training on UK Food Law and Regulations

Hello,

 

I'd like to increase my knowledge in food related law, currently I am familiar with the basic EC regulations as far as the Food Safety Level 4 covers, but I'm becoming further interested in the area for both professional advancement and personal interest. Is anyone able to recommend any decent textbooks or training courses application to current UK food law? I'm aware there will potentially be changes post-Brexit but hopefully a good understanding before-hand will help with the transitional stage. A recognised course would be advantageous career-wise to have something to show.

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

Hello,

 

I'd like to increase my knowledge in food related law, currently I am familiar with the basic EC regulations as far as the Food Safety Level 4 covers, but I'm becoming further interested in the area for both professional advancement and personal interest. Is anyone able to recommend any decent textbooks or training courses application to current UK food law? I'm aware there will potentially be changes post-Brexit but hopefully a good understanding before-hand will help with the transitional stage. A recognised course would be advantageous career-wise to have something to show.

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

 

for starters maybe -

 

https://www.food.gov...eneral-food-law

Thanks Charles, will have a read through those pdfs

This list provides a reasonable starting point:

https://eur-lex.euro....html?root=3010

 

It'll take you a long time to work through it all, so I would focus on generally applicable regs (852/2004, 178/2002, 1169/2011 etc) plus more specific ones if/where relevant for the industry sectors you're in (or want to be in).

In parallel to this I'd also be looking at any and all associated guidance  - just google for e.g. "852/2004 guidance" etc and you'll find plenty of reading to keep you busy!

 

Campden runs a two day "introduction to food law" course that appears to attempt to cover almost everything except labelling. Strikes me as an enormous amount of information to try to usefully cover in such a short space of time, but if you specifically wanted a more structured basic introduction and probably a certificate of some sort then they are at least a very well respected provider.

 

For what it's worth, when I'm hiring someone for a role with regulatory remit I don't generally expect them to know everything verbatim - that's a job for a lawyer or an extremely senior position for which considerable experience is expected ;)

You're unlikely to walk into a job with sole responsibility for regulatory affairs, so at the start of the career path it's more about being able to demonstrate some knowledge in this area, genuine curiosity, and a reasonable idea about where to go to find relevant information and how to use it when you get it.

If you manage to read all of the list above and all the associated guidance, and memorise it all, then you'll be extremely unusual - but you will find that you get to a position where you know roughly which reg is the relevant one for some types of question that you may come across. The more you use it the more you'll remember, so you can e.g. look out for question at work or on here and see if you can decide how you'd go about answering them.

Thanks pHruit, very helpful!

 

I'll start making my way through the regs. I don't currently need to know too much in the way of specific food law for my role (QA) further than the basics, it's more out of personal interest and curiosity. Plus further down the line I hope to be in a role where more detailed knowledge will come in handy. It's unfortunate that my current role doesn't require it though - I doubt I can justify the Campden course cost for my work to cover  :blink:

Campden courses seldom come cheap!
Do you report into a TM or similar, who has responsibility for regulatory affairs?
If so, let them know it's an area that you're interested in and see if you can get more involved - it's a great way to learn, and having someone else knowledgeable really can benefit the business. As a TM it's useful to be able to bounce ideas off someone, particularly in such a complex area, so you may find it's genuinely appreciated.

Yes my manager is ultimately responsible for that kind of thing, and often consults Leatherhead, but I'd ideally like to aid where possible. I've indicated desire to support more though I've already taken on a lot of micro & chemical stuff on top of the standard QA duties so it's often a case of finding the time!

In that case I'd also recommend reading the advice that Leatherhead provide - they usually give some detail in their written advice to substantiate their recommendations. Just bear in mind that their position is, understandably, usually extremely conservative - for e.g. labelling queries if you can find similar examples in finished products in your local supermarket then it can be very interesting to compare what brands/retailers are actually doing with the suggestion from bodies like Leatherhead or industry guidance ;)

A good suggestion thank you, will ask the TM to include me in that as much as possible. He'll probably start to think I'm trying to overhaul him :lol: