Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the review by Seafish entitled Review of the application of the Official Control Regulations for shellfish, published June 2021, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of that review's findings; and what progress has been made by the Food Standards Agency on implementing the Review's recommendations.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has assessed the recommendations set out in the Seafish Review and in collaboration with shellfish stakeholders has prioritised those considered workable within the existing legal framework. Proposals which require legislative change are not considered feasible at the present time. To date, the FSA has introduced two new criteria for handling high results, updated protocols to confirm that appropriately validated alternative test methods can be used for official control purposes and communicated that local authorities can delegate official control sampling to third parties.

The FSA is also working on further revisions to its approaches, including reviewing the timeframe for resampling and reopening production areas after high results. This work is complex and takes time. It is imperative that any changes introduced ensure continued food safety and maintain the confidence of consumers and trading partners.