Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that businesses are prepared to transition from the EC abbreviation health mark on packaging for animal carcasses and foods of animal origin to the GB abbreviation after the UK leaves the EU.

To ensure that businesses are aware of the necessary changes to the health and identification marks, the Food Standard Agency (FSA) has produced guidance which explains the form of the mark and when the necessary changes will take effect.

The FSA has worked with industry bodies to promote awareness of the guidance amongst members, as well as communicating directly with industry via key representative organisations. The FSA has and continues to attend and organise stakeholder meetings to promote awareness of the guidance.

FSA operational staff and local authorities have also been briefed on the guidance so that they can promote awareness directly with food business operators. The guidance continues to be publicly available on the FSA’s website at the following link:

https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/eu-exit-changes-to-health-and-identification-marks