As we’re now firmly in 2026, the food safety landscape continues to evolve rapidly. In this Easter blog, we explore the most recent developments on the horizon and how they may impact the work of food safety and environmental health practitioners. 

The sanitary and phytosanitary agreement and future trade alignment 

The UK and EU are continuing negotiations on a UK–EU sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement to align aspects of UK food and feed law with EU standards. The primary focus of the agreement is to reduce routine border checks and administrative requirements for agricultural and food products following Brexit. The intention is to ease trade flows, reduce costs for businesses and potentially lower food prices for consumers. However, discussions continue around balancing regulatory alignment with national sovereignty, implementation challenges and potential impacts on domestic producers. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) will be discussing recent developments at their board meeting on 25 March. 

A recent Defra announcement suggests that the agreement will take effect mid-2027 and that businesses need to be prepared for alignment with certain EU requirements within this timescale. Businesses are being actively encouraged to take simple steps to start planning, such as connecting with trade bodies.  

Updated Food Law Code of Practice 

Since November 2025, work has been underway to review RIAMS procedures following revisions to the Food Law Code of Practice and accompanying Practice Guidance.  

One notable development is the revised food business registration process, which allows local authorities greater flexibility to prioritise inspections based on the risk level of new businesses, rather than strictly adhering to fixed inspection timeframes. This change is intended to help authorities focus their limited resources on businesses most likely to present food safety risks, thereby strengthening public health protection. 

When a new food business registers, the local authority assesses factors such as: 

• Type of food handled 

• Preparation processes 

• Scale of operations 

• Any available intelligence or compliance history. 

This information helps estimate the business’s inherent risk level. Higher-risk premises, such as those handling raw meat or preparing ready-to-eat foods, may be prioritised for early inspection, often within 28 days of commencing operations. 

Following inspection, businesses receive a risk rating (typically categories A–E), which determines the frequency of future interventions. Higher-risk premises may be inspected every 6–12 months, while lower-risk businesses may be subject to less frequent inspections or alternative interventions such as questionnaires. 

Cell-cultivated foods 

The emergence of cell-cultivated foods, sometimes referred to as lab-grown or cell-based meat, represents a significant development in modern food innovation. These products are produced by cultivating animal cells in controlled environments rather than raising and slaughtering livestock. 

In the UK, regulatory oversight falls under the FSA through the Novel Foods Framework, which ensures that any products placed on the market meet strict safety requirements. 

Applications for approval must include robust scientific evidence covering: 

• Product composition 

• Nutritional profile 

• Microbiological safety. 

Each application undergoes detailed risk assessment, independent scientific review and ministerial consideration before market approval can be granted. As this sector develops, practitioners may increasingly encounter businesses exploring these novel technologies. 

New listeria guidance and Assimilated Regulation 2073/2005 

The EU published the Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/2895 on 20 November 2024. This came into force on 10 December 2024 and becomes mandatory in the EU and Northern Ireland from 1 July 2026, amending Chapter 1, criterion 1.2(b), of Annex I of Regulation (EC) 2073/2005, strengthening microbiological safety requirements for ready-to-eat foods. From July, ready-to-eat foods that support the growth of Listeria monocytogenes must be pathogen-free (‘not detected in 25 g’) throughout their entire shelf-life, rather than only at the point of production.  

To support implementation, the European Commission and the Chilled Food Association have updated their guidance entitled Assuring Safety of Ready to Eat Food (RTE) in Relation to Listeria monocytogenes and Regulation 2073/2005. This guidance aims to help food businesses across the UK understand and meet the updated requirements. 

With Easter approaching, it’s timely to reflect on the food safety of chocolate 

Although chocolate is widely enjoyed and generally considered safe, it has occasionally been linked to salmonella contamination. Despite being a low-moisture food, chocolate can act as a vehicle for salmonella if contamination occurs during processing or handling. Salmonella is typically associated with raw foods such as poultry, eggs and meat. However, outbreaks linked to chocolate demonstrate that dry foods are not immune to microbial hazards.  

Contamination may occur if raw ingredients or equipment introduce bacteria during processing. While roasting cocoa beans destroys pathogens, salmonella present on raw beans can survive later stages of production if cross-contamination occurs. This is partly due to chocolate’s low water activity, which allows bacteria to survive for extended periods. 

Segregating raw cocoa beans from roasted beans is therefore essential to prevent cross-contamination. Manufacturing facilities must maintain strict hygiene controls and effective risk-management procedures. 

A notable example occurred in 2006, when a UK outbreak linked to Cadbury chocolate was traced to water leaks that contaminated products with Salmonella Montevideo. Even small numbers of salmonella organisms in chocolate can cause illness, as the high fat content may protect bacteria during digestion. Chocolate-related outbreaks can therefore affect large numbers of people across multiple countries, with children often disproportionately affected. 

Ensuring chocolate safety 

Most confectionery manufacturers operate under stringent food safety systems designed to maintain product safety and quality. Robust manufacturing practices, hygiene controls and hazard management systems are essential, as are independent checks by regulators, to ensure chocolate remains safe for consumers.  

Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter! 

We’re excited to introduce a new enhancement to The Noise App’s audio player: a waveform display that visually represents the audio captured in each recording. This update is the first step in a broader set of improvements to how officers review and interpret sound evidence, with further developments planned in upcoming releases, particularly around sound classification.

Officers investigating noise complaints often need to review multiple recordings captured throughout the day, each typically 30 to 90 seconds long. Prior to this advancement, assessing these recordings meant listening to each one in full to determine whether it contained potentially actionable noise.

The new waveform display changes that.

With this visualisation, officers can quickly see where noise levels rise and fall within a recording. Taller peaks in the waveform represent higher noise levels, while smaller peaks indicate quieter moments. This makes it much easier to identify:

• Where the loudest noise occurs

• When quieter periods appear

• Whether noise is continuous or intermittent

• Patterns that may emerge across days, weeks or months of recordings.

For example, a waveform from a 29-second recording such as the one above might show an initial quiet section before the noise becomes consistently loud. Around the 20-second mark, the waveform drops to a lull before rising again as the volume increases.

Officers can move the cursor along the timeline to jump directly to a specific point in the recording, allowing them to focus on sections of interest immediately, without having to listen to the entire file.

By contrast, a recording with generally lower noise levels but intermittent loud periods will produce a waveform such as the one above, visually distinguishing it from recordings containing sustained loud disturbances.

Officers can also hover over sections of the waveform to pinpoint when the noise begins.

This visual representation provides a much clearer picture of the noise in question and allows for quick identification of whether it is high in volume and sustained over time.

To support this feature and future enhancements, we rebuilt the audio player from scratch. This new foundation provides a more flexible architecture, making it easier to introduce updates and expand functionality in future releases.

This waveform display is just the beginning. With the new audio player in place, we’re now well-positioned to expand the platform’s audio capabilities, particularly in advanced sound classification and analysis.

As we continue developing these tools, our goal remains the same: helping officers review evidence more efficiently, more accurately and with greater clarity.

The latest updates and insights from RIAMS Chief Editor Jeremy Manners.

Welcome to the March edition of RIAMS unpacked. I’m counting down the days now until RHE Housing 2026, my first conference with RHE, in Birmingham on 25 March. The lineup of speakers and panellists is fantastic, and I’m looking forward to our first Housing Roundtable LIVE in the afternoon. If you want to shape the conversation on the day, you can submit questions for the panel using this form. If you haven’t yet booked your place and want to find out more, click here. 

Housing matters are also at the fore in Wales, with housing associations gearing up for the implementation of new rules coming into effect on 1 April for investigating and remedying housing hazards. The new requirements are an addendum to the Welsh Housing Quality Standard and are similar to Awaab’s Law in England, setting clear timescales for investigating and resolving hazards. Please get in touch if you work for a stock-holding local authority or registered provider in Wales, as we are rolling out some brand-new training on HHSRS and the WHQS addendum: training@rheglobal.com. 

Additional housing training on the agenda this month sees housing expert Henry Dawson delivering online training on damp and mould. With his infectious enthusiasm for the subject, Understanding and Managing Damp and Mould in Domestic Property will doubtless be an engaging course. He will also be making an appearance at RHE Housing 2026 to update us on the upcoming HHSRS2 Operating Guidance.  

Changing tack, I had an interesting visit (I say that in a geeky way) from our water provider this week, who was carrying out some random sampling of our mains water supply. Not content to let the technician do his job undisturbed, I had a good chat with him about water sampling for heavy metals, bacteria and chlorine levels, as well as the current big issue around PFAS, which are known to contaminate our mains and private water and our food from various manufacturing processes. Our resident private water supply expert David Clapham delivers a range of training courses covering PFAS, sampling and enforcement. Take a look at what’s on offer here. 

Unpacking this month, there are some newsworthy items on cold weather mortality, increased fly-tipping and standards in social housing in Wales. We have a variety of policy and legal updates, and we sneak ‘a closer look’ at RIAMS guidance on taking witness statements. We also introduce the latest Question of the Month from Dr Tim Everett – so grab a coffee and keep reading for your monthly update on all things environmental health.  

In the news 

Cold weather health and mortality: The UKHSA has published its first Cold Mortality Monitoring Report, which indicates over 2,500 deaths in England during winter 2024/25 associated with cold weather. Key findings show that risk rises steeply with age, a higher number of men died than women, and circulatory diseases were the biggest cause of deaths, occurring in the days following cold weather. A LinkedIn article from Dr Ross Thompson, Principal Environmental Public Health Scientist with the Extreme Events and Health Protection Team at UKHSA, provides valuable insight into the report. 

Fly-tipping: There have been a number of recent news reports concerning the increased prevalence of fly-tipping across local authority (LA) areas. Defra has released fly-tipping statistics for England, highlighting the impact this is having on LAs, along with the increase in incidents and enforcement activity being undertaken. To note a few key points from the report, LAs took enforcement action 572,000 times in 2024/25 – an increase of 8% from the previous year; 69,000 fixed penalty notices were issued, an increase of 9%; and the most common size category of fly-tipped waste was (shockingly) equivalent to a small vanload. To help tackle this growing problem, the government is encouraging a publicity drive around seizing and crushing vehicles and calling on LAs to share images and videos of vehicles being crushed on social media. Defra has released guidance for LAs: Vehicle Seizure Powers – Local Authority Guidance, which I’ve linked to the Environmental Crime module in RIAMS Libraries, along with our procedure Unlawfully Deposited Waste: Fly-Tipping (ECP1).  

The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales is proposing to investigate social housing disrepair, damp and mould. The ombudsman reported that in 2024/25, nearly one fifth of new complaints they received were in relation to social housing, often relating to vulnerable tenants complaining of disrepair, damp and mould. The ombudsman conducted a consultation in November and reported that the majority of responses ‘supported that it would be in the public interest to undertake an investigation’ and that there were opportunities for social housing providers to improve their responses to tenants’ reports of disrepair, damp and mould. The investigations into two identified housing associations, which may follow, are ‘own initiative investigations’, meaning that individual complaints are not required for the Ombudsman to investigate.  

Legal and regulatory insights  

• The Senedd has passed the Environment (Principles, Governance and Biodiversity Targets) (Wales) Bill, which aims to protect the natural environment, establish environmental principles, set up an ‘Office of Environmental Governance Wales’ (responsible for ensuring public authorities comply with their environmental duties) and create a biodiversity target-setting framework. The bill summary can be found here.  

• The government has published statutory guidance for local housing authorities in England to support them in preparing and delivering local supported housing strategies under the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023. The duty to produce a strategy rests with the LHA, and social services have a duty to assist the LHA in producing the strategy. The guidance sets out a national framework comprising four components: strategic approach, partnerships, needs assessment and delivery plan. The first strategy should be published by 31 March 2027 (subject to regulations) and then every five years thereafter. As yet, there is no update on the licensing requirements for supported exempt accommodation, but you can find a Guidance Note: Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 (HP259E) on RIAMS. 

• Electrical safety standards for the private rented sector and social rented sector will apply to existing social tenancies in England (granted before 1 December 2025) from 1 May 2026. The requirements already apply to the PRS and new SRS tenancies, and this final stage of implementation will mop up the remaining ones. In the SRS, these regulations also cover electrical appliances provided by registered providers as part of the tenancy. Our updated procedure is available on RIAMS, and we have updated our e-learning, which will be published in the next few weeks.  

• Draft regulations have been laid that will require PRS landlords to provide their tenants with a written statement of terms and a prescribed information sheet. The Assured Tenancies (Private Rented Sector) (Written Statement of Terms etc and Information Sheet) (England) Regulations 2026 will require these new provisions from 1 May 2026, and form part of the tenancy reforms being introduced under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025.  

• The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is receiving its third and final reading in the House of Lords before returning to the House of Commons. Running alongside the bill, the government has launched a consultation on Smoke-free, heated tobacco-free and vape-free places in England, which is open until 8 May. The consultation seeks views on extending smoke-free laws to some outdoor public places, introducing heated tobacco- and vape-free places, introducing exemptions allowing designated smoking/vaping areas and defining boundaries and signage requirements. The devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are progressing plans to support the UK agenda around reducing smoking, supporting people to stop smoking, reducing ill-health from smoking and stopping young people vaping. These are outlined in: 

• Scotland’s Population Health Framework and Tobacco and Vaping Framework: Roadmap to 2034 

• Tobacco Control Strategy for Wales 

• Ten-Year Tobacco Control Strategy for Northern Ireland. 

• The Crime and Policing Bill is in the parliamentary process and is currently at the report stage in the House of Lords. It seeks to address anti-social behaviour, crime, policing, public order and national security. 

  
  

RIAMS in action  

RIAMS Libraries is the number one subscription platform for environmental health, providing a comprehensive library of practical and easily accessible procedures, notices, letters, guidance and forms covering all specialisms. Supporting local authorities in delivering robust and consistent enforcement, RIAMS provides a cost-effective solution for your team, keeping officers on the front line. 

For Scotland, we are looking for an outstanding environmental health professional to lead this next phase of expansion and join us as RIAMS Editor for Scotland. If you are interested in helping to shape the future of environmental health in Scotland, we’d love to hear from you. 

Thanks to Robin Stewart, Property Disputes Partner at Anthony Gold Solicitors, who has kindly allowed us to publish in RIAMS ‘Authorities Bundle for Awaab’s Law created by Anthony Gold Solicitors’. This is a valuable bundle for practitioners looking to support tenants, bringing all the key Awaab’s Law information together in one document.  

Activity: In February, we reviewed and updated 75 documents on RIAMS Libraries, including 54 procedures for England, Northern Ireland and Wales. We have also added a new procedure for England and Wales to guide officers on Compensation in the Event of Serving a Housing Prohibition Order (HP262). 

A closer look:

Procedure: Taking of Witness Statements Guidance (MP35) 

Module: Enforcement  

Relevant to: All practitioners involved in investigations and enforcement 

Countries: England, Northern Ireland and Wales 

Accurate and well-structured witness statements are a vital part of effective enforcement and prosecution work. This procedure outlines the key principles that officers should follow when obtaining witness statements and referencing exhibits to establish clear, admissible evidence that is able to support legal proceedings. It helps guide officers in ensuring witness evidence is reliable, professionally recorded and legally robust. 

The procedure highlights the legal framework governing statements, the practical aspects of obtaining and documenting them and runs through identifying and referencing exhibits. It covers the important distinction between factual witnesses and expert witnesses and how written statements can sometimes be used in court in place of oral evidence. 

Read the full procedure for England (MP35E), Wales (MP35W) or Northern Ireland (MP35N) to understand the detailed requirements and good practice necessary when gathering witness evidence. 

If your organisation doesn’t yet subscribe to RIAMS Libraries, contact RHE Global to book your free demonstration and trial.  

What’s new on RIAMS Communities? 

The forums continue to flourish with conversation and questions across private water supplies, environmental protection and housing. Take the opportunity to join the discussion and network with colleagues in your chosen subject areas here.  

Local authority practitioners and environmental health students can join RIAMS Communities for free. Creating an account is simple with a .gov.uk or .ac.uk email address. Join the conversation at communities.riams.org. 

No Smoke Without . . . Smell?  

February’s Question of the Month with Dr Tim Everett sniffs around to consider if just the smell of smoke can constitute a statutory nuisance. Tim explores the key case law and whether the smell alone may fall within the definition of smoke under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. He also examines common misconceptions about controlling odours from domestic premises, how different statutory nuisance categories may apply, and why assessing frequency, duration, and severity remains crucial. You can read the blog in full here.  

RHE Global  

RHE Global supports environmental health practitioners across all specialisms to work smarter, network and share best practices. Visit RIAMS to stay up to date with the latest environmental health developments and discussions. 

Don’t miss a thing – sign up to get public protection news and jobs straight to your inbox.  

Last year, the government consulted on proposals for MEES and EPC reforms for the private rented sector (PRS), seeking views on, among others, the proposed new EPC metrics to be used, cost caps, exemption periods and implementation timeframe. Towards the end of January, the government finally published their response to the consultation, giving clarity to the PRS on the direction and requirements moving forward. So here are ten key points we now know these reforms will be bringing in:

1. Domestic EPCs will change (currently intended to be brought in from October 2026) to consist of four headline metrics: energy cost, fabric performance, smart readiness and heating system. The banding for the new EPC metrics will be determined through the development of the Home Energy Model (HEM), which will replace the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) as the underlying methodology, though the details of how it will be calculated and translated into EPC scoring bands is yet to be finalised: a consultation on this is currently open until 18 March 2026.

2. A dual-standard approach to MEES compliance will be used, with PRS properties needing to meet a primary standard set against the fabric performance metric and a secondary standard set against either the smart readiness metric or the heating system metric (the decision being at the landlord’s discretion). So a landlord must first invest in ensuring the building’s fabric performance meets the primary standard and then, once it does (or a valid exemption is registered), move to investing in measures to meet their chosen secondary standard.

3. There will be a single compliance date for all tenancies within the scope of the regulations. All will be expected to comply with the regulations by 1 October 2030, with no differentiation in this requirement between new and existing tenancies.

4. There will be a grandfather clause so properties with an EPC C rating on a current or new EPC issued before 1 October 2029 will be considered compliant until that EPC expires (after 10 years) or is replaced.

5. The cost cap will be set at £10,000, with any third-party funding the landlord receives counting towards this, except where the funding is from the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS). In addition, there will be a ‘property value adjustment’  for properties valued below £100,000, whereby the cap will be lowered to 10% of the property value instead. Also, to encourage earlier preparation and investment by landlords, spending on relevant energy efficiency improvements from 1 October 2025 will count towards the £10,000 cost cap. 

6. The cost cap will be reviewed every 5 years to account for inflation and other factors that may affect it. The first review, it is confirmed, will not take place until after the compliance date of 1 October 2030.

7. The penalty will increase to £30,000 as the maximum that local authorities can issue per breach of the regulations. As well as financial penalties for properties that do not meet the standard without a valid exemption, landlords may also be fined for registering false or misleading information on the PRS MEES Exemptions Register.

8. Exemptions are to be updated and new ones added, which is hoped to give landlords greater clarity on when they may apply and allow easier review and compliance checks for local authorities. The cost cap exemption is to be separated out from the existing ‘all relevant improvements made’; there will be new exemptions for property value adjustment, solid wall insulation and negative impacts (which combines two previous exemptions); and the existing ‘new landlord’ exemption is simplified. The revised cost cap exemption, the property value adjustment exemption and the negative impacts exemption will be valid for 10 years; all other exemptions will typically be valid for 5 years, except the new landlord exemption, which will be valid for 6 months.

9. Short-term lets will not be included under the regulations with this update, but legislative power will be sought to be part of the primary and secondary legislation being laid to implement these reforms, which will allow the secretary of state to bring them into scope in the future if considered necessary. 

10. Updated and detailed guidance will be published by the government in 2029 for landlords, local authorities and tenants, covering compliance, enforcement and the changes to exemptions in advance of the higher standard being implemented.   

This government response has confirmed the reforms that will be going forward for EPC and MEES regulations. With this sitting alongside the other substantial changes in the sector with the Renters’ Rights Act, the update and expansion of the Decent Home Standard and the intended extension of Awaab’s Law to the PRS, the regulatory landscape for the sector, it is safe to say, is continuing to evolve apace. As this happens, RIAMS Libraries will be updated to provide local authorities with the support and simplicity they need to continue taking robust and efficient enforcement action across the plethora of new and updated legislation. 

For even more MEES conversation, don’t miss Hannah Nimmo from SOS UK (sustainable housing advocate), one of our speakers at the RHE Housing 2026 Conference. She will be sharing her insights on MEES and discussing their importance and the consequences of low enforcement.