Marler Clark, Inc., PS (LexBlog United Kingdom)

Reports of Salmonella in raw meat-based pet food in the United Kingdom have declined again from the record levels seen in 2022. The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) collected data on Salmonella from animals, feeding stuff and animal by-products (ABP) in England, Wales and Scotland. The number of positives from cattle, sheep, pigs and...

Recalls in the United Kingdom and Europe increased in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the first three months of the year, according to data from Sedgwick’s European Product Safety and Recall Index. In the second quarter of 2025 (Q2), recalls in the food and drink sector went up by 2.7 percent. The report,...

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has raised concerns about the increasing number of Salmonella and Campylobacter infections. The FSA said recent data has confirmed suspected threshold breaches for Salmonella and Campylobacter. Investigations to identify contributing causes are underway.   As part of monitoring foodborne disease in the UK, the FSA has thresholds for four pathogens. In...

Britain is sleepwalking through its biggest food safety crisis since the horse meat scandal, according to a report on meat smuggling. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee said it is unacceptable that there is no publicly available data showing the scale and nature of illegal meat entering the country and its destination. Illegally imported...

A bill has been put forward in the United Kingdom to make guidance about the risks of methanol poisoning clear in travel advice after the deaths of several people, including one American, in Laos in 2024. Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Laura Trott said the bill would require the government to provide prominent, clear and...

Recently released data in England shows gastrointestinal infections were the most common type of travel-associated illness in 2024. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said such illnesses are most frequently reported in summer following international travel. Gastrointestinal infections accounted for 65 percent of travel-associated infections in 2024 in England. Gastrointestinal infections...

Recent data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows Salmonella and Campylobacter infections in England are continuing to rise. There has been an increasing trend in the number of confirmed laboratory reports for both Campylobacter and Salmonella from 2023 to the first quarter of 2025.  Campylobacter lab reports increased from 60,055 in 2023 to 70,352...

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) annual data has revealed a significant rise in Campylobacter and Salmonella infections in England.  Salmonella infections reached a decade high, with a 17.1 percent increase from 2023, from 8,872 cases to 10,388 in 2024. Campylobacter cases also increased by 17.1 percent from 60,055 in 2023 to 70,352 in 2024. This represents...

A type of supplement has been linked to a Salmonella outbreak in the United Kingdom. Orgenism is recalling Eggshell Membrane Capsules sold on Amazon because of Salmonella contamination. The Salmonella found has been linked to a handful of illnesses after consumption of the product.  The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said the detected type of Salmonella...

An audit of laboratories in the United Kingdom has revealed a number of potential issues ranging from staff retention to a lack of shelf-life and virus testing knowledge. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) provides the UK’s National Reference Laboratory (NRL) for food microbiology for the Food Standards Agency (FSA). The audit found that although...

Consumers have been advised not to buy some products from The Hershey Company as they do not meet legal market requirements in the United Kingdom. Affected Jolly Rancher products contain mineral oil, which isn’t allowed in food in the UK and may pose a food safety risk if consumed regularly over a sustained period of...

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is looking into an increase in hepatitis A cases. UKHSA and other health agencies are investigating two clusters of hepatitis A virus (HAV) with dozens of confirmed patients. In the first, 31 people are sick with 23 in England, seven in Scotland, and one in Northern Ireland. Some are...

UK checks on certain produce from Europe have been delayed until 2027. Planned post-Brexit border checks on medium-risk fruits and vegetables will now start beginning Jan. 31, 2027. Controls were scheduled to begin in July 2025 under the UK’s Border Target Operating Model (BTOM). The United Kingdom has agreed to a deal with the European...

Companies in the food industry in the United Kingdom have been urged to make sure they are prepared for upcoming legislation around fraud. Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, the failure to prevent fraud offense comes into effect on Sept. 1 and will apply to organizations that meet at least two of the...

Public health officials in the United Kingdom are investigating an outbreak involving a rare type of Salmonella that has sickened 25 people, including 13 young children. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said the last reported patient fell sick in March. Overall, 25 confirmed cases of Salmonella Saintpaul have been reported with 19 in England,...

The United Kingdom has secured a trade deal with the European Union that will impact the food sector. The UK government said a new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement will make it easier for food and drink to be imported and exported by reducing the red tape for businesses that led to lorry queues at...

Listeria infections remained steady and seven outbreaks were investigated by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in 2024. There were 179 cases of listeriosis reported in England and Wales in 2024, compared to 177 in 2023. The latest data show that while Listeria can infect people of all ages, it poses a greater risk to...

The UK government has insisted there will be no weakening of food standards as part of its trade deal with the United States. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the agreement this past week. A White House fact sheet said the deal will expand U.S. market access in the United Kingdom, including...

A long-awaited report into one of the largest E. coli O157 outbreaks in the United Kingdom has finally been published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). In the 2022 outbreak, there were 259 confirmed Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) O157 cases, including seven secondary infections. Another 25 confirmed patients were reported in Ireland. England...

Researchers have reported the food attributable portions of disease for four important pathogens in the United Kingdom. Findings will be used to support future Food Standards Agency (FSA) studies estimating the burden of foodborne disease. A literature review was conducted to provide source attribution estimates for enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), sapovirus, hepatitis A virus (HAV) and...

England saw an increase in Campylobacter and Salmonella reports from 2022 to 2024, according to recently released information. The data comes from the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) first annual report summarizing infectious disease trends. Between 2022 and 2024, there was an increase in Campylobacter laboratory reports, with the rate per 100,000 population going up...

More than 50 people fell ill across the United Kingdom as part of a Salmonella outbreak in 2024. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) investigated a cluster of Salmonella Blockley infections identified through the analysis of whole genome sequencing (WGS) data. An Incident Management Team including Public Health Scotland, Public Health Wales, and the Public...

Health officials in the United Kingdom are investigating a fatal Listeria outbreak linked to desserts supplied to the National Health Service. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and Food Standards Agency (FSA) are investigating five cases of Listeria monocytogenes. Patients were identified from May to December 2024 with two in Yorkshire and Humber and one...

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is looking into the potential of using artificial intelligence (AI) to help detect and investigate foodborne illness outbreaks. UKHSA experts assessed different types of AI for their ability to detect and classify text in online restaurant reviews, which could be used to identify and potentially target investigations into outbreaks. Foodborne gastrointestinal.

Scientists have described the investigations performed and control measures taken in relation to a multi-country Salmonella outbreak traced to Ferrero chocolate in 2022. In February 2022, the United Kingdom detected a monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium cluster of patients based on whole genome sequencing (WGS). Several other countries reported cases in the cluster. Epidemiological, microbiological,

Only two people reported eating raw milk cheese in the initial stages of an E. coli outbreak investigation that was later traced to such a product. It is unclear whether this was because of poor recall or because people were unaware they had consumed unpasteurized cheese. In November 2023, a genetically linked outbreak of Shiga...

Scientists have described the first confirmed ciguatera poisoning incident in the United Kingdom. The suspected ciguatera incident occurred in England in June 2017 associated with the consumption of fish sold as red snapper steaks. Three people were affected from the same family after eating separate steaks from the same package. Investigations revealed fish was harvested and...

Politicians have called for funding to be maintained for meat inspections after hearing evidence on the scale of products being seized at the border. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee examined biosecurity measures for animal and plant imports to the UK. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is responsible for product of...

European public health officials are monitoring an outbreak linked to international travel on long-haul flights. A cluster of 20 genetically linked Shigella sonnei sequence type (ST) 152 cases were first reported by the United Kingdom. Austria, France, Ireland, and the Netherlands have also recorded genetically linked cases, suggesting a common source of infection. Austria and...

An investigation by a consumer watchdog has revealed inadequate staffing levels for trading standards in many areas of the United Kingdom. As part of a Freedom of Information request into capacity and performance, consumer group Which? contacted 187 trading standards services in England, Wales, and Scotland. Reponses were received by November 2024. Which? said some...