Views sought on plans to update food laws

View are being sought from food businesses on proposals to update Jersey's food laws.

Steve Luce, minister for the environment, has lodged regulations proposing mandatory allergen labelling, a licensing scheme for food businesses and updated food hygiene rules to align with the UK and EU.

The Environment, Housing, and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel said it would review the Draft Food (Jersey) Regulations 202- in order to assess its "suitability and effectiveness".

Deputy Hilary Jeune, chair of the panel, said it was important the proposed changes "do not cause any unintended consequences for food businesses, charities and ultimately the wider economy".

"The draft food regulations are, without doubt, a necessity to bring Jersey up to date with modern practices of labelling food for allergens," she added.

Under the proposals, food businesses would be required to hold an annual licence and be categorised into low, medium or high risk based on food type, handling and customer base.

Fees would be charged according to risk level, officials added, but some organisations may be exempt from fees in certain cases.

"As a panel we still do not have clarity on who will need to be licenced and the definitions of low, medium, and high risk," Jeune said.

"This needs to be proportionate in protecting public health and we will be questioning the minister further to ensure that the public are not confused as to whether they come under the scope of these regulations.''

The regulations would apply to food businesses, whether for profit or not, public or private, which carry out activities at any stage of food production including selling, officials said.

The deadline to complete the survey is 30 January.

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