On 27 June 2022, Food Standards Scotland (FSS) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) launched an inaugural annual review of food standards across the UK. The report comes after the UK food system has faced two years of major upheaval following the UK's departure from the EU, the significant effects...

Objective: To explore trends in prevalence and socioeconomic inequalities in underweight and obesity in 5-year- old schoolchildren in Scotland between 2011/2012 and 2017/2018. Design: A population-based, repeated cross-sectional study. Setting: Local authority primary schools in Scotland....

Background: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a major endemic pig disease worldwide and is associated with considerable economic costs. Methods: In Scotland, three abattoir surveys were conducted in 2006 (158 farms), 2012-2013 (94 farms) and 2017-2018 (97 farms) to estimate...

Obesity is a global epidemic affecting all age groups, populations and income levels across continents. The causes of obesity are complex and are routed in health behaviours, environmental factors, government policy and the cultural and built environment. Consequently, a Whole System Approach (WSA) ...

Scotch Whisky is an important global commodity which generates extensive co-product known as pot ale or spent wash (> 10 L co-product per L whisky). Whilst this is often used as fertiliser or animal feed, a proportion requires disposal resulting in cost to the distillery along with the negative...

Osmundea pinnatifida (Pepper Dulse) is a commercially interesting red alga harvested from the wild and sold dried as seasoning due to its distinctive peppery taste. For the first time, this research highlights how the proximate composition, metal, antioxidant, pigment content, and C:N ratio of this ...

In 2018, Public Health England and the UK House of Parliament introduced a soft drinks industry levy to reduce the amount of sugar in sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). In addition to the positive results coming from the levy, in January 2019 the UK Government opened a consultation to consider...

The latest Radioactivity in Food and the Environment Report (RIFE 26) was published on 4 November 2021 and shows that levels and concentrations of man-made radioactivity measured in the environment during 2020 were well within international dose limits. The RIFE programme monitors the environment...

This article briefly desbribes the Food Standards Scotland's consultation on the introduction of new food compliance notices, which are intended to help enforcement officers deal more fairly and quickly with suspected contraventions of rules on food standards, such as incorrect or fraudulent...

Following a number of detections of avian influenza (bird flu) in wild birds, the Chief Veterinary Officers from England, Scotland and Wales have declared an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) across the whole of Great Britain, in order to mitigate the risk of the disease spreading amongst...