Do you need a Food Business Operator address?

New UK law from 1st January 2024

Some new food laws came into place on January 1st 2024, as a result of the UK stepping out of the EU and creating and adopting their own laws. One of these stated that all food products on sale in the UK must now have a UK food business operator address on their packs.

We can appreciate this was done to ensure that if there is a problem with a product, its ingredients or potential allergens, there was quickly a UK contact point for the teams monitoring these in UK.

It sounds simple but it has created a new layer of complexity for products entering our market from outside the UK, products we often don’t produce ourselves and are wanting to import, for instance olive oils, teas and authentic ingredients for dishes from the Caribbean, Asia and Africa.

Potential Customs issues

As this came into law many companies seem to have been caught unaware and found that their products got caught in Customs entering the country because they did not have a UK address on packs. Even if they were just trying to send samples to buyers speculatively, send stock in for a trade show they found their products were being held.

You could possibly over sticker stock if you have enough room but that is fiddly, can look messy and can be time consuming to do well.

Will your distributor be willing to act as your Food Business Operator and have their address added to your packs making them your first point of contact for Trading Standards or Environmental Health?

It’s quite a commitment to have to print packaging with a UK address on it if you are supplying into the speciality food or independent market where your order is likely to be in cases, possibly a pallet at most.

If you supply through more than one distributor to meet different clients’ requirements, or if you are just beginning to work with a distributor, would you want to print several thousand tins of sweets for instance, before you know how that relationship will work?

Jane Milton Food Business Operator Address

As a consultancy, the largest part of our work each year is helping businesses from outside the UK, successfully identify their strongest routes to market in the food and drink sectors and then preparing them to be able to capitalise on that. With over 38 years of experience and knowledge, Jane Milton Limited is skilled at navigating requirements for the UK food and drink market and can act as the registered FBO address for compliant products.

Full details of our FBO service can be found here.

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