In addition to routine sampling activities carried out by local authorities, we fund local authorities to carry out additional food sampling through a targeted surveillance programme. To ensure that food products available to consumers in Scotland are safe and authentic, we provide funding to address key and emerging food safety issues identified through its food surveillance activities.
Priorities for the yearly grant programme are informed by intelligence and trends gathered from the Scottish Food Sampling Database (SFSD), horizon scanning activities undertaken by us, and issues identified by local authority food liaison groups and through liaison with others (including the Food Standards Agency). Continuing support for these additional risk-based, intelligence-led sampling activities ensures we continue to address recommendations made in the Scudamore Expert Advisory Group Report (2013)
