The recommendation, made by the Elliott Report on food integrity and assurance of food supply networks in the wake of the horsemeat scandal, was accepted by the Government last Thursday (4 September).
Working within the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the Unit will prioritise the needs of consumers in relation to food safety and food crime prevention, through targeted testing, intelligence gathering and surveys.
It will work to implement new, unannounced audit checks and adopt a standardised approach to food authenticity testing.
Furthermore, it will aim to develop a whistleblowing system to make the reporting of food crimes easier, and encourage a culture within the food industry that questions the source of its supply chain.
Renowned reputation
Report author professor Chris Elliott said British food had a “world renowned” reputation, but added that the government wanted to strengthen this to ensure families have confidence in the food that they buy.
He explained: “Shoppers should be able to understand where their food comes from and be protected from food fraudsters.”
Speaking in response to the report, environment secretary Elizabeth Truss said: “We’re taking action to make sure that families can have absolute confidence in the food that they buy.
“When a shopper picks something up from a supermarket shelf it should be exactly what it says on the label, and we’ll crack down on food fraudsters trying to con British consumers.”
Truss added: “The action we’re taking gives more power to consumers – meaning they’ve got better labelling on food and better education about where their food comes from.”
Transparent sourcing
The horsemeat scandal, which broke at the start of 2013, highlighted the importance of transparency about the source of food products.
According to the report, consumers made it clear following the scandal that they wanted assurance that what they are buying the food as described.
Immediately after the incident the report found consumers increasingly chose British food, with an increase of 10% in British beef on sale in UK retailers.
The Government has taken further action to make sure consumers know where their food is coming from through new country of origin labelling, which is to be introduced in April 2015.