Covid-19 and the Law Relating to Food in the UK and Republic of Ireland: The Essential Guide

This book is part of Law Brief's new series of essential guides for legal practitioners covering what you need to know about how various aspects of UK law have been affected by the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

As has been well-publicised, “it is highly unlikely that people can contract Covid-19 from food or food packaging”. Nevertheless, the impact of Covid-19 on the food industry and individual food businesses has been devastating. Forced closures and limited re-openings have led to innovative ways of coping and adapting to the new way of doing things. However, it has not been plain sailing.

Food supply systems have come under significant pressure and this has led to increased criminal activity to the detriment of consumers and hard-working legitimate businesses. Diversification of activities requires careful planning and a knowledge of the potential regulatory and compliance consequences of making the change. Offering a new take away service can fulfil business and consumer needs, but there might be implications for how the food is prepared, delivered, served and described. New hazards will be introduced and they must be assessed and managed properly.

But on top of all that, as well as being food law compliant, food businesses now have to follow strict laws and guidelines in order to become Covid-secure. They have to assess the impact of Covid-19 on their activities and in some respects, this can be very significant. There is no shortage of material such as protocols and checklists available to assist food business operators but they must be adapted to meet individual needs and circumstances.

Covid-19 and the Law Relating to Food in the UK and Republic of Ireland – The Essential Guide has something for everyone involved in food. It provides examples of what can go wrong and why, and then tentatively offers some solutions by applying first principles of food law in order to protect consumers and the food business. This book is a small but valuable addition to the debate on how to cope with this new and deadly virus, the effects of which will be with us for some time to come.