What's on this page:
Our incident prevention strategic plan highlights five goals that we aim to achieve over the next couple of years.
As part of this strategy we monitor food and feed safety patterns in Scotland. We also provide guidance and workshops to industry. We work closely with partners such as local authorities, Public Health Scotland (PHS), Food Standards Agency (FSA) and other government departments to make sure food incidents are managed effectively.
To help prevent incidents, food business operators can:
- use trusted sources of raw materials and ingredients
- conduct supplier audits
- take part in assurance schemes
- comply with food safety management standards
- ask local authorities for advice
Preventing incidents on farms
View our advice related to:
Finding the root cause
When a product is recalled as a result of a food incident, we recommend that the enforcement authority asks you to carry out a root cause analysis.
These help businesses understand how and why a food incident happened, and therefore helps prevent future incidents.
Download the root cause analysis report form.
View a root cause analysis best practice example.
To help you carry out root cause analysis in your food business, we've developed a root cause analysis e-learning course.
On-farm poisoning
Poisoning incidents on farms are usually because animals have been exposed to lead or copper on farmland.