Food law | UK Regulatory Outlook March 2026

UK 

UK-EU SPS Agreement: government sets out scope and asks businesses what they need 

The UK government has published further details on the proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement, originally agreed in principle on 19 May 2025 and expected to enter into force in mid-2027.

The agreement will require UK businesses to align with EU SPS legislation across a wide range of areas, including food and feed safety, food labelling, nutrition, organics, marketing and compositional standards, plant and animal health, pesticides and biocides, and veterinary medicines. 

The government has also launched a six-week call for information, running from 9 March to 23 April 2026, to gather stakeholder feedback on the support and guidance businesses need to prepare. Sector-specific guidance is expected from May 2026, alongside webinars, workshops and a new stakeholder advisory board. 

The agreement will affect businesses across the agri-food supply chain (including farmers, food manufacturers, hauliers, importers and exporters, retailers and veterinarians), all of whom will need to assess what changes are required to their processes, certification, labelling and IT systems. Businesses should respond to the call for information before 23 April, engage with their trade bodies and sign up for Defra email alerts to stay up to date. 

EU 

EU provisional agreement reserves meat-related names for animal products 

European Parliament and Council negotiators reached a provisional agreement on 5 March 2026 reserving the following meat-related names exclusively for products containing meat: beef, veal, pork, poultry, chicken, turkey, duck, goose, lamb, mutton, ovine, goat, drumstick, tenderloin, sirloin, flank, loin, steak, ribs, shoulder, shank, chop, wing, breast, liver, thigh, brisket, ribeye, T-bone, rump and bacon. More generic terms such as "veggie burger" and "vegan sausage" are not included: a step back from the European Parliament's earlier position, which had sought to ban terms like "burger" and "sausage" from plant-based products entirely. 

The agreement also explicitly excludes cultivated meat products from using any of the above reserved terminology. 

UK plant-based and cultivated meat businesses should monitor the agreement's progress, as the forthcoming UK-EU SPS agreement could bring UK labelling rules into closer alignment with the EU position once formally adopted. 

European Commission launches AI platform to detect food fraud and safety risks 

The European Commission has unveiled TraceMap, a new AI platform designed to accelerate the detection of food fraud, contaminated food and foodborne disease outbreaks across the EU. The platform is now accessible to national authorities in all Member States and draws on data from existing EU agri-food systems to track trade patterns and production flows, including the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed and the Trade Control and Expert System. 

TraceMap is intended to improve food safety risk assessments, identify links between operators and consignments, and monitor the agri-food supply chain once a risk is identified, enabling faster recalls.

Food and drink businesses supplying the EU market should be aware that TraceMap may increase the speed and precision with which authorities can identify supply chain links following a food safety or fraud incident, raising the bar for traceability documentation and supply chain due diligence. 

Guidance published on Scotland's promotion and placement restrictions on HFSS ahead of implementation date 

Businesses operating in Scotland's food and drink retail sector should be preparing now for new restrictions on the promotion and placement of high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) foods, which come into force on 1 October 2026. 

The Food (Promotion and Placement) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 will restrict the prominent in-store and online placement of targeted HFSS products in certain retail premises and will curb price promotion tactics such as multi-buy offers and free refills of sugary drinks. Qualifying businesses, which could include supermarkets and online food retailers, should note that non-compliance will constitute a criminal offence. 

The regulations apply to pre-packed food and drink that falls within a category within the Schedule and is determined to be HFSS according to its nutrient profiling model score. Micro and small businesses, schools and restaurants are broadly exempt, though restaurants remain subject to the restriction on free refills of sugary drinks. 

Implementation guidance was published on 17 March 2026, covering qualifying businesses, foods in scope and promotions. Qualifying businesses should review the guidance now and assess their current promotional and placement practices ahead of the October deadline. 

The regulations align to those already in force in England, so businesses that operate in both England and Scotland can mirror the processes they have in place in England to comply in Scotland.