Regulatory horizons seminar: Five key takeaways and what they mean for the food industry

9 July 2026 | Sharon Morey, Regulatory Affairs Manager

Keeping pace with the food industry regulatory landscape is as important as it is challenging. Our recent Regulatory Horizons seminar (June 2026) brought together industry experts, regulators and technical specialists to explore the latest and upcoming changes in the food sector’s evolving regulatory space.

Against a backdrop of rapid scientific innovation, shifting policy priorities, and increasing scrutiny on sustainability and health, the discussions highlighted both emerging challenges, how to navigate them, and strategic opportunities for food business operators.

This blog summarises five of the key takeaways from the day’s extensive programme and what they mean for regulatory and technical food industry professionals navigating an increasingly complex environment.

1. UK-EU SPS Agreement

Emma Phillimore (Deputy Director, Business Readiness, Defra) presented what the UK-EU Sanitary & Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement means for affected food businesses.

UK negotiations with the EU are underway on an SPS agreement to make agrifood trade with the EU easier and more competitive (saving time and money, and avoiding delays and associated waste). The agreement will remove routine SPS barriers for EU trade (e.g. removing requirements for phytosanitary certificates, Export Health Certificates and routine SPS border checks).

Defra has begun setting out associated legislation and outlining actions that businesses can begin taking to prepare for the intended implementation in mid-2027. Both the EU and UK have publicly committed to completing negotiations in time for the next UK/EU Summit (no date currently set for this summit; the last one was 19 May 2025).

Emily covered an overview of:

• Information for businesses published to date, including areas in scope of the SPS agreement;
• Their survey gathering business views to support SPS readiness (practical, business-led ideas on what government could do before mid-2027 to help businesses prepare);
• Other planned stakeholder engagement on the SPS agreement;
• Anticipated future impacts on marketing, compositional standards and labelling;
• What businesses should start doing now.

Attendees were encouraged to visit GOV.UK for more information, connect with their trade body for the latest sector-specific updates, and join the SPS Readiness mailing list to receive alerts and updates.

Our Regulatory Affairs Team are also on hand to answer your questions and provide support.

2. Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulations (PPWR)

Lorna Yates (Insights & Categories Team Manager, Campden BRI Regulatory Affairs) covered the new EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulations (PPWR) – the changes in the EU and the impact on the food industry.

Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR) replaces the previous Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD) and creates a single, directly applicable set of packaging rules across all EU Member States, aiming to harmonise the approach to packaging and packaging waste across the Union. It entered into force on 11 February 2025 and generally applies from 12 August 2026, with phased implementation for many provisions. It does not, however, apply in GB as yet.

The Regulation goes further than the PPWD by setting ambitious environmental targets. Its scope is broad; it applies to all packaging types, all packaging materials and all packaging waste generated in the EU.

Businesses need to first address their role as an economic operator under the PPWR, to ensure they are compliant with the appropriate responsibilities laid down from 12 August 2026. The ‘manufacturer’, ‘producer’ and ‘importer’ roles are key within the legislation and determine the actions that businesses must take. The manufacturer role can be the manufacturer of the packaging or the packaged product and is the business with responsibility for choice and design of the packaging; as such the brand holder of the finished food is often deemed to be the ‘manufacturer’.

Responsibilities of the manufacturer include conducting a conformity assessment against the requirements of the PPWR for every packaging item placed on the EU market; drawing up a Declaration of Compliance and ensuring they fulfil indication requirements on packaging for traceability. The first key requirement that will apply from 12August 2026 is that relating to substances of concern and new PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) thresholds for food contact packaging.

Watch out for our next blog on the PPWR coming soon.

3. Health, nutrition and HFSS

Lewis Wallis (Campden BRI), Sharon Morey (Campden BRI) and Hannah Skeggs (IGD) covered HFSS restrictions and the 2018 UK Nutrient Profiling Model (UK NPM 2018), mandatory reporting on healthier food targets for large companies in the food sector, ultra-processed foods, and the impact of GLP-1 medications (and the associated drive for nutrient dense food and fortification, and marketing claims such as ‘GLP-1 friendly’).

A key focus area was the challenge of calculating free sugars for the 2018 UK NPM.

The 2018 NPM proposes a number of updates to the original 2004/5 model to better reflect more recent UK dietary recommendations, including changes to thresholds for energy, fibre, sugar and salt. But one of the most significant proposed changes is the move away from total sugars (currently declared on nutrition labels as a mandatory requirement) towards thresholds based on free sugars.

Total sugar is defined in UK/EU legislation on food labelling as ‘all monosaccharides and disaccharides present in food but excludes polyols’. Alternatively, ‘free sugars’ is defined in the technical guidance as including any sugars added to foods or drinks, as well as sugars released when the structure of fruit or vegetables is broken down (such as in juices, smoothies and purées), and most sugars in drinks except those naturally found in milk. They do not include sugars naturally present in whole fruit and vegetables, starchy foods, nuts, seeds, or lactose naturally occurring in dairy products.

Calculating free sugars relies on detailed ingredient and formulation data held by manufacturers to identify and quantify free-sugar-contributing ingredients and their contribution per 100g. This creates practical challenges when assessing product portfolios against the 2018 model, particularly where data are incomplete or inconsistent.

We are already working closely with clients to help them navigate the practicalities of calculating free sugars and to understand the potential implications of the 2018 NPM for their product portfolios, should the model be taken forward as part of current HFSS restrictions.

4. Precautionary allergen labelling (PAL)

Christopher Conder (Senior Policy Advisor, Defra) talked about the latest activities of Defra’s Food Information & Labelling team. This included their attendance, along with the FSA, at the 49th session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling in May 2026.

The meeting was well attended and covered a broad range of labelling issues, with several long-running workstreams reaching conclusion. A key outcome was the finalisation of the Codex guidelines on Precautionary Allergen Labelling (PAL) that have been forwarded for adoption, with the UK playing a central role as co-chair of this work.

These PAL guidelines set out when and how food businesses should use precautionary allergen labelling (e.g. ‘may contain’), ensuring it is applied consistently, with standard wording, and only where there is a genuine risk to allergic consumers (with a reason and an associated trigger level).

The Codex guidelines on PAL represent a significant milestone towards a globally aligned approach to precautionary allergen labelling, and once adopted, will become the international standard to inform regional and national guidance and legislation in this area.

5. Updates from China, Germany, U.S., Canada, and Australia / New Zealand

Some members of the Campden BRI Regulatory Affairs team spoke about one key emerging or imminent change to legislation in their markets of interest.

Xiangwen He presented on labelling updates for three national regulations in China. The regulations make allergen declaration mandatory, standardise date marking to YYYY/MM/DD, change font size requirements, restrict certain claims (such as ‘free from’ and ‘not added’ or similar), introduce QR codes, introduce the requirement to declare saturated fat and sugar, and add an on-pack warning (where applicable) of ‘Children and adolescents should avoid excessive intake of salt, oil, and sugar’. These changes, published on 16 March 2025, come into effect on 16 March 2027.

Rhiannon Harries presented updates to dairy Product legislation in Germany that simplify and consolidate national dairy products legislation to bring it more in line with EU harmonised requirements.

Josefine Hammerby covered the new front-of-pack nutrition labelling requirements introduced by Health Canada which includes the mandatory requirement for prepackaged foods placed on the market in Canada from January 2026 to display a ‘high in’ symbol if they exceed certain thresholds.

For Australia/New Zealand, Gosia Pachucki spoke about the potential implementation of a health star rating (for all foods requiring a nutrition information panel, with potential implementation of July 2027).

Since the seminar, Millie Preston (Regulatory Affairs Advisor) has shared a blog on U.S. food date labelling changes.

These are just a few of the global markets our team of regulatory specialists can support you with.

Final thoughts

The regulatory horizon is undeniably complex, but it also presents opportunities for those who are prepared. Organisations that embrace regulatory insight as a strategic asset, rather than a constraint, will be best placed to innovate with confidence, maintain consumer trust and succeed across multiple markets.

Expert support for a changing regulatory landscape

Our valuable, extensive and authoritative information and advisory service helps clients stay up to date with food regulations in more than 80 countries. Whatever the legislative requirements of your target market, our experienced team of regulatory experts can support your understanding and compliance.

We are here to help with all elements of managing food safety, quality and compliance with confidence – navigating change, controlling risk, and protecting your brand.

From initial supply chain risk assessments through to final product assurance, we provide consultancy and guidance a t every step. Our regulatory experts help you meet the legal requirements of your target markets and keep up with changes. And our laboratories are here to help with the design and execution of testing plans to demonstrate compliance.

How can we help?

For support with any of these markets and legislation changes, get in touch.

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