Food law and the regulatory framework for artisan and small scale meat, poultry, game and snail products, including hygiene, packaging, labelling, sales.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the European Union’s independent scientific adviser on food safety and hygiene.

Against the background of a rise in the popularity of eating well-aged meats, EFSA has recently published a scientific opinion on the safety of ageing meat and concluded that meat aged under controlled conditions poses no additional risk compared to fresh meat.

The foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in 2001 witnessed the slaughter of millions of animals and horrific images of burning pyres of dead livestock across the British countryside that will be etched on the memories of many for decades to come. Official figures put the cost of the outbreak at over £8 billion.

A seemingly innocuous discussion paper was presented to the Board of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) early last November. ‘Our Approach to “Risky” Foods’ set out a significant new approach to the management of so-called ‘risky’ foods.

Since it marked a starting point many may think it best to get off on the right foot. Steve Wearne, Director of Policy and author of the discussion paper, apologised at the outset for not being clear in the title of the paper about what he was talking about but denied any intention to demonise any food.

A short while ago I came across a flyer advertising a range of frozen foods and one in particular caught my eye as being too cheap to be true. Farmfoods frozen beef burgers carried both Quality Meat Scotland’s ‘Scotch Beef’ assurance mark and the EU protected geographical indication (PGI) logo. Packs of 16 beef burgers were advertised at 4 for £10.

Burgers cooked ‘as you like them’ are back on the menu at Davy’s Wine Bars and Restaurants after two years of legal wrangling with Westminster City Council. The Artisan Food Law Blog provided the background to this story back in December 2012 and we can now bring you up to date.

Yesterday at Trealy Farm was a voyage of discovery and understanding , today our journey continues as we discover how to make good use of the whole animal. It was James’ turn to lead.

First, a hearty breakfast of the famous Trealy Farm boudin noir (black pudding), bacon and freshly laid eggs with plenty of good bread and all the accompaniments you might expect set us up for the day.

I knew this was going to be a special experience from the outset, food from farm to fork and every stage in between. We, my son Nat and I, arrived at Trealy Farm for The Meat Course in good time on a Friday evening in early March to a warm welcome from Ruth and James, the brains and inspiration behind all that goes on at Trealy Farm.

May be that headline should have read: Westminster insists burgers must be indigestibly tough or incinerated prior to consumption?

Over the last few weeks Westminster City Council has come in for a lot of stick for a reported crack down by environmental health officers on sales of medium rare and rare burgers.