Keep one step ahead of dynamic food and beverage regulations in 2025
Leatherhead’s regulatory experts have assessed emerging and evolving requirements set to impact food business operators around the world. Read on for insights to support your business planning for 2025 and beyond. If you’re not a member of Leatherhead Food Research, sign up for our January 29 webinar Horizon Scanning: Discover Key Shifts Ahead for Global Food Regulations to gain an insight into the regulatory updates our members receive.
The global landscape for food and beverage regulations has shifted in the past 12 months, with more change on the cards for 2025. Understanding what lies ahead is critical since even small developments can have big implications for food business operators. Regulatory horizon scanning plays an important role, identifying both risks and opportunities to enable a timely and effective response.
Regulators are putting markets’ own needs first
Many regulatory authorities adjusted their priorities during 2024, placing greater emphasis on the support of their own market needs. For instance, while sustainability remains a major driver of regulatory change, the global picture is fracturing and becoming more nuanced. This is especially apparent in the UK and EU where distinct measures for ‘environmental sustainability’ and ‘ingredient sustainability’ are taking shape.
Across North America and Latin America, obesity and other non-communicable diseases are a serious public health issue that commands the attention of authorities. In some markets, this is driving rapid development of regulatory measures linked to health and nutrition. Food business operators should monitor developments closely as there may be technical repercussions for product formulations and labelling.
Meanwhile, parts of the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions are looking to remove unnecessary barriers which might otherwise hinder food innovation and independence. Regulations which impact use of technologies such as gene editing and cellular agriculture are highly dynamic at present, therefore paving the way for new commercial developments.
This snapshot of regulatory changes at play around the world indicates the scale of disruption and disharmony that global food business operators face. Strategic and tactical measures will be needed to manage the business ramifications, from engaging with authorities on finer details of evolving requirements to making technical changes which ensure compliance.
On the other hand, some emerging and evolving regulations present new opportunities. Understanding this can enable more savvy alignment with markets where commercial returns will be greater.
Monitor what matters with focused horizon scanning
In such a volatile and complex regulatory environment, our advice is to consider forthcoming developments on a region-by-region basis. It also pays to focus on specific food and beverage products, ingredients, and categories with tailored horizon scanning projects.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing details of forthcoming regulatory change across the UK, EU, North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. Our consultants have applied their professional knowledge and local language skills to pinpoint the most relevant and important developments.
Join our webinar – 29 January, 2025
Mariko Kubo, Head of Global Regulatory, will be covering some of these topics in a specially-designed webinar for companies that aren’t already members of Leatherhead Food Research. If this applies to you, register now to gain an insight into the regulatory updates our members receive. The webinar will be held on Wednesday 29 January, 2025 at 15:00 – 15:40 (GMT) | 10:00 - 10:40 (EST).
Get in touch
In the meantime, contact us to discuss how our bespoke, expert-led regulatory horizon scanning service could support your business in 2025.
