The Food Standards Agency:
Bringing Data Strategy To The Table

The Food Standards Agency has a wide and complex remit - to ensure food standards are functioning at all times across the entire UK food chain, from farm to fork.

The burden of management of such a remit is obviously extensive, and the FSA realised that data strategy could become pivotal to its future development and lightening this load. With DEFRA undertaking to open up data across all its agencies, the FSA realised that more open and shared data could reduce this burden of management.

What We Did

Visceral Business was asked to help explore and develop the opportunities by holding a series of workshops with FSA
partners and potential partners - from farmers to food providers and retailers, large and small, across a range of food production areas. We designed a data canvas and explored current and future practices with this group and how management reporting could be radically changed, from resource intensive inspection regimes to a national data infrastructure, using exceptional reporting whilst maintaining quality control and reducing costs for the FSA and its partners.

The Result

A fundamental change of management approach, with the prospect of radically reduced operating costs is underway as a result of digital business design. This work is ongoing and has led to development of a detailed digital strategy.