The Food Standards Agency has signed a deal to implement networking technology to connect 220 abattoirs around the country with its four offices across the UK. 

The deal will see cloud firm Exponential-e deploy ADSL and fibre technology to provide connectivity linking the slaughterhouses with the agency’s sites in Belfast, Cardiff, and York, and its London headquarters. The organisation, which is a non-ministerial central government department, claimed that the project will give its inspectors a swift, reliable, and secure means of submitting reports on food safety standards and meat quality. It added that the rollout forms part of a wider drive to adopt digital practices. 

Phillippa Tasselli, head of IT services at the Food Standards Agency, said: “It’s vital for us that we’re able to provide a secure communications platform to our team of inspectors who are on the coal face of food standards. A slow, jittery connection that is constantly dropping does not enable a good user experience; it’s just a time-consuming frustration." 

She added: “Working with Exponential-e, we’ve been able to put in place an architecture that will mean our inspectors can file important documentation in a timely manner that ensures the integrity of the food chain.”