Welcome to the Retail, Food & Hospitality Regulatory & EU round-up. Week ending 11 October 2026.

Home Office Minister challenges retailers over the marketing, display and sale of knives: Home Office Policing and Crime Minister Sarah Jones MP has hosted two seminars one for online markets places and the other for shops and stores to call for more action regarding responsible sales of knives. The Minister urged online market places to ensure responsible marketing of knives removing references to combat and violence. For stores and shops the Ministers focus was on not displaying knives where they can be easily accessed, age of sales controls and support for the revised Responsible retailers scheme. View >

Rules for price negotiations between supermarkets and their suppliers published: The Grocery Code Adjudicator has publised 7 Golden Rules for cost price negotiations between designated retailers and their direct groceries suppliers. The GCA has now stated that the rules initially published in 2002 should now apply to discussions about both cost price increases and decreases:

1. Clear communication from the outset by Retailers about the process and how long it will take;
2. Awareness, and prioritisation, of the possible greater impact on smaller suppliers;
3. Support for buyers from colleagues who have experience of dealing with CPI requests;
4. Only asking for the specific information from suppliers that is needed to make a CPI decision;
5. Clear communication of the outcome, so there can be no grey areas;
6. No automatic delists or fixed delist notice periods following CPI negotiations;
7. Reminding buyers about abiding by competition law e.g. never asking suppliers about other Retailers’ plans or retail prices.

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NGO WRAP Publishes updates on two major environmental initiatives:

1. WRAP is urging businesses to sign up to an initiative to develop global carbon foot printing methodologies for the food and beverage sector. The Global Sustainable Transition Alliance (GSTA) convened by WRAP and Wageningen University & Research (WUR) is an international alliance of businesses, NGOs, consultants, and product foot printing tool providers launched in March 2026. GSTA - is calling on all food and beverage businesses worldwide to support it in creating a single, scientifically robust rulebook for calculating product level environmental footprints for the food and beverage sector. View >

    

2. WRAP has also this week published the first outputs from a project to improve the textiles recycling system in the UK. Transformative Practice in Textiles Collection, identifies existing good practice, opportunities and potential solutions to improve how post-consumer textiles are collected, helping stakeholders maximise their value. Now, the programme moves into a practical co-design phase with a series of stakeholder workshops to develop a Co-designed Programme for Impact, the Blueprint to be published in Spring 2027. View >