The UK’s food watchdog The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has invested in utility computing technology to ensure it can provide timely and accurate information to the public in the event of incidents such as food scares.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Data Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more


The agency said the new system would allow it to scale up bandwidth rapidly and automatically deal with significant increases in website traffic and ensure uninterrupted access to critical information, including product recalls and other food alerts.


The FSA has been a customer of IT services provider SAVVIS for the past four years, and turned to SAVVIS for the upgrade.


Moving to the SAVVIS utility computing and hosting platform will enable the FSA to scale its IT infrastructure and network capacity up and down as demand increases and declines, the agency said, adding that it also ensures high availability for its family of websites, including www.food.gov.uk, www.eatwell.gov.uk and www.salt.gov.uk.


“The agency’s brief is to be an independent voice, putting consumers first in relation to food,” said David Payne, managing web editor at the FSA.  “It is essential that we are open and accessible to the public at all times and our websites are key to achieving this. Having SAVVIS provide and manage our critical IT infrastructure means that we can deliver world class service to the public. Our investment in SAVVIS’ utility computing service helps guarantee on-demand access to critical information on food and health safety at all times without the high costs that were traditionally required to obtain flexible and secure hosted services.”

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.