The United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) has reportedly launched an investigation to determine if a brand of ice cream made with donated breast milk has violated food safety regulations. Launched recently by a London-area restaurant, Baby Gaga ice cream was evidently pulled by the Westminster City Council after several complaints were lodged about whether the product was safe for human consumption. According to a news source, FSA joined with the council to decide if the ice cream breaches regulations mandating that “food shall not be placed on the market if it is unsafe” and that “food shall be deemed to be unsafe it if it is considered to be (i) injurious to health, and (ii) unfit for human consumption.” An industry source was quoted as saying that human breast milk donated to breast milk banks is required to pass rigorous screening to comply with guidelines established by the National…
Category Archives UK Food Standards Authority
The United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) has announced that it is commissioning research aimed at modernizing official controls on meat. Noting that “the driving force” behind the Future Meat Controls Research Programme is to “improve public health by adopting a more risk- and evidence-based approach to meat production,” FSA said four areas of research will be part of the evidence to support regulatory change. Areas of research needed are (i) “an evaluation of food chain information, and collection and communication of inspection results for all species”; (ii) “trialling the visual inspection for fatting pigs from non-controlled housing conditions”; (iii) “a qualitative risk assessment of visual inspection of red meat and farmed/wild large game (all ages and species other than swine)”; and (iv) “trialling the use of a plant inspection assistant in approved game handling establishments (small and large wild game).” FSA requests proposals by April 6, 2011.
The U.K. Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued draft regulations to implement two European directives setting specific purity criteria for four food additives and one sweetener. According to FSA, the new additives are E392 extracts of rosemary, E427 cassia gum, E961 neotame, E1203 polyvinyl alcohol, and E1521 polyethylene glycol. The draft regulations also amend “existing specifications to bring them in line with international safety standards and to take account of new technological developments.” Effective March 31, 2011, the new rules will not “impose any additional costs to manufacturers.” FSA will accept comments on the draft until February 11, 2011. See FSA Press Release, January 17, 2011.
The U.K. Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) Nanotechnologies and Food Discussion Group has held its first meeting to consider advancing recommendations from a House of Lords Committee on Science and Technology 2010 report. Fifteen stakeholders from consumer organizations, academia, industry, and government departments met on January 13, 2011, to “exchange information between different sectors within the nanotechnologies and food groups,” according to FSA. Established to address concerns that the U.K.’s food and packaging sectors were too secretive about nanotechnology, the group reportedly plans to meet three or four times annually with a review after 18 months. Issues to be discussed include (i) European Union regulations and definitions, (ii) guidance for assessing nanomaterials, (iii) intelligence gathering on nanotechnology research conducted by the food industry, and (iv) a proposal to create a U.K. register of “nanofoods” on the market. See FSA Press Release, January 12, 2011; FoodProductionDaily.com, January 13, 2011.
The United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) board has reportedly changed its position to agree with the European Commission (EC) that food from the offspring of cloned cattle and pigs does not require authorization as “novel foods.” Meeting December 7, 2010, to discuss animal cloning for food production, the FSA board also agreed that “for food safety purposes, mandatory labeling of meat and milk obtained from the descendants of cloned cattle and pigs would be unnecessary and disproportionate, providing no significant food safety benefit to consumers.” According to an FSA press release, the food safety watchdog agreed to advise European Union ministers that “the marketing of products obtained from cloned animals should be subject to authorization as novel foods,” but that it was prepared to adopt EC’s position that offspring of cloned cattle and pigs does not require such authorization. FSA announced that it will seek views from interested parties…
The U.K. Food Standards Agency (FSA) has announced that as of September 1, 2010, the agency handed over several responsibilities to the departments of Health (DH) and Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Under the restructuring—which does not currently apply to operations to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland—FSA in England will continue to handle the following safety aspects of food labeling: (i) “expert scientific advice on the food safety aspects of date marking”; (ii) “assessment and labeling of ingredients/foods with food safety implications (e.g. allergens, glycols, high caffeine, high glycyrrhizinic acid)”; (iii) “food safety aspects of organic food and of foods controlled by compositional standards”; (iv) “treatments and conditions of use with food safety implications (e.g. quick frozen foods, raw drinking milk and pasteurisation, food contact materials)”; (v) “GM and novel foods (including use of nanotechnology)”; (vi) “animal feed, including Codex Intergovernmental Task Force on Animal Feeding”; (vii) “food safety…
The U.K. Food Standards Agency (FSA) has announced that meat from a cloned cow’s offspring has evidently entered the food supply, sparking concerns about the country’s livestock registration and tracking requirements. The agency apparently traced four female and four male calves to a cloned Holstein cow from the United States. According to FSA, farmers have not sold any milk from the three surviving females but have slaughtered the bulls and sold three for human consumption. “While there is no evidence that consuming products from healthy clones, or their offspring, poses a food safety risk, meat and products from clones and their offspring are considered novel foods and would therefore need to be authorized before being placed on the market,” stated FSA in an August 11, 2010, news release, adding that food producers who purchased such animals or their offspring “will need to seek authorization under the Novel Food Regulations.” See…
The UK Department of Health (DH) has announced its intention to preserve the Food Standards Agency (FSA) as a non-ministerial authority responsible for food safety policy and enforcement. According to a July 20, 2010, press release, DH will take over England’s nutrition policies, including those related to (i) food labeling and health claims; (ii) dietetic food and food supplements; (iii) calorie information in catering establishments; and (iv) product reformulation to reduce salt, saturated fat, sugar, and portion sizes. DH will also conduct nutrition research and work with the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, while the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will handle country-of-origin labeling, other types of non-food-safety labeling, and food composition policies used to characterize products such as honey, jam, chocolate, and ice cream. On matters of food safety, however, advice from FSA experts “would be final.” The authority will also retain oversight of nutrition and…
The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) is reportedly the next target of the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government and Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley, who has released a white paper pledging to cut the National Health Service (NHS) and abolish quasi-governmental organizations “that do not need to exist.” Although a structural plan published alongside the paper recommends reforms to the food safety watchdog, media reports have cited unidentified sources as suggesting that Lansley plans to eliminate FSA and reallocate its duties to the Department of Health (DH) and the Department for Food, Rural Affairs and the Environment (Defra). DH, however, has countered these claims, maintaining that under the proposed reorganization, FSA would relinquish its oversight of nutrition policy but continue to serve “a robust regulatory function.” See The Guardian, July 12, 2010; DH Press Statement, July 15, 2010. The rumor has drawn swift criticism from consumer and health groups such…
GeneWatch UK Director Helen Wallace has apparently resigned from a Food Standards Agency (FSA) steering committee dedicated to discussing genetically modified (GM) foods, after claiming that the group “is nothing more than a PR exercise on behalf of the GM industry.” Charged with managing a public dialogue on the potential risks and benefits of GM food, the external stakeholders on the committee currently include consumer advocates, trade association representatives, market and policy experts, and scientists. In her May 26, 2010, resignation letter, Wallace pointed to several Freedom of Information requests that allegedly revealed how the Agricultural Biotechnology Council and similar organizations influenced the dialogue agenda and other FSA activities. According to Wallace, the steering committee “was set up from the outset to provide free ‘reputation management’ to the GM industry at taxpayers’ expense.” She also accuses FSA of using the discussion to focus on “on a non-existent positive future where…
