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.
Tag Archives UK
The U.K. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has announced plans to relax regulations governing the sale of beer, wine and unwrapped bread loaves. Science Minister David Willetts apparently confirmed the government’s intention to scrap laws stipulating that unpackaged bread “weighing more than 300g must be made up in quantities of 400g or multiples of it.” He also indicated changes to the beer and wine laws, which currently state that pubs and other premises cannot sell wine “in measures less than 125ml while beer must be sold in thirds, halves or multiples of half-pints.” Under the new rules, these businesses will be able to sell wine in measures under 75ml; beer in “schooners” that are equal to two-thirds of a pint; and fortified wine in smaller sizes of 50ml and 70ml. “This is exactly the sort of unnecessary red tape the government wants to remove. No pub or restaurant should…
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 Guardian has published an exclusive exposé claiming that fast-food companies and other industry interests helped write U.K. health policy at the behest of the secretary of state for health. According to the November 12, 2010, article, “In an overhaul of public health, said by campaign groups to be the equivalent of handing smoking policy over to the tobacco industry, health secretary Andrew Lansley has set up five ‘responsibility deal’ networks with business, co-chaired by ministers, to come up with policies.” The newspaper has anticipated that these policies will feature in “the public health white paper due in the next month.” Although it acknowledges the involvement of consumer groups such as Which?, Cancer Research UK and the Faculty of Public Health, the article alleges that these responsibility deal networks are “dominated by food and alcohol industry members,” including trade associations, food manufacturers, beverage companies, and fast-food restaurants. Lansley has also reportedly…
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 United Kingdom’s (UK) public health watchdog has issued new guidance that claims salt and saturated fat reduction could prevent 40,000 unnecessary deaths a year from heart disease and stroke. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has called for a maximum daily intake of 6g of salt per adult by 2015 and 3g daily by 2025. In addition, it has recommended that manufacturers reduce the levels of saturated fats in all food products and eliminate the use of trans fats. The guidance also urges the National Health Service and other policy makers to (i) ensure that low-salt and low-fat foods can be sold for less than their higher-content equivalents; (ii) extend restrictions on TV advertising “for foods high in saturated fats, salt and sugar to 9 p.m. to protect children”; (iii) encourage “local planning authorities to restrict planning permission for take-aways and other food retail outlets in…
The United Kingdom’s environmental secretary has reportedly endorsed genetically modified (GM) crops, making the current Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs the most supportive of GM crops to date. In contrast to the previous government’s unwillingness to back what some apparently fear are “Frankenstein foods,” Secretary Caroline Spelman told a news source that she was in favor of GM foods “in the right circumstances.” Modifying plant genes could reduce the amount of chemicals needed to raise food crops, she said. “GM can bring benefits in food to the marketplace,” Spelman was quoted as saying. “There are benefits to developing countries, like drought resistance or resistance to high salt content in water. The principle of GM technology is [OK] if used well. The technology can be beneficial.” See The Guardian, June 4, 2010.
The Liverpool City Council is reportedly considering a ban on the word “obesity” after the Liverpool Schools Parliament, a student body organization, expressed concern that some could find the term offensive. Although some experts have apparently disputed this contention, suggesting that the word adequately reflects the severity of the health condition, students argue that the stigma “would turn people off, particularly young people,” as one youth representative told the press. The proposal would require the council to use the description “unhealthy weight” in all literature geared toward children. “We can’t change government terminology or clinician terminology, but we can look at changing how we communicate weight issues in council reports and in our communications with children,” a council spokesperson was quoted as saying. See BBC News, April 12, 2010; The Telegraph, April 13, 2010. Meanwhile, a South Yorkshire community has also attracted considerable media attention for its aborted plan to…
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has released a report to the president and Congress assessing the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), “which coordinates Federal research and development activities involving the manipulation of matter at scales smaller than 100 billionths of [a] meter.” The third in a decade-long series of assessments, the report lauds the NNI for making the United States a nanotechnology leader but notes that aggressive competitors “such as China, South Korea, and the European Union,” pose a threat to that leadership position. The report makes a number of recommendations, including increased investment in product commercialization and technology transfer and a strengthened commitment to “explore in more orderly fashion environmental, health, and safety issues.” Noting the role that nanotechnology plays in consumer products, including foods, the report also envisions how it can be used in information technology, health care, the development of high-strength materials, energy and…
The U.K. Food Standards Agency (FSA) Board has reportedly agreed to maintain a confidential database of food industry research into nanotechnology, as well as a public registry of food and food packaging products that contain both approved nanomaterials and materials appearing to have nanoscale elements. “The way that we respond in terms of nanotechnology is a test case for the way we, as a regulator respond, to emerging and new technologies,” FSA Chief Scientist Andrew Wadge was quoted as saying. According to media sources, FSA accepted the recommendations put forth in a House of Lords Science and Technology Committee report, which called on regulators to develop risk assessment procedures and prioritize research into the safety of nanotechnology. In making its assessment, the committee had apparently favored mandatory industry participation, claiming that a lack of transparency had previously led to public distrust of genetically modified crops. Additional details about this report…
