Future of Food Standards Agency Unclear
Following reports of government preparations to abolish the UK’s public health and consumer interest body, the Food Standards Agency (FSA), confusion remains as to whether the non-ministerial function will continue in any sort of capacity.
Currently with 2,000 employees and a yearly budget of £135 million, the watchdog protects the public’s interests where all food-related matters are concerned, from investigating claims on functional foods, to looking at food hygiene rating through its Scores on the Doors scheme, in addition to menu labelling in terms of calorific content and the potential exclusion of trans fats.
Health secretary, Andrew Lansley, is believed to be considering the FSA’s cessation as part of a National Health Service reform and a move to limit the number of quasi non-government organisations, with the food body’s current responsibilities to be transitioned across to the Department for Health and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Defra, however, has said that no decision has been reached, leaving the industry in a state of limbo and of mixed opinion. A major setback in terms of food safety and consumer protection, according to chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH), Graham Jukes, others are questioning the motives of the current health secretary and whether he is buckling under pressure from the food industry.
The British Hospitality Association (BHA), which supported the FSA “when it was concerned mainly with the probity of food”, has aired its cautionary standpoint, “As there has been no official announcement, or any detail, it’s difficult to forecast the impact of the move on the hospitality industry.”
