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The Food Standards Agency is a non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for protecting public health in relation to food in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is led by a board appointed to act in the public interest. Its headquarters are in London, with offices in York, Birmingham, Wales and Northern Ireland. The agency had a national office in Scotland until the formation of
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in April 2015.


History

The Agency was created in 2001 based on a report by Professor James, issued after several high-profile outbreaks and deaths from
foodborne illness Foodborne illness (also foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the spoilage of contaminated food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food, as well as prions (the agents of mad cow dis ...
. It was felt that it was inappropriate to have one government department, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, responsible for both the health of the farming and food processing industries, and for
food safety Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent food-borne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from t ...
. Uniquely for a UK Government department, the Food Standards Act gave the Agency the statutory right to publish the advice it gives to Ministers, and as a signal of its independence it declared that it would invariably do so. From its inception, the Agency declared that it would take no decisions about food policy except in open board meetings accessible to the public. Since 2003, these meetings have been webcast live, enabling consumers to see the decision-making process in action. Each meeting concludes with a question and answer session in which web viewers can question the board or its executive directly. In 2006, the Wine Standards Board merged with the FSA, bringing with it responsibility for enforcing the EU wine regime in the UK. Formerly an executive agency of the FSA, the Meat Hygiene Service merged with the FSA in April 2010 to form a new operations group with responsibility for the delivery of official controls. Certain aspects of
food labelling regulations The law in the United Kingdom on food information and labelling is multifaceted and is spread over many reforms and parliamentary acts. UK law is based on the relevant European Union rules, chiefly Regulation (EU) 1169/2011, which is implemented ...
in England were transferred from the Food Standards Agency to the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United K ...
(Defra) on 1 September 2010. In England, the Agency retains responsibility for food safety-related labelling issues, whereas the devolved Food Standards Agency offices in Wales and Northern Ireland are still responsible for all labelling and standards policy. Nutrition policy, including nutrition labelling, in England and Wales was transferred from the Food Standards Agency to the
Department of Health and Social Care The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwis ...
in England and to the Welsh Government's Department of Health and Social Services on 1 October 2010. On the establishment of Public Health England in 2013, the nutrition policy team – led by Alison Tedstone – transferred there. The Food Standards Agency offices in Scotland and Northern Ireland retained their responsibilities for nutrition policy. Plans to create a new food standards body in Scotland were announced by Ministers in June 2012, and in January 2015, this body was established through primary legislation.
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took over from the FSA on 1 April 2015 as the public body responsible for food safety, food standards, nutrition, food labelling and meat inspection in Scotland.


Events


Recalls and contamination

In February 2005, the agency announced the discovery of the
dye A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution and ...
Sudan I in Worcester sauce, prompting a mass
product recall A product recall is a request from a manufacturer to return a product after the discovery of safety issues or product defects that might endanger the consumer or put the maker/seller at risk of legal action. The recall is an effort to limit rui ...
of over 400 products that used the sauce as a flavouring. On 31 March 2006, it published its "Survey of benzene levels in soft drinks", which tested 150 products and found that four contained
benzene Benzene is an organic chemical compound with the molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar ring with one hydrogen atom attached to each. Because it contains only carbon and hydrogen atoms ...
levels above the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for drinking water. The Agency asked for these to be removed from sale. The Food Standards Agency also imposed restrictions on the sheep trade because of the consequences of the 1986
Chernobyl catastrophe The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 nuclear reactor, reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainia ...
which were repealed in March 2012.


Children's advertising

The FSA pushed for stricter rules on TV
advertising to children Advertising to children refers to the act of advertising products or services to children as defined by national laws and advertising standards. Scope and form Advertising to children can take place on traditional media such as television, radio ...
of foods high in salt, sugar and fat and devised a nutritional profiling system to measure the balance of benefit and detriment in individual food products. In 2007, the UK TV regulator Ofcom introduced restrictions on advertising of products that scored poorly under the scheme.


Food poisoning

In June 2002, and re-released in June 2006, the FSA conducted an advertising campaign on British television, highlighting the danger of
food poisoning Foodborne illness (also foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the spoilage of contaminated food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food, as well as prions (the agents of mad cow dis ...
caused by
barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke ...
s. The advert, intended to shock viewers, shows sausages sizzling on a barbecue, looking to the viewer as if they are cooked. However, when a pair of tongs pick up one of these sausages, it falls apart, and reveals pink, uncooked meat in the middle. To emphasize the risk of diarrhoea and vomiting caused by food poisoning, the song " When Will I See You Again" by The Three Degrees is played in the background.


Dean Review

In 2005,
Brenda Dean Brenda Dean, Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, (29 April 1943 – 13 March 2018) was a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician. As general secretary of SOGAT from 1985 until 1991, she was "the first woman elected to head a major in ...
carried out an independent review of the Food Standards Agency. The report made 22 recommendations, all of which were accepted by the Food Standards Agency board. Dean concluded:
My overwhelming impression, having undertaken this Review, is of an organisation that has been extremely conscious of the importance of fulfilling the very serious responsibilities of changing both the perception and the reality of food safety in the UK. It has done well in taking forward the experiences, good and bad, of the previous regime, to begin building its own reputation. Most stakeholders agreed that the Agency has made significant progress towards improving food safety, gaining public confidence in food safety, and creating a modern culture in which it is the norm for procedures, information, consultation and decision-making to be in the public domain and to involve external stakeholders. There was overwhelming support for the Agency’s policy of basing decisions on scientific evidence, and for this policy to be maintained and developed further. The vast majority of stakeholders believe the Agency to be independent and to act independently, with general recognition that decisions are based on scientific evidence. There was general support for the Agency amongst all stakeholder groups, both in terms of the objectives of the Agency, and the way in which the Agency has approached and undertaken its responsibilities.
One principal criticism, identified in the report, was (Recommendation 20):
It is clear that many stakeholders believe the Agency has already made policy decisions on GM foods and organic foods and is not open to further debate. The Agency must address the perceptions of these stakeholders who have now formed views of the Agency founded on their belief that the basis upon which the Agency’s policy decisions were made was flawed.


Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS)

A food hygiene rating scheme has been deployed by the Food Standards Agency for all food businesses. Ratings are available at the business premises and online. Following a meeting in Cardiff, the FSA plans to make audit reports as widely available as possible for the public. According to Terence Collins, FSA’s Director of communication, the reason behind this decision is to make ratings simple and easily understood for every single business. Apart from Scotland which is under a very simple Food Hygiene Information Scheme, the FSA’s Food Hygiene Rating Scheme will be tested throughout United Kingdom. As a result, ratings will range from 0 (improvement urgently needed) to 5 (very good), and may be displayed on a certificate. This information will also be made available online. Rating primary meat processing plants is the next step forward for the FSA, as meat audit are currently only available through Freedom of Information requests. The local authority in Rutland is believed to the only one which has not accepted the scheme.


Chairperson and advisory committees

Sir John Krebs was the first Chair of the Food Standards Agency, until 2005. Dame Deirdre Hutton was Chair between 2005 and July 2009, followed by
Jeff Rooker Jeffrey William Rooker, Baron Rooker (born 5 June 1941) is a British politician and life peer who served as a government minister from 1997 to 2008. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Perry Barr fro ...
until July 2013. Tim Bennett, the former Deputy Chair, was appointed as interim Chair whilst a permanent appointment was made. Heather Hancock was appointed the new Chair on 1 April 2016, for a three-year term, and reappointed for a further three year term from 1 April 2019. The Agency is advised by a number of independent expert committees, including the following: * Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs * Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food * Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes * Advisory Committee on Social Sciences * Committee on Toxicity * Science Council


See also

*
Dietary Reference Values Dietary Reference Values (DRV) is the name of the nutritional requirements systems used by the United Kingdom Department of Health and the European Union's European Food Safety Authority. In 1991, the United Kingdom Department of Health publishe ...
*
Guideline Daily Amount A Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) was a nutrition facts label originally designed in 1996 in the United Kingdom (UK) as a collaboration between the government, the food industry and consumer organisations. GDAs appeared on the front and back of food p ...
* List of food labeling regulations * Novel food * Reference Intake * United Kingdom food information regulations


References


External links

* {{Authority control 2000 establishments in the United Kingdom British food and drink organisations Food policy in the United Kingdom Food safety in the United Kingdom Food safety organizations Government agencies established in 2000 Medical and health regulators Non-ministerial departments of the Government of the United Kingdom Organisations based in the City of Westminster Regulators of the United Kingdom