Last week, colleagues from the Animal Feed Unit in the FSA’s Primary Production Division hosted a successful conference on silage agents organised by the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) Panel on additives and products or substances used in animal feed (FEEDAP).  The main purpose of the event was to enable the feed additive and animal feed sectors to gain a better understanding of the assessment and authorisation processes for this category of feed additives.  Speakers included members of the FEEDAP panel and secretariat, and representatives of the silage agent manufacturers.

The Canadian government looks to be moving towards restricting the use of Bisphenol A (BPA) in food contact plastics. BPA is a chemical used in the manufacture of plastics and resin. These materials are then widely used to make many things from baby bottles to food containers and tableware.

Very small amounts of BPA can migrate from these materials into foods and beverages and may have the potential to interact with hormone systems in the body. That said, despite extensive research world-wide, there is no conclusive evidence of a link between adverse trends in human reproductive health and exposure to these chemicals. In addition, levels of chemical migration are already strictly monitored and controlled within the EU.

I was criticised in an earlier blog for taking an ‘inappropriate’ position on nanotechnology and hiding behind the EU – when in fact I was merely pointing out that it was a new technology that would need discussing in the food context. Clearly, such a development would be discussed with our European colleagues too. 

You may have seen some alarming headlines over the past few weeks regarding arsenic in rice products so what is the science behind these claims? The headlines have stemmed from two research papers by the same scientist who has published limited data on the analysis of rice milk  and baby rice. I have spoken to Agency scientists to ask them to explain what the real concerns are and if we as consumers should consider changing our eating habits.  

Reducing people’s intake of salt has been one of the Agency’s main campaigns in recent years and as 75% of the salt we eat is already in the food that we buy, the Agency has also been working with the food industry to reduce the levels of salt in foods like bacon, ham, cheese, bread, breakfast cereals and ready meals –­ with some considerable reductions having already been achieved.

Unfortunately, we haven’t had a breakthrough on every product. The salt and health campaigning group CASH (Consensus Action on Salt and Health) have been looking at Delia Smith’s most recent book and TV series – 'How to Cheat at Cooking' – which encourages people to cook meals using ready prepared foods, rather than cooking from scratch.  This is, in theory, a really useful concept because it helps us to make tasty meals more quickly, something which is increasingly important in a world where we are all becoming busier and so have less time to cook.

It was interesting to read Amanda Ursell's piece in the Times recently (‘Let's Hear it for the Bad Guys’) which was a slightly unorthodox approach to get us to rethink how we look at certain foods including ice cream, white bread and kebabs.

Of course, the central point is that we would all benefit from enjoying a balanced and varied diet with everything in moderation. The fact that Amanda can write a whole column telling us it is okay to actually eat meat and butter shows how easy it is to forget this.

It may have passed you by, but in among the nation’s April fools last week came the biggest shake-up in the British statistical system in half a century. The distinctly non-foolish UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) came into existence on 1 April – an independent body, with powers and the obligation to promote, improve, and safeguard official statistics across the UK. UKSA will follow a model close to that of the Food Standards Agency, being run by a multidisciplinary board, independent of Government Ministers.

Getting young people into science is a constant refrain in the media, yet retaining people who have chosen scientific careers is no less important. So I was really pleased to launch a pilot for a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) scheme for scientists in the Agency.  I encourage all scientists in the Agency to develop their scientific skills and expertise I believe this is a good opportunity for them as well as the organisation.

I am looking forward to working with the Institute of Food Science & Technology, which is going to run the pilot.  IFST are the professional body representing food scientists and bring experience of working on CPD schemes with other organisations.  The pilot will run for a year until April 2009 and then we hope to make this available to all scientists in the Agency. 

Reading the papers over the last week you couldn’t help but notice that the Italian buffalo mozzarella industry is having a hard time at the moment. High dioxin levels in some buffalo mozzarella from the Campania region of Italy near Naples have led some countries to announce restrictions on the import of this specialty food.

Until recently, the detailed results of samples taken by local authority food sampling officers were only available locally, making  it difficult for the Agency to monitor  national and regional trends. To overcome this problem, we are rolling out a food sampling surveillance system (FSS).

This project, currently in its final stages, was initially developed by Food Standards Agency Scotland in conjunction with Health Protection Scotland to provide a standardised data capture, storage, querying and reporting functionality for the microbiological and chemical analysis of food samples. This surveillance system is now fully operational for microbiological and chemical food samples in Scotland and is now being rolled-out across the UK over three years.