Power to the people

Understanding the science is always the starting point for us in developing policy on food, but it is, of course, much more complicated than that.  There is a range of other information and evidence that needs to be obtained and analysed in order to develop robust evidence-based food policies.  A key part of this how the science fits in with people's behaviours and preferences and we are trying hard to engage effectively with consumers to find out what they think. 

Today we published the expression of interest to manage our Citizens' Forums on Food. This is a new mechanism we're developing to help us to listen to the views of individual consumers and to hear for ourselves what they think about a range of food issues.

It's easy just to rely on consumer organisations or consumer surveys to tell us what consumers think, but I think it's just as important to engage directly with consumers and to see at first hand what drives their concerns and motivations. These forums will help us to do just that. They will enable us to develop what the think tank Demos refers to, as a richer, more meaningful dialogue with consumers - a dialogue where participants will be able to some extent to set the agenda and to talk about the issues that they're really concerned with. I think this is a powerful step forward and one that we all welcome.