Birthday greetings

My blog’s a year old today and I wanted to mark the occasion by thanking all of you for reading and responding to the comments we’ve posted over the past 12 months.

Since my first post went live in November 2006, more than 161,000 people have visited the blog. It’s proving to be a great way to get feedback from consumers, fellow scientists, industry, and others with a professional interest in food.

Some of my postings have triggered really useful debates on topics ranging from traffic light labelling, organic food to raw milk. One got me hailed in the press recently as the saviour of the bacon buttie, which was fun. Please keep your comments coming, on these and other issues.

My blog is one of 20 case studies being evaluated by the Hansard Society educational charity as part of its Digital Dialogues pilot in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice.

The society is conducting two surveys. The first asks site visitors for general demographic data that can help to provide a profile of those engaging with Government.  This helps them to identify whether the FSA is reaching new people through its use of new technologies.

The second survey, which will be distributed in February 2008, will ask for detailed feedback about the blog. This is incorporated within the Hansard Society's evaluation and will help us to learn how to improve our blog.

Your evaluation feedback so far has told us that many of you are familiar with new technologies and are generally engaged with Government.  We want to know if this continues to be the case and how it could be improved as the blog enters its second year.

It would be great if you could find time to fill in either of them.