November 2006

The Agency has always taken a farm-to-fork approach to food safety so I was interested to see the approaches taken at two farms I visited yesterday with my colleague David Statham, Director of Enforcement.

In the morning we were shown around a Vitacress, a Hampshire farm producing and packaging fresh baby leaf salads for major retailers. As consumers, we take for granted the fact that we can purchase ready-to-eat salads throughout the year, but we can only do this with confidence because of stringent hygiene controls at all stages of the process, from selection of seeds to careful management of water and soil.

Eggs have been big news recently. Defra investigated alleged mislabelling, and we did a survey of salmonella in non-UK eggs. It's no change to the Agency's advice about cooking and storage.

If you're wondering how to impress your boss, check out our advert for scientists to join one of our expert advisory committees. I met with the Chairs of our nine advisory committees last week and asked them what they saw as the advantages of being a member.

First, all scientists need to review and critique information. Our committee members clock other scientists' research, and look critically at the information that Agency scientists pull together to support policy and risk assessment.  Second, scientists are increasingly expected not just to be undertaking research, but also to know how this translates into policy.

As a Government scientist, my reading of the Commons’ Science and Technology Select Committee report, Scientific Advice, Risk and Evidence Based Policy Making, was admittedly partial. It focused on the committee’s assessment of the FSA’s evidence to it, and our performance. The report gives welcome recognition for the way we use science in the Agency as a Government Department that operates at arms length from Ministers and aims to be open in how we do things.

No, not a storyline on TV’s CSI, but a reference to the Agency’s drive to combat food fraud, highlighted in the New Scientist’s 11 November 2006 issue.  My colleague Mark Woolfe, who leads on the Agency’s food authenticity research programme, was quoted.

In the last 10 years we've seen DNA techniques, originally applied to criminal forensics, adapted to detect food fraud. We've used it to check if Basmati rice has been mixed with cheaper varieties, or whether potatoes are being fraudulently labelled as King Edwards.