April 2007

The aim of all of our work is safe food and healthy eating for all. I've talked about this before, and while that's a clear goal, the science to support the decisions we make on behalf of consumers is rarely clear cut.  More often than not, decisions need to be taken in the face of uncertainties or major gaps in our scientific knowledge. 

We spend between £20m and £25m a year to provide a stronger evidence base for our actions and to ensure that our strategic aims are being met.

The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) has published its review of  variation and uncertainty in toxicology.  It will provide a valuable guide for the committee's future work characterising the hazards associated with exposure to chemicals from food and other sources.

The report discusses the current commonly-used method of setting health-based guidance values for chemicals on the basis of no-observable-effect levels (NOAEL).

Scientific experts agree that excessive salt consumption increases the risk of high blood pressure which, in turn, increases the chance of cardiovascular disease (CVD).  That’s why the Agency has been campaigning for a reduction in the salt intake of the UK population. 

The latest phase of the Agency’s salt campaign was launched last month and focuses on the message that most of the salt we eat (75%) is already in the food we buy, so we need to check the label and pick the product with the lowest amount of salt.

The guidance and principles we’ve issued on food incidents is good because it was developed in consultation with a range of partners – a task force in the truest sense of the word.

I was struck by the real sense of partnership working adopted by the Food Incidents Task Force, which was set up after the 2005 incident that resulted in hundreds of products containing the Sudan I industrial dye being recalled. 

I was interested by last week's newspaper coverage about the findings of a study into a genetic component to obesity. The team of researchers combined data from seven study cohorts totalling  19,424 European adults, and two birth cohorts totalling 10,172 children.

Among adults they found that one sixth of the population carries a 70% higher risk of being obese as a result of carrying variants in the FTO gene.

In the children they noted that the FTO gene may affect weight from as young as seven years old.

As yet any mechanism of action for  the FTO gene in the body is unknown, and  scientists will now want to find out more about the biological function of the FTO gene and its precise role in obesity which promises to be a fascinating area of research.

I returned to work yesterday after some annual leave over Easter and saw Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow was in the building to present this year’s Sheila McKechnie community food awards.

It’s the third year of the scheme and I’m told that the quality of this year’s entries was, as always, outstanding. My colleagues who attended the presentation ceremony were, as ever, inspired by the projects they heard about.

What strikes us here at the Agency about all of the McKechnie entrants is the commitment and enthusiasm of the people who have set them up, often in very difficult circumstances and with few resources.

What have the National Farmers’ Union, British Poultry Council, Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) and the Agency got in common? We're all determined to lower the incidence and levels of nicarbazin residues in chicken, through taking part in a joint initiative facilitated by the FSA.

Nicarbazin is a feed additive used to help control poultry diseases, such as coccidiosis.  It is found occasionally in chicken, particularly chicken liver.