June 2007

At a Demos meeting this week, the Government Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir David King, gave a keynote address on ‘where next for public engagement in science?’  A member of my team has told me that Sir David spoke of the importance of the Universal Ethical Code for Scientists in winning trust. 

My colleagues in the Enforcement and Communications divisions got together recently to look at some priorities for the coming year.

One of the key audiences they identified was farmers and other primary producers, and the things we could do to communicate more effectively with people who work in this vitally important sector.

Our approach is very much farm to fork – working to improve food safety at every step of the food chain.  So, while we are concerned with ensuring end-product food safety for consumers, we also work with primary producers to minimise potential safety risks at the initial farming stage. 

I attended – and chaired a session – at a meeting of scientists in Cambridge yesterday to discuss 'Foodomics? Why we eat, What we eat and What’s Next on the Menu'.  It was a fascinating day, starting with an overview from Susan Jebb from the MRC Human Nutrition Research, who argued that the big issue in food is obesity. She pointed out that in evolutionary terms, we have been more concerned with hunger than satiety and that our response to the former is much greater than to the latter. Somehow we can always fit in that extra portion!

It’s Food Safety Week this week, which is now co-ordinated by the FSA. It’s a great annual opportunity to focus on the simple things we can all do to prevent food poisoning. The timing of the Week is particularly appropriate, bearing in mind that there is a surge in food poisoning cases in early summer and that just under half of the cases caused by salmonella or campylobacter occur between June and September. So in the warm summer months, we all need to be especially careful to keep food safe.

Considerable progress has been made in reducing food poisoning since July 2001, when the FSA set itself a target to reduce foodborne disease in the UK by 20% by 2006. The provisional number of laboratory-reported cases of the foodborne pathogens monitored by the Agency is now 19.2% lower than the baseline figure for 2000. Over the same period it’s estimated that the total number of cases has been reduced by 1.5 million, which represents a cost saving of £750m.

I visited LGC this morning and was really impressed with their extensive analytical chemistry facilities. They provide analytical services for a wide range of customers - the FSA included.

The state-of-the-art 'time of flight' spectrometers are a little different from my day and can now measure contaminants or residues at much lower levels. We all want data as soon as possible to make decisions affecting food safety, but even more important is that it is accurate, as unnecessary food recalls can be expensive for food businesses and damaging to consumer confidence.

I spent the day in the Cotswolds on Wednesday,- at one of the world's largest  food research organisations - the Campden & Chorleywood Food Research  Association (CCFRA).
 
The CCFRA hosts an open day once a year for its members, partly as  a shop window for its services (which include some cutting  edge research into food safety, authenticity and product  development).

But the day is just a much about having a family  get-togther. At least that's what it feels like. And the chance to get back into the lab again is always fun.
 
Everyone pitches in. All the CCFRA staff get involved in the arrangements, and  the food company members stump up with the refreshments, from  the biscuits with morning coffee to the mints after lunch. For  some reason, I found it more reassuring to have my poached  salmon served by a food chemist, rather than someone fresh out of the  microbiology lab.
 
Earlier in the day I heard our Chair, Dame Deirdre Hutton, deliver Campden's  prestigious annual lecture.

Some of you may have seen that last week the Health Protection Agency reported an 80% increase in the number of UK cases of listeriosis, compared with 2006. 

Listeriosis is caused by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. This bacteria is all around in the environment and may contaminate ready-to-eat foods when they are being processed in the factory. 

It is one of the five indicator microorganisms that the Agency uses to monitor the progress of our foodborne disease strategy.