July 2008

I was out of the office on Friday, but amused to see the press cuttings on whether cloned meat is safe.  The Daily Mail headline was 'EU food safety experts say No to cloned meat', whilst the Guardian went with 'Cloned meat safe to eat says EU's food agency'. 

Newspaper coverage of food issues is often entertaining, but who should the confused readers believe? 

The European Union Framework Programme, for those of you who aren’t familiar, is the European Union’s main way of funding research in Europe. It complements national research programmes and provides opportunities for researchers to collaborate across Europe.  The programme recognises that many of our current challenges, such as concerns about climate change and future food supply, are complex and cross national boundaries, so benefit from a collaborative approach. The Framework Programme 7 information day, held on the 4 July at Aston University in Birmingham, covered ongoing topics in the current programme, as well as funding opportunities likely to arise next year in the categories of food, agriculture and fisheries, biotechnology, and also the environment – which, of course, includes climate change.

There was good news this week, with the results of our most recent urinary sodium analysis revealing that we are all eating less salt. The national average now stands at 8.6g – a 9% drop from the 2000/2001 figure of 9.5g. The UK is leading on salt reduction in Europe – we have substantially raised consumer awareness of the danger of eating too much salt and industry has reduced the amounts of salt in foods faster than any other country. But there’s still more to do if we are to meet the national target of consuming no more than 6g a day.

There were stories in several papers last week linking regular consumption of nuts by mothers during pregnancy with a higher risk of developing asthma in their children. This is another study in a fascinating and complex area where the evidence is still developing. I blogged in January about peanut allergy and the problems of giving advice to people when the evidence is incomplete.

The Committee on Toxicity started a review of the scientific evidence published, since that advice was issued, at its meeting last week and is expected to issue a statement by the end of the year. The COT review is looking primarily at exposure to, or avoidance of, peanut in pregnancy, while breastfeeding and during early childhood, and the subsequent development of food allergy or tolerance in the child. But studies looking at other allergy outcomes, such as asthma, could also provide useful information and this will be considered by the COT as part of their assessment. 

Recently a number of FSA colleagues attended the 1st Global Conference on GMO Analysis held at the Villa Erba Conference Centre in Cernobbio, Como, Italy.  Some of you might well recognise Villa Erba because it was one of the locations used when filming Ocean’s Twelve starring George Clooney, a well known resident of the Como area, along with other Hollywood notables.  Although my colleagues were sadly unable to mingle with the glitterati of the movie world they were fortunate enough to attend this inaugural conference along with over 600 other experts on GMO analysis from over 90 countries.  This conference was the first time the principle world experts on GMO analysis have been able to meet at a single location and engage in scientific dialogue on issues relating to this complex area of analysis.  Methods of choice for GMO analysis continue to be those based upon Real Time Polymerised Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) techniques and it is clear that further work needs to be undertaken by the analytical community in relation to sampling strategies used for the detection of GMOs from farm to fork.

A new Government report, Food Matters – Towards a Strategy for the 21st Century, published earlier this week by the Cabinet Office, sets out its vision for a new food policy framework. The report is the result of a ten month Strategy Unit project commissioned by the Prime Minister to look at food issues in the UK. It draws together evidence about long-term trends in food production and consumption, and how food safety and nutrition impact on the health of the UK. 

I couldn’t help but notice the news story earlier last week that warned that a poor diet during pregnancy can lead to obesity, high cholesterol and diabetes in unborn children, the effects of which are irreversible.  The story is based on a study which was carried out, in mice, at the Royal Veterinary College in London.

There is a wealth of evidence linking maternal diet to long term health outcomes for the unborn child and health later in the life course.  Eating a healthy balanced diet is an important message for us all, but this is particularly so for women trying for a baby or who are already pregnant. 

In case anyone thought that problems of salmonella were a thing of the past, the recent outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul in the US, which caused sickness in more than 800 people, is a timely reminder of the need for continued vigilance and good traceability in supplies.  Sales of tomatoes have slumped in the face of consumer worries, costing the food industry at least $100 million in lost sales.  There are no winners in these situations.  Industry has lost lots of money, consumers lose confidence in food safety and questions are asked about the fitness of the regulatory regime.  Frustratingly, investigators from the US Food and Drug Administration and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been unsuccessful in identifying the source of the outbreak, despite taking hundreds of samples in Florida and Mexico.

There's a summer holiday feel to the food stories in the press today.  For many families, this is a time for taking the kids to theme parks and leisure centres, as well as holidays in the Mediterranean.  And yet there is an irony here: the so-called Med Diet, rich in fruit, vegetables and unsaturated fats contrasts sharply with what a local government survey found was actually being served up to kids out for a summer treat at theme parks and leisure centres. The healthy diet (plenty of fruit and vegetables and starchy foods, preferably wholegrains, some protein rich foods such as milk and dairy foods, meat, fish, eggs, beans and pulses) is replaced by foods high in fat, sugar and salt.