Science, safety and health

Last week, colleagues from the Animal Feed Unit in the FSA’s Primary Production Division hosted a successful conference on silage agents organised by the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) Panel on additives and products or substances used in animal feed (FEEDAP).  The main purpose of the event was to enable the feed additive and animal feed sectors to gain a better understanding of the assessment and authorisation processes for this category of feed additives.  Speakers included members of the FEEDAP panel and secretariat, and representatives of the silage agent manufacturers.

The Canadian government looks to be moving towards restricting the use of Bisphenol A (BPA) in food contact plastics. BPA is a chemical used in the manufacture of plastics and resin. These materials are then widely used to make many things from baby bottles to food containers and tableware.

Very small amounts of BPA can migrate from these materials into foods and beverages and may have the potential to interact with hormone systems in the body. That said, despite extensive research world-wide, there is no conclusive evidence of a link between adverse trends in human reproductive health and exposure to these chemicals. In addition, levels of chemical migration are already strictly monitored and controlled within the EU.

I was criticised in an earlier blog for taking an ‘inappropriate’ position on nanotechnology and hiding behind the EU – when in fact I was merely pointing out that it was a new technology that would need discussing in the food context. Clearly, such a development would be discussed with our European colleagues too. 

You may have seen some alarming headlines over the past few weeks regarding arsenic in rice products so what is the science behind these claims? The headlines have stemmed from two research papers by the same scientist who has published limited data on the analysis of rice milk  and baby rice. I have spoken to Agency scientists to ask them to explain what the real concerns are and if we as consumers should consider changing our eating habits.  

Until recently, the detailed results of samples taken by local authority food sampling officers were only available locally, making  it difficult for the Agency to monitor  national and regional trends. To overcome this problem, we are rolling out a food sampling surveillance system (FSS).

This project, currently in its final stages, was initially developed by Food Standards Agency Scotland in conjunction with Health Protection Scotland to provide a standardised data capture, storage, querying and reporting functionality for the microbiological and chemical analysis of food samples. This surveillance system is now fully operational for microbiological and chemical food samples in Scotland and is now being rolled-out across the UK over three years.

It’s been a busy week both for Agency science and nationally. National Science and Engineering Week is upon us once more, with various surveys and initiatives in the news. And the Agency has seen the first meeting of its new General Advisory Committee on Science (GACS). Chaired by Professor Colin Blakemore, this committee will provide independent challenge on our scientific work and report to the FSA Board.  I am very pleased that the work of this strategic committee is now under way and, together with our new Social Science Research Committee, will further strengthen the governance of science in the Agency.  No doubt I will be blogging on the work of both in the coming months, as will others. 

I enjoyed taking part in a fairly good-humoured knockabout with Michael Pollan, Julian Hunt (from the Food and Drink Federation), and Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight on Tuesday to discuss Michael's book In Defence of Food.  As I mentioned earlier, I have a lot of sympathy with Michael's views that we should all eat a mostly plant-based diet and not too much of it. The Agency's eatwell plate shows how this can be put into practice. But I do think that telling people to eat what their grandmothers ate both misses the point that the world has changed (rightly or wrongly, people don't have the time to cook in the way that they used to) and, more importantly, unnecessarily restricts the range of foods from which they can choose.  That's not to say that everything's OK. Far from it.  The problem of obesity and 'overnutrition' is the defining public health issue facing this and future generations.  But the answer is not to look backwards, but for government, the food industry and consumers to face up to the challenges by looking forwards.  For our part, the FSA needs to continue to raise awareness of what constitutes a healthy diet and draw upon good science to help bring about changes in dietary habits and monitor progress towards dietary targets. 

It’s easy to work out what the advice should be when the science behind an issue is clear cut but much more difficult when the evidence is incomplete or contradictory – as is often the case. For example, one particularly difficult issue the Agency is seeking to address at present is what sort of dietary advice we should be giving to mothers who are concerned that their child might develop a peanut allergy.

The current Government advice is that mothers whose children have a family history of allergic diseases (asthma, eczema, food allergies etc), should avoid eating peanuts during pregnancy and breastfeeding and avoid introducing peanuts into the child’s diet before 3 years of age. This advice is precautionary and was based on the evidence available in 1998, which suggested the possibility that infants could be sensitised to peanut allergens as a result of exposure before birth or during breastfeeding. 

Today’s papers report that ‘just two cups of coffee per day can double the risk of miscarriage’, following the publication of a study in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. The researchers observed 1,063 pregnant women and found that those who had 200mg or more of caffeine per day (two or more cups of coffee per day) had twice the miscarriage risk of women who had no caffeine.

The Food Standards Agency's current advice to pregnant women, issued in 2001, is to keep their caffeine intake to less than 300 mg per day. This is about three mugs of instant coffee, but it’s really important for women to be aware that they must also think about caffeine they’ve had from all sources, including soft drinks, food and medication.

There has been some interest in the media this week about the possibility of cloned animals being used in food production, which at present are not permitted as food in the UK. This followed the publication of two reports - one from the European Food Safety Authority and another from the US Food and Drug Administration. The FDA concluded that meat and milk from cloned animals pose no additional risk compared with that obtained from existing animals, while EFSA has invited public comments on a similar conclusion. In the Agency we are looking closely at the EFSA report and we will provide comments to help ensure that EFSA reaches conclusions that are based on sound science.