Andrew Wadge FSA - Science, safety and health

Warning of poor diet in pregnancy

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:12:15 +0100

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.

Salmonella outbreak in the US

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:31:41 +0100

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.

Fancy a bit of Russian Roulette?

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:10:16 +0100

Now although I’d like to think of myself as a bit of a James Bond (I can hear my wife chortling), the truth is I’m not really a gambling man. While I might be tempted to hedge my bets in the Grand National, or on the 2p penny fall machines on Brighton Pier, I’d steer well clear of playing Russian roulette with use-by dates on food.

That’s why I was particularly perturbed by Jonathan Maitland’s use by dates 'experiment' reported in the Mail on Sunday yesterday. It reminded me of the type of justification some smokers used years ago – they could always point to their Great Aunt Bess who smoked her self silly for 50 years and never had a health problem. There’s always one, but would you advocate smoking on the back of this? Fortunately, food safety policy is based on sound science rather than meaningless experiments of one subject.

Annual report of incidents

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:47:24 +0100

The FSA strives to inform consumers and protect them from food risks – this is one of the reasons the Agency came into being. One of the most important ways we do this is by working with industry, local authorities and consumers when there are problems associated with the food chain.

We have just published our second Annual Report of Food Incidents. This report shows that during 2007 the Agency handled 1,312 incident investigations. You will probably remember some of these, such as the bird flu outbreaks in East Anglia and the grounding of the MCS Napoli off the south coast. Behind the scenes though, there are often less high profile incidents. For example, over the Christmas period last year we helped prevent consumers eating mince pies containing rubber, and in September we worked with the food industry to remove cereals containing insects from the shelves.

The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men…

Mon, 19 May 2008 12:45:06 +0100

With apologies to Robert Burns, I am delighted to broadcast that not all of man’s schemes ‘gang aft agley’ (often go awry). Regular Wadge bloggers will no doubt be aware of my desire that policy decisions should as far as possible be scientifically justified and based on sound evidence. Therefore, it is satisfying to be able to announce the introduction of new high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methodology into the Agency’s monitoring programme for the detection of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins in mussels. This will account for around 80% of all PSP toxin tests in the UK monitoring programmes. We plan to be able to test other shellfish species by HPLC by the end of the year, or shortly thereafter.

Adding something to the mix

Thu, 08 May 2008 10:08:04 +0100

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.

Baby bottle safety

Tue, 06 May 2008 11:17:24 +0100

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.

Sizing things up

Tue, 06 May 2008 10:17:22 +0100

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.

Arsenic in rice

Thu, 01 May 2008 12:36:51 +0100

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.

A co-ordinated approach to sampling

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:59:26 +0000

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.

A busy week for science

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:02:18 +0000

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.

Defending food on Newsnight

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:15:16 +0000

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.

Peanut allergy

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:55:42 +0000

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.

Caffeine and pregnancy

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:52:16 +0000

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.

Cloned animals in the food chain

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:16:32 +0000

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.