BRITAIN鈥檚 new Labour government has endorsed a report recommending the creation of an independent food standards agency. However, the scientist who produced the report is worried that there has so far been no commitment to establish the agency in the first session of Parliament, which is expected to last for 18 months.
Before he became Prime Minister, Labour leader Tony Blair asked Philip James, a nutritionist and director of the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, to produce a blueprint for restoring public confidence in food safety (Forum, 26 April, p 47).
James鈥檚 report says that the agency should develop food safety policy and report to Parliament through the Department of Health. It should also have sweeping powers to set and enforce food hygiene standards.
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Consumer groups agree that an independent agency is needed to restore public confidence, following a series of scares and scandals, including BSE and outbreaks of Escherichia coli poisoning.
James argues that fundamental changes are needed urgently to ensure public health and secure the future of the British food industry. 鈥淚f these changes aren鈥檛 made it will be disastrous,鈥� he says. However, James fears that the agency is slipping down the government鈥檚 list of priorities.
Sheila McKechnie, director of the Consumers鈥� Association, warns that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is likely to resist plans to make the new agency report through the health department: 鈥淭here is a turf war going on between civil servants.鈥�