The Food Standards Agency welcomed the announcement of the setting up of a Policy Commission on Farming and Food. Did you expect it to disagree? Surely not. We mentioned briefly in the last issue that the Agency was starting a wide-ranging public consultation process and wanted consumers' voices to be heard. Details of the consultation have been placed on their website: www.foodstandards.gov.uk. They say that they will shortly be launching a dedicated website (www.talkfood.org) so that consumers can feed into this very important debate through the Food Standards Agency. A series of other activities, some of which will target specifically disadvantaged groups, will be announced in due course.
One group which may feel disadvantaged is members who do not have Internet access. No doubt details will be forthcoming by post if you ask for them. The main switchboard number is 020 7276 8000.
This is very welcome news because, in the past, there have been many committees concerning food matters which NfCG people have attended, but there was an ad hoc basis to most of them. They were mostly MAFF committees and representatives were called for when a meeting was imminent. It is not necessarily good news for us, however, as we do not have a promised place on this important new committee which will be made up of six members appointed through open competition and six members from nominations made by the Consumer's Association, the National Consumer Council, Sustain (the alliance for better food and farming), the General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland, the Scottish Consumer Council and the Welsh Consumer Council. All of these employ professional consumer representatives and can usually rely on back-room people to brief them before they attend meetings. The FSA said that there were many others who could have been invited to nominate members but, one imagines, they had to draw the line somewhere.
The announcement of this committee came too late for inclusion in the last issue of Consumer News and the closing date for applications for one of the six open competition places closed well before this issue was finished. However the places were advertised in national and regional newspapers and ethnic minority publications, and one hopes that some NfCG people have applied and at least one is successful.
It is clear from the paperwork that the FSA is anxious to obtain people who understand the needs of different types of consumers, such as those on low incomes or ethnic minorities or people with relevant experience, such as with community level projects.
Suzi Leather said: "The new Consumer Committee will play an important role in advising the Agency, and ensuring the issues that really matter to every consumer are raised and addressed." It will certainly be useful for the FSA to be able to quote its views when dealing with the Commission on Farming and Food, described above.
FSA Board Member Valerie Howarth has been appointed to the House of Lords. Suzi Leather, deputy Chairman of the FSA, was delighted at the news and said that she would be a new consumer champion in the Lords, with her in-depth knowledge concerning the protection of people's health and the interests of consumers in relation to food.
Proposed draft amendment to the General Standard for the Labelling of Prepacked Foods: Quantitative Ingredient Declarations (QUID) Discussions to introduce requirements for Quantitative Ingredient Declarations (QUID) into the general standards for labelling of prepacked food have been going on for months. Last May the Codex Committee on Food Labelling discussed proposals first circulated in October 2000. Two draft proposals were tabled but not fully discussed. Now the FSA is seeking comments on both versions and there is an opportunity to look at the proposals and tell the Agency what you think. QUIDS are important.
Proposed draft amendment to the General Standard for the Labelling of Prepacked Foods: Class Names (Milk protein/milk protein products).
The FSA would like your views on the proposal to allow the class names "milk protein" and "milk protein products" in ingredients lists on pre-packed foods. Documents for both consultations are available on the FSA website:
wwwfoodstandards.gov.uk/consultations/prepackquid.htm or
wwwfoodstandards.gov.uk/consultations/prepackmilk.htm or
write to Matthew Carden, Food Labelling and Standards, Room 115B, Aviation
House,
125 Kingsway, London WC2B 6NH, or phone him on 020 7276 8172 (fax 8192),
e-mail labelling@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
The deadline for comments is 30 November 2001.
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