Board update July 2004
Wednesday 7 July 2004
The Food Standards Agency held an open Board meeting on Tuesday 6 July at the Royal National Hotel, London. One hundred and twenty members of the public attended the meeting and a live webcast of the event was watched from 160 PCs.
Board papers
Two main Board papers were discussed at the meeting: An Action plan on Food Promotions and Children’s Diets and a Review of the Over Thirty Months Rule. Updates were given by Agency Chair Sir John Krebs and Chief Executive Jon Bell on developments since the previous Board meetings, and the Board heard reports from the Chairs of the Food Advisory Committees in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Action plan on food promotions and children’s diets
At its open meeting on the 11 March 2004 the Food Standards Agency Board discussed a paper on Promotional Activity and Children’s Diets and agreed to consult on a draft Action Plan on Food Promotions and Children’s Diets.
The consultation, which sought views on the content, achievability, likely effectiveness and appropriate timetable for the Plan and on a draft Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA), closed at the end of June.
Ninety-four responses were received from a wide range of interests, including consumer groups, individual consumers, public health and education groups, public health professionals, food manufacturers, food retailers, trade associations and advertising industry representatives.
Taking into account the views of respondents, the Board at its July meeting agreed a revised Action Plan, which includes a series of proposals aimed at redressing the imbalance in children’s diets. It also agreed a timeframe for key issues to be addressed.
The Action plan stated that:
By March 2005 the FSA will publish nutritional criteria for the food industry, including the food service sector, that are intended to help to reduce levels of fat, sugar and salt in foods aimed specifically at young children. The Agency will work with stakeholders, including the industry, to set the criteria, and will monitor the food industry’s progress against set targets.
By June 2005 the FSA will publish best practice advice for the food industry, including the food service sector, on signposting of foods, meals or snacks high in salt, sugar or fat, and signposting of healthier options. Guidance will also be provided on the use of the words ‘high’, ‘medium’ and ‘low’ on nutrition labels. The Agency will work with stakeholders, including the industry, to develop the advice, and will monitor the food industry’s progress against set targets.
By June 2005 the FSA will publish best practice advice on the use of nutrition and health claims aimed specifically at children. The Agency will work with stakeholders, including the industry, to develop the advice, and will monitor the food industry’s progress against set targets.
By summer 2005 The FSA will work with OFCOM to establish targets that will address the imbalance in TV advertising of food to children.
The Board:
Discussed the results of the consultation on the Action Plan, including work seeking the views of young people;
Noted the extensive discussions that had taken place and the responses from industry; and agreed these should be followed up with discussions on implementing the plan;
Noted work already underway on definition of high fat, sugar or salt and healthier options;
Discussed proposed changes to the Action Plan and emphasised the need to involve schools, particularly school governors; young people, particularly young children; and those responsible for vulnerable children;
Agreed the revised Action Plan;
Agreed to review progress in implementation after two years, with regular updates in the interim;
Review of the Over Thirty Months Rule
The Board considered developments following its advice to Ministers last year that the Over Thirty Month (OTM) Rule could be replaced by BSE testing. The OTM rule is a BSE control that prevents cattle over 30 months of age from entering the food chain. The Board last year agreed that a move to replace the OTM rule by BSE testing was justified on grounds of public health risk in relation to food and proportionality.
The Board looked very carefully at the new evidence to have emerged in the past year. It received advice from the government’s independent expert scientific advisers, the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC), on what this new evidence means and how it would affect previous estimates of any additional risk from the possible move to testing.
The Agency’s Board acknowledged the uncertainties involved and noted that SEAC had made a series of pessimistic assumptions in agreeing its advice. New calculations taking into account these assumptions give a range of between none and 2.5 additional vCJD cases, over 60 years, with the central estimate of 0.5, as a result of replacing the OTM rule with testing. This compares to a central estimate last year of 0.03 cases, and a range of up to 1.9.
The Board
Agreed it would be appropriate to advise Ministers that, although the FSA was not advocating change, a move to replace the over thirty month rule (OTM) by BSE testing would be justified on the basis of the food-borne risk to consumers and proportionality in relation to the costs of maintaining the current rule. This would put a value on the cost of preventing a death of £2,400 million per life over 60 years if the change resulted in no deaths, or £480 million per life if up to 2.5 fatalities were prevented.
Agreed that, given the importance of the effective implementation of BSE testing, Ministers should not change the OTM rule until an independent group has advised that all the necessary arrangements for testing have been put in place.
Chair’s report
Agency Chair Sir John Krebs informed the Board on developments that had taken place since it had been given a report at the last closed meeting about the failures of BSE testing of casualty animals at 24 months.
At that meeting it had been reported that testing failures had been identified in five cattle. Since then it had been recognised that there had been a more widespread testing failure.
The Meat Hygiene Service had introduced measures immediately to ensure that these specific failures would not be repeated. An independent inquiry had been set up to look at why testing failures had taken place and to make recommendations to stop them recurring in the future. The committee would report to the Board by early October.
Sir John also informed the Board that the Agency was setting up an annual Award for local food projects in commemoration of Sheila McKechnie, former head of the Consumers’ Association.
Chief Executive’s report
Agency Chief Executive Jon Bell informed the Board that the Parliamentary Undersecretary for Health, Melanie Johnson, had written to the Agency on behalf of UK health departments accepting the Board’s earlier advice that the mandatory fortification of foods with folic acid could not be justified in the light of present scientific knowledge. He informed the Board that the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) had recently set up a sub committee to look at the risk assessment to see if any new scientific information had emerged since the original advice was given that would warrant a re-examination of the issue. This was expected to meet in September, and the Board would be informed of the outcome.
The Chief Executive told the Board that a problem had been identified with encephalomyelitis in certain ruminants. It had come to light initially in cases in two cattle and 20 sheep, and then later in another seven cattle. The Health Protection Agency is carrying out an investigation to see if this is due to a viral infection. The Chief Executive added that the symptoms displayed by the animals were easily recognised and that none of those known to have been affected had entered the food chain.
The Chief Executive also informed the Board that the Agency had issued new recommendations on the consumption of oily fish. Press coverage of the recommendations had been extensive, and mostly positive. He thanked the British Heart Foundation for participating in the press conference.