Tag Archives: uk fsa

Same people who promote piping hot: UK restrictions on raw milk should remain

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The board of the UK Food Standards Authority today agreed that the current restrictions on the sale of raw milk should remain in place, following the conclusion of the FSA’s review of raw drinking milk controls.

Raw-Milk-Card-FrontThe FSA Board met to discuss the findings of the comprehensive review of the regulations that control the sale of unpasteurised, or raw, drinking milk.

The review concluded that:

the risk associated with raw drinking milk consumption, except for vulnerable groups, is acceptable when appropriate hygiene controls are applied

the current restriction on sales of raw milk should remain in place as there is uncertainty that consumer protection can be maintained if the market for raw milk is expanded

risk communication could be improved, particularly for vulnerable groups, and changes to the labelling requirements are proposed to reflect this

The Board accepted the conclusions of the review.  However, they noted concerns that consumers should be more aware of the risks and asked that the FSA be clear in its advice not to drink raw milk.

Don’t argue with the vet: FSA wins judicial review on safety of carcass

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The UK Food Standards Agency has won a Judicial Review brought against it by the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS) and Cleveland Meat Company Limited, a slaughterhouse operator based in Stockton on Tees. The two organisations had gone to court in attempt to overturn a ruling by an FSA veterinary contractor that a beef carcase was unfit to enter the food chain.

septicaemiaThe FSA’s Meat Hygiene Inspector had noticed three abscesses in the offal of the carcase, and the Official Veterinarian agreed that the beef was unfit for human consumption due to the likelihood that the animal had been suffering from pyaemia (a form of septicaemia). The food business was then required to dispose of the carcase as animal by-product.

The slaughterhouse owner did not accept this decision and this led to the action by the owner and AIMS to pursue a Judicial Review on the question of whether there is a right of appeal against an Official Veterinarian’s assessment of the fitness of the meat.

The Judge rejected the arguments of AIMS and Cleveland Meats and concluded that the FSA had acted lawfully. He agreed with the stance of the FSA that there was no legal right of appeal on decisions taken about whether meat is fit to enter the food chain after slaughter, which must be taken by Official Veterinarians under European law. In his summary, the Judge pointed out that safety measures like these are in the public interest, and are appropriate for public safety and instilling confidence in meat production.

Rod Ainsworth, Director of Regulatory and Legal Strategy at the FSA, said: ‘It’s very disappointing that AIMS and Cleveland Meats chose to pursue this unnecessary legal action. Our vets make judgements every day about whether meat is suitable to enter the food chain, and they do this based on their professional expertise for the sole purpose of protecting the public. Food businesses may not always like the decisions that are made, but as the failure of this Judicial Review demonstrates, those decisions are not open for debate. The Judge agreed that our staff must be able to take action to ensure food is safe.’

Make it mandatory; UK research shows, restaurants with shitty ratings won’t display them

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The UK Food Standards Agency reports in breathtaking fashion that new research shows the number of food businesses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland displaying Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) stickers uk.food.hygiene.ratingand certificates has increased significantly for those with the top two ratings. For those with the bottom ratings of 0 to 2, the number displaying these remains low. The research, which involved an audit and telephone survey, was commissioned by the FSA.

The findings are being used by the FSA to further develop its FHRS communications strategy and to inform policy development on display of ratings at premises.

Fail; Campylobacter increases in UK despite warnings

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Doing the same thing and expecting different results is crazy.

But that’s exactly what the UK’s Food Standards Agency is doing, and more people are getting sick.

The same unfounded risk messages (piping/steaming hot), bad surveys to inform policy, blind faith in occasional audits, and an utter lack of FunkyChickenHicreativity or urgency combine to produce a culture of complacency, from farm-to-fork.

The Daily Mail reports that cases of camplobacteriosis continue to rise, despite FSA targeting Campylobacter as its top priority in 2008.

New figures published by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) reveal the number of cases has been rising every year for the past four years.

The FSA and its advisers had hoped that putting in place improved hygiene controls, so-called biosecurity measures, on chicken farms would reduce the number of infected birds.

However its strategy, which was designed to reduce the number of contaminated chicken on farms by 50per cent by 2010, has been a hopeless failure.

Successive chief executives at the FSA have lambasted supermarkets for not doing enough to cut campylobacter contamination in the chicken they sell.

In 2010, the then chief executive, Tim Smith, wrote to the chief executives of all the supermarkets demanding action. This failed to bring about the desired result and Mr Smith is now the group technical director at Tesco.

Following a failure to improve the situation, his successor, Catherine Brown, issued a new call for action in January this year, saying tackling chicken.cook.thermometercampylobacter in chicken was her top priority.

Miss Brown called supermarket bosses to a meeting to thrash out plans to tackle the menace, while she has even hinted that stores might be required to remove chicken from sale unless they can guarantee the bug has been removed.

She said it ‘unacceptable’ that two-thirds of chicken carry the disease, while a fifth are ‘highly contaminated’ at the time of purchase.

However, yet again there is no evidence of any major drive by the supermarkets to protect customers, beyond introducing new non-drip packaging.

The Government watchdog is now considering drastic measures to clean up chicken and protect consumers. These include killing the bugs by either washing the meat with lactic acid or the use of blast freezing.

Using a lactic acid wash to disinfect the birds has its own difficulties with evidence that many consumers have an instinctive dislike of the idea.