GM Watch
  • Main Menu
    • Home
    • News
      • Latest News
      • Newsletter subscription
      • Daily Digest
      • News Reviews
      • News Languages
    • Articles
      • GM Myth Makers
      • GM Reports
      • GM Quotes
      • GM Myths
      • Non-GM successes
      • GM Firms
        • Monsanto: a history
        • Monsanto: resources
        • Bayer: a history
        • Bayer: resources
    • Videos
      • Latest Videos
      • Must see videos
      • Cornell videos
      • Agriculture videos
      • Labeling videos
      • Animals videos
      • Corporations videos
      • Corporate takeover videos
      • Contamination videos
      • Latin America videos
      • India videos
      • Asia videos
      • Food safety videos
      • Songs videos
      • Protests videos
      • Biofuel myths videos
      • Index of GM crops and foods
      • Index of speakers
      • Health Effects
    • Contact
    • About
    • Links
    • Donations
    • How donations will help us
News and comment on genetically modified foods and their associated pesticides    
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Newsletter subscription
    • News Reviews
    • News Languages
      • Notícias em Português
      • Nieuws in het Nederlands
      • Nachrichten in Deutsch
    • Archive
      • 2021 articles
      • 2020 articles
      • 2019 articles
      • 2018 articles
      • 2017 articles
      • 2016 articles
      • 2015 articles
      • 2014 articles
      • 2013 articles
      • 2012 articles
      • 2011 articles
      • 2010 articles
      • 2009 articles
      • 2008 articles
      • 2007 articles
      • 2006 articles
      • 2005 articles
      • 2004 articles
      • 2003 articles
      • 2002 articles
      • 2001 articles
      • 2000 articles
  • Articles
    • GM Myth Makers
    • GM Reports
    • How donations will help us
    • GM Quotes
    • GM Myths
    • Non-GM successes
    • GM Firms
      • Monsanto: a history
      • Monsanto: resources
      • Bayer: a history
      • Bayer: resources
  • Videos
    • Index of speakers
    • Glyphosate Videos
    • Latest Videos
    • Must see videos
    • Health Effects
    • Cornell videos
    • Agriculture videos
    • Labeling videos
    • Animals videos
    • Corporations videos
    • Corporate takeover videos
    • Contamination videos
    • Latin America videos
    • India videos
    • Asia videos
    • Food safety videos
    • Songs videos
    • Protests videos
    • Biofuel myths videos
    • Index of GM crops and foods
  • Contact
  • About
  • Links
  • Donations
  • 2021
  • 2021a
SUBSCRIBE TO REVIEWS

GMWatch Facebook cornfield banner

SCIENCE SUPPORTS REGULATION OF GENE EDITING

Plant tissue cultures

GENE EDITING: UNEXPECTED OUTCOMES AND RISKS

Damaged DNA on fire

GENE-EDITED CROPS & FOODS

Help stop the new threat

News Menu

  • Latest News
  • News Reviews
  • Archive
  • Languages

Please support GMWatch

Donations

You can donate via Paypal or credit/debit card.

Some of you have opted to give a regular donation. This is greatly appreciated as it helps place us on a more stable financial basis. Thank you for your support!

2003 articles

Food Standards Agency must do more to protect public health

  • Print
  • Email
Details
Published: 05 December 2003
Created: 05 December 2003
Last Updated: 22 October 2012
Twitter

The FSA under Sir John Krebs has done its best to limit and even undermine GM food labelling. Now a parliamentary committee, in a wide ranging critique of the agency and its failure to champion the interests of the consumer, has called on the FSA to make sure that labelling clarifies whether or not food contains GM ingredients.
---
Food Standards Agency must do more to protect public health

London Susan Mayor
British Medical Journal
BMJ 2003;327:1308 (6 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7427.1308-c
News extra

The Food Standards Agency should be more active in initiatives to protect public health and consumers' interests in relation to food, a parliamentary audit of its work said this week.

 The audit by the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts-a group of members of parliament that scrutinises use of public funds-recommended that the agency should take a stronger stance as "the champion of the consumer."

The agency was set up as an independent body operating "at arm's length from ministers" and is responsible for protecting public health in relation to food.

The audit noted: "The Agency has not yet demonstrated convincingly that it is able to lead on issues of food safety and standards." It said that the agency should take a higher profile in the enforcement by local authorities of standards on food hygiene in catering outlets and should develop measures to improve hand washing by people working in catering.

The agency should take a more proactive approach in improving public education on nutrition, the report said. It acknowledged that the agency does publish general advice on its website (www.foodstandards.gov.uk) about eating more healthily.

"But in view of its strategic objective to improve diet and nutrition in the UK, the Agency should clearly define how it will do so," the committee suggested.

In particular the report recommended that the agency launch a programme of consultations with food manufacturers, to get them to focus more on nutritional and health aspects in promoting food products to children.

The report cited the labelling of food as a major issue of importance to consumers on which the agency should show measurable progress. Labelling should clarify the nutritional content of food and should also make it clear whether or not the food contains genetically modified ingredients.

"The Agency could use its powers to make the public aware of manufacturers whose labelling is misleading or inaccurate," the committee said.

Protecting Public Health and Consumer Interests in Relation to Food: The Food Standards Agency is available in the Committees section at www.parliament.uk

  • Prev
  • Next

Menu

Home

News

News Archive

News Reviews

Videos

Articles

GM Myth Makers

GM Reports

GM Myths

GM Quotes

How Donations Will Help Us

Contacts

Contact Us

About

Facebook

Twitter

RSS

Content 1999 - 2021 GMWatch.
Web Development By SCS Web Design