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DELEGATED LEGISLATION
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 118(6) (Standing Committees on Delegated Legislation),
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.--[Mr. Mike Hall.]
Mr. Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton):
I am grateful for this opportunity to raise the issue of nut allergies and labelling, which is particularly appropriate given today's debate on food policy.
My attention was first brought to this issue by a constituent, Mrs. Heather Forrester. Her son James has a peanut allergy, and it was due to his story and his mother's concerns about the inadequacies of the current labelling regime that I requested this debate. However, in the short time since this debate was granted, we have witnessed yet another tragedy--the death of the young athlete, Ross Baillie. His funeral today brings added poignancy to tonight's discussion.
I am sure that the Minister will want to join me in sending sincere condolences to the family and friends of Ross Baillie. That talented young man was is in prime physical condition. Last year, he broke the Scottish record for the 100 m hurdles at the Commonwealth games in Kuala Lumpur.
When a fit, gifted young athlete like Ross dies because of a few bites of a chicken sandwich, it is surely our duty to ask whether his death and others like it could have been avoided. We need to ask whether actions that the House has the power to take could help to prevent such tragedies in the future.
Like my constituent, James Forrester, Ross Baillie was aware of his allergy, and was always extremely careful. But, with the seemingly ever-increasing use of nuts in food, even careful, responsible adults can be caught out, sometimes fatally.
I know that the Minister is aware of this issue. He showed his commitment to tackling it by launching the catering awareness campaign in November 1997. He should know that there is much more to be done. Having tried awareness campaigns, it is time to get tough. We must work with manufacturers and retailers, and be realistic about what can work and what will not work. I do not believe that the Minister thinks that enough has been done, and I hope that he will tell us that he intends to go further.
The first and most important issue involves the catering industry--restaurants, cafes and take-aways. At the moment, unpackaged food, most of which is sold by the catering industry, is completely unregulated. As the food is not bought in a package, the labelling regime for pre-packed foods by definition does not apply. There has been little or no attempt to find other ways to provide consumers with the necessary information. The policy problem is clear. How should we convey information about the presence of allergens--nuts and so on--when the food product is unlabelled?
The Government were right to start tackling this problem by raising awareness. Chefs and waiters must understand the severity of the problem. Tiny traces of nuts in a dish can induce life-threatening seizures. Catering staff should be able to inform customers of the ingredients of every menu item. But the question for the Minister is this: does he really think that his awareness campaign has gone far enough? Should we not be doing much more?
I should be fair to the Minister. On 18 May, in a letter to me, he admitted, when assessing the success of his own information campaign, that
At present, there are no regulations, or even codes of practice, governing what menus should say about the contents of different dishes with respect to allergens. A few restaurants voluntarily say on their menus that a meal contains nuts, but they are still the exception rather than the rule. Indeed, more restaurants manage to say whether a meal is suitable for vegetarians or vegans. In the case of allergens such as nuts, informing customers can be a matter of life and death. I do not think that we can rely on voluntary action.
How could a code of practice work? I think that the Government should issue strict rules, under food standards and safety laws. Such a code of practice could cover all severe allergies, not just allergies to nuts. The rules could cover menu information, good practice in the kitchen and staff training. The code of practice could include information about how caterers could find out whether their raw materials contained allergens. I should be grateful if the Minister said whether he was prepared to consider introducing such a code of practice; but can he at least assure me that he will begin consultations with the catering industry?
In his letter of 18 May, the Minister suggested that nut-free menus wold be difficult to introduce, because food could become accidentally contaminated. He argued that requiring nut-free labelling would be very difficult unless there were a complete ban on nuts. I understand the point that he was making, but I do not accept his conclusion. Certainly, a code of practice will need to be drawn up carefully to ensure that it is workable, but I cannot believe that it is impossible to produce an effective and practical code. Indeed, I think that the Minister's Department has an obligation to do so, given the importance of the issue.
Some who object to the idea of a code of practice argue that this is a question of individual responsibility, and that it should be up to allergy sufferers to ask about ingredients. Individual responsibility is important, but that approach alone--which has effectively been Government policy so far--has been shown to have its limitations. Our constituents, when going out for a meal, may check with the waiter whether a meal contains nuts; but, unless the staff have been properly trained, allergy sufferers cannot be confident about the replies that they are given. That is borne out by experience.
The latest newsletter of the Anaphylaxis Campaign cites two cases of allergy sufferers who made specific, careful requests of catering staff in regard to ingredients, received assurances that the meals involved were nut free, and then suffered severe allergic reactions. Both those people have taken legal action, and one has been successful in an out-of-court settlement. A successful action for negligence would, however, have been scant comfort if the reaction had resulted in death.
Surely such cases demonstrate the limitations of placing the emphasis solely on the sufferer, and the limitations of awareness programmes. I believe that they also show that
a tough approach would be in the interests of the catering industry. A strong code of practice would force the industry to become more aware of the problem, but it could also save individual caterers thousands of pounds in costs and compensation claims. In this instance, Government intervention would help both the consumer and business.
I note that regulations covering the identification of genetically modified foods in restaurants have been introduced quickly. Surely the same should apply to allergens such as nuts.
The second substantive issue on which I should like to press the Minister is the labelling of packaged foods. He will know that the labelling regime is widely criticised because of its failure to deal appropriately with allergens. Although in practice most manufacturers and retailers now go far beyond the requirements of the labelling regime, I hope that he will agree that the regime still needs changing.
The problem is the so-called 25 per cent. rule, which says that manufacturers do not have to list components of compound ingredients in which a component makes up less than 25 per cent. of the food. That might be reasonable for most component ingredients; but when part of the component is an allergen--such as a peanut--to which people may be hypersensitive, the 25 per cent. rule is clearly wrong.
The Minister will know that the European Commission has been seeking views, in a draft proposal, on amending the European Union directive to remove the 25 per cent. rule for allergens; but he will also know that progress has stopped, and that there is unlikely to be further action by the Commission. Will the Minister therefore raise the issue at the next Council of Ministers, so that fresh life might be breathed into the draft proposal? Will he also undertake to write to Ministers in other EU countries to ask for their support to fast-track the draft proposal?
The third issue that I should like to raise is so-called defensive labelling, which is the practice that some food manufacturers and retailers have adopted to protect themselves--of labelling everything as "may contain nuts". In that way, they seek to give themselves a type of insurance policy in relation to allergy sufferers. Such labelling certainly ensures that people are warned about nut ingredients, but it is completely the wrong approach.
For a start, defensive labelling is itself dangerous, as it devalues labelling information. People also soon realise that it is simply an insurance policy, particularly when the food seems very unlikely to contain nuts, so that they begin to lose faith in the labelling regime. Moreover, such a blanket approach is very unfair to allergy sufferers, as it unnecessarily restricts the choice of food available to them. As I said, I know that the Minister shares my concerns, and I should like to pay tribute to him for the way in which he has worked with the industry to try to curb that practice.
It is right to acknowledge the work that has been done by manufacturers and by their various trade bodies, such as the Food and Drink Federation, which has developed guidance for its members setting out minimum good practice standards for the handling of products containing severe allergens. Although I am told that there has been a reduction in the use of defensive labelling strategies, today the question is whether more could be done, with manufacturers and retailers, to make it possible to label more products as nut free.
I appreciate that there are genuine problems in giving such guarantees; not least is the difficulty of cross-contamination, whereby food production lines are used both for foods containing nuts and for those that are nut free. I am told by the industry that it is not economically viable to have dedicated facilities for nut-free products. Yet I am sure that industry could be encouraged to do more, and could be shown that it is profitable to do so. For example, one company--Kinnerton Confectionary--has already recognised the market opportunity and decided to produce children's products on dedicated nut-free lines.
How could the Government help in that? First, I believe that the Government must continue to spread awareness among manufacturers and press for the complete implementation of industry-designed guidelines. However, there is also a role for the Government in spreading best practice, as various manufacturers will be trying new ways to deal with cleansing production equipment, and other firms will have found ways in which different lines can be dedicated to nut-free products without damaging their wider range. Those experiences could be shared, so that more products are available and labelled as nut free.
That the draft Local Authorities (Contracting Out of Highway Functions) Order 1999, which was laid before this House on 26th May, be approved.--[Mr. Mike Hall.]
Question agreed to.
8.31 pm
"we know that many recipients effectively ignored the information and that we did not reach some outlets at all".
Presumably, the Minister believes that we do need to consider other measures, and I want to suggest a few to him this evening.
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