Memorandum submitted by the Association
of Public Analysts (SFS 73)
1. EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
1.1 It is almost 150 years since the
first overarching legislation protecting consumers from adulterated
and dangerous food.
1.2 The Public Analyst Service is a vital
resource for society, providing reliable analytical results and
expert legal opinion on the quality, safety and probity of food,
water and animal feedstuffs, identifying fraud and thereby helping
to maintain the public's confidence in its food supply.
1.3 Complex labelling and persuasive advertising
are increasing the number and variety of claims being made about
foodstuffs. These claims, together with increasing commodity prices
and lengthening supply chains are all serving to make the work
of the Public Analyst as essential in the future as it has been
since 1860.
1.4 The Food Standards Agency is the UK
competent body for the implementation and monitoring of feed and
food law. Yet it has no direct control over many aspects of food
law enforcement, including the provision of laboratory testing
services or the sampling activities, as these are delegated in
practice to the Local Authorities.
1.5 Local Authorities are required to appoint
a Public Analyst and an Agricultural Analyst[179]
to help discharge the authority's food and feed control enforcement
duties. There is, however, no requirement in law for Local Authorities
either to employ a Public Analyst or to provide the appointed
Public Analyst with laboratories, equipment or other facilities
with which to carry out these duties.
1.6 There is no centrally-coordinated, strategic
direction or funding of the UK's official Food Control Laboratories.
1.7 There are no nationally-agreed guideline
budgets for sampling and analysis, or targets set for risk-assessed
sampling levels, to support this essential food control work.
1.8 The UK food industry is worth about
£150 billion annually, yet only £8 million
is spent on ensuring the safety of that food through routine food
analysis.
1.9 In the view of the Association of Public
Analysts, the Food Standards Agency is failing to address adequately
the serious decline in the Public Analyst Service, which already
poses serious risks to the safety of the public food supply, in
terms of both ongoing health & safety issues and its long-term
sustainability.
1.10 Thus, one of the greatest strengths
of the UK food system could soon prove to be its Achilles Heel,
particularly given the increasing globalisation of elements within
the supply chain, coupled with lower standards of control elsewhere
in the world.
2. INTRODUCTION—THE
PUBLIC ANALYST
SERVICE
2.1 Public Analysts are highly-skilled and
experienced scientists whose statutory role[180]
is to protect the safety of the public's food supply and, similarly,
that of animal feeding stuffs, through the monitoring for and
identification of contaminants, illegal additives and misleading
or fraudulent labelling. They provide the expert scientific evidence
in the legal context necessary for the prosecution of fraud and
related cases involving food and animal feeding stuffs. Their
primary focus is on the chemical analysis of food, an aspect of
food law enforcement which is often overlooked (see, for example,
its complete absence from the recent report by the Strategy Unit
of the Cabinet Office[181]).
Further, in spite of the importance to the human food chain of
ensuring the probity of animal feeding stuffs, this area of work
receives even less attention. Microbiological investigations relating
to food safety are also carried out (particularly in Scotland)
by Public Analysts.
2.2 Only individuals possessing the Mastership
in Chemical Analysis (MChemA) are eligible for appointment as
a Public Analyst. Before embarking on study for this postgraduate
qualification, individuals must be professional members of the
Royal Society of Chemistry. As such they are subject to a rigorous
code of conduct and are required to maintain high standards of
competence and ethical behaviour.
2.3 Recent years have seen an increase in
the instances of both deliberate and accidental contamination
of food. Melamine in milk products of Chinese origin and dioxin
in pork and lamb of Irish origin are among the most recent and
both are potentially injurious to health. Without adequate enforcement
activity, contaminated food can find its way into many different
food products. For example, it has been estimated that the cost
to UK industry of recalling the 600 different products containing
Worcester sauce contaminated with Sudan I from chilli powder,
was between £100 million and £200 million.
Yet the contamination was discovered in Italy, not in Rochdale
where the sauce was manufactured.
2.4 The Public Analyst Service is a vital
resource for society, providing reliable analytical results and
expert legal opinion on the quality, safety and probity of food,
water and animal feedstuffs, identifying fraud and thereby helping
to maintain the public's confidence in its food supply.
3. How robust is the current UK food system?
What are its main strengths and weaknesses?
"In some cases the food fraudster can
apply highly sophisticated techniques and make it very difficult,
if not impossible, for the public to detect that food fraud has
occurred. Thus, as part of food fraud control enforcement, there
must be an equally sophisticated analytical service to support
the food enforcement officer in the field." (Food Standards
Agency, 2008[182])
3.1 One of the greatest strengths of the
UK food system could soon prove to be its Achilles Heel, particularly
given the increasing globalisation of elements within the supply
chain, coupled with lower standards of control elsewhere in the
world. It is 150 years since the first overarching legislation
protecting consumers from adulterated and dangerous food.
3.2 Since then the UK has benefited from
legislation seeking to monitor and control the safety of the public's
food supply. This control has been augmented and, in some instances,
superseded by even more rigorous measures under European legislation.
Feeding stuffs for animals which form part of the human food chain
are also similarly subject to strict legislative monitoring and
control. EU Member States are required to ensure that adequate
financial resources are available to provide the necessary staff
and other resources for official controls.
3.3 The Food Standards Agency is the UK
competent body for the implementation and monitoring of feed and
food law. Legislation thus requires the Food Standards Agency
to ensure that: (a) there is adequate provision of accredited
laboratory testing services; (b) there are sufficient qualified
and experienced staff to ensure that official controls are carried
out efficiently and effectively; and (c) the staff have appropriate
and properly-maintained facilities and equipment to ensure that
they can perform official controls efficiently and effectively.
3.4 In practice, the Food Standards Agency
delegates its legal duties with respect to inspection, sampling
and analysis to the (459) Local Authorities throughout the UK.
It thus has no direct control over many aspects of food law enforcement,
including the provision of laboratory testing services or the
sampling activities within the Local Authorities and the costs
are viewed as being the financial responsibility of the Local
Authorities.
3.5 Shire counties and single-tier Local
Authorities are required to appoint a Public Analyst and an Agricultural
Analyst[183]
to help discharge the authority's food and feed control enforcement
duties. There is, however, no requirement in law for Local Authorities
either to employ a Public Analyst or to provide the appointed
Public Analyst with laboratories, equipment or other facilities
with which to carry out these duties.
3.6 Some Local Authorities maintain appropriately-accredited
laboratories and in them, Public Analysts and their staff are
Local Authority employees. Others, usually through a tendering
process, award contracts to one or more laboratories in the public
or private sector which may or may not be geographically "close".
There are currently two private-sector providers, both of which
are international privately-owned companies operating a number
of laboratories globally.
3.7 Complex labelling and persuasive advertising
are increasing the number and variety of claims being made about
foodstuffs. These claims, together with increasing commodity prices
and lengthening supply chains are all serving to make the work
of the Public Analyst as essential into the future as it has been
since 1850.
3.8 There is no centrally-coordinated, strategic
direction or funding of the UK's official Food Control Laboratories.
3.9 There are no nationally-agreed guideline
budgets (for example, per head of population or per food premises)
for sampling and analysis, or targets set for risk-assessed sampling
levels, to support this essential food control work.
3.10 Local Authorities view sampling and
analysis as an effective tool for food standards enforcement;
however, lack of resources is often cited as a reason for carrying
out little or no sampling activity.[184]
3.11 Food Standards Agency data show a continued
decline in Local Authority sampling rates. Figures presented to
the Food Standards Agency Board in February 2008[185]
include an element of double counting.[186]
Even so, the total number of "samples" for the nine
months to December 2007 was 113,968—equivalent to just
under 152,000 for the whole year.
3.12 This compares with 181,000 in
2003 and represents a fall of more than 16% over the four
years.
3.13 On a per capita basis, this
is half the number taken in Germany.[187]
Eight Local Authorities reported taking no samples during the
year 2007-08 and two Local Authorities have not indicated
whether they are taking any samples in 2008-09.
3.14 Local Authority sampling activity throughout
the UK has fallen by 16% since 2003 (Scotland shows 29.2%
drop since 2004-05) and spending on analysis is falling throughout
the UK.
3.15 In one large English authority, spending
has fallen by 30% in real terms over the past decade and York
City Council has cut its spending by a third from last year.
3.16 The average amount spent on food analysis
by Public Analysts in England & Wales (excluding London) is
10p per head per year; in some areas it is as little as 2p.
3.17 This compares with 46p[188]
in the Republic of Ireland.
3.18 Laboratory closures have occurred in
both the public and private sectors. The most recent closure was
a private-sector facility in Birkenhead, with the redundancy of
two Public Analysts;[189]
Aberdeen City Council has postponed for several months a decision
on the future of its laboratory;[190]
and the future of a public-sector laboratory in England is now
also uncertain.
3.19 The number of laboratories has decreased
by a third since 1997.[191]
There are currently only 41 Public Analysts employed in 21 laboratories
throughout the UK. The age profile of the profession demonstrates
that a "demographic time bomb" is imminent—more
than 60% of those currently employed as Public Analysts are over
50 years of age.
3.20 This decline has come about partly
as a result of sampling levels having fallen below the level which
would provide the income to sustain laboratories and/or staff.
3.21 Closures of Local Authority laboratories
have resulted from decisions taken at a local level for either
political or financial reasons.
3.22 For the past three years, the Food
Standards Agency has been conducting a "review" of the
Public Analyst Service, but this has still not been put to the
promised consultation. During this time the Service has continued
to decline to a level which already poses serious risks to the
safety of the public food supply, in terms of both ongoing health
& safety issues with the food supply and also in terms of
the its longer term sustainability.
4. How well placed is the UK to make the most
of its opportunities in responding to the challenge of increasing
global food production by 50% by 2030 and doubling it by
2050, while ensuring that such production is sustainable? In particular,
what are the challenges the UK faces in relation to the following
aspects of the supply side of the food system?
4.1 The Public Analyst service has a critical
place within the supply side. It has responsibility for monitoring
the composition of fertilizers. Through its monitoring of primary
agricultural produce it is also able, albeit post hoc,
to identify environmental quality or contamination issues.
5. What trends are likely to emerge on the
demand side of the food system in the UK, in terms of consumer
tastes and habits, and what will be their main effect? What use
could be made of local food networks?
5.1 The public is already increasingly demanding
of information about the source and composition of the food it
purchases and consumes, with rising concerns about authenticity.
Readily-available foodstuffs (both original and processed) are
increasingly varied, showing great variety in compositional requirements,
additives, contaminants, genetically modified foods, irradiated
foods. The public are being encouraged to protect their health
by eating more sensibly.
5.2 Already, on average one in five (20%)
of food samples tested in the UK each year attracts an adverse
report as a result of either labelling or compositional faults.[192],
[193]
5.3 The Public Analyst service had, by 2003,
declined to such a level that it had been a real challenge for
it to respond appropriately to the Sudan I incident.[194]
5.4 At the end of 2008, one large UK Port
Health Authority had to contact laboratories throughout the country
to find one able to carry out analysis for melamine in Chinese
foods in a timely manner.
5.5 All these demand-side pressures will
increase going forward and there is nothing to suggest that in
the UK or globally, economic drivers will serve to do anything
other than increase the risks of sophisticated food fraud in pursuit
of profit. The activities of the Public Analyst service will,
therefore, become even more crucial to public health and safety.
As currently resourced, however, it could prove extremely difficult
for the Public Analyst service to react to any major new food
scare. Within five years, it will be impossible to provide the
country with the analytical services to enable it to meet its
statutory obligations with respect to food control and enforcement.
6. WHAT
ROLE SHOULD
DEFRA PLAY
BOTH IN
ENSURING THE
STRENGTHS OF
THE UK FOOD
SYSTEM ARE
MAINTAINED AND
IN ADDRESSING
THE WEAKNESSES
THAT HAVE
BEEN IDENTIFIED?
WHAT LEADERSHIP
AND ASSISTANCE
SHOULD DEFRA
PROVIDE TO
THE FOOD
INDUSTRY?
6.1 Defra should further encourage the food
industry to review the appropriateness of its spending on advertising
and promotion of food and drink, which increased by 19% between
2003 and 2007 (from £704 million to £838 million).[195]
6.2 Separately, it might encourage the Treasury
to consider, in the interests of improving the overall health
of the nation through the continued monitoring of the safety and
nutritional quality of the food supply, imposing a modest tax
levy on such promotional spending. By way of example, a 1% tax
levy on the £838 million spent in 2007 would yield
£8.38 million. This would be sufficient to fund centrally-coordinated,
strategically planned UK-wide food inspection and sampling activity,
while also removing this financial burden from Local Authorities
and enabling them to spend their own revenue on appropriately
locally-accountable work in, for example, local small manufacturers
and suppliers, pubs, restaurants etc.
7. How well does Defra engage with other relevant
departments across Government, and with European and international
bodies, on food policy and the regulatory framework for the food
supply chain? Is there a coherent cross-Government food strategy?
7.1 Defra is represented on the Food Standards
Agency and although a cross-Government food strategy is emerging,
any such strategy will fail if appropriate measures are not in
place to ensure the underlying sustainability of the service which
provides the means to control and enforce existing legislation
with respect to the quality and safety of the food supply.
8. What criteria should Defra use to monitor
how well the UK is doing in responding to the challenge of doubling
global food production by 2050 while ensuring that such production
is sustainable?
February 2009
179 Although separate appointments are made under different
legislation, most if not all, Public Analysts are also Agricultural
Analysts or Deputy Agricultural Analysts. For simplicity, only
the term Public Analyst is used throughout. Back
180
See Regulation 36 of The Official Feed and Food Controls
(England) Regulations 2006 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/20060015.htm Back
181
Food Matters Towards a Strategy for the 21st Century (The Strategy
Unit July 2008) http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/cabinetoffice/strategy/assets/food/food_matters1.pdf Back
182
The Final Report of the Food Fraud Task Force, September 2007 http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/board/fsa070907.pdf Back
183
Although separate appointments are made under different legislation,
most if not all, Public Analysts are also Agricultural Analysts
or Deputy Agricultural Analysts. For simplicity, only the term
Public Analyst is used throughout. Back
184
Summary Report on the Focused Audit Programme on Food Sampling
in England October-December 2002, FSA 2003 (see http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/samplingsummaryreport.pdf) Back
185
See http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/board/info090201.pdf Back
186
Paper presented to the FSA Board , March 2008 http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/board/info080302.pdf Back
187
Second FAO/WHO Global Forum Of Food Safety Regulators http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/008/ae167e.htm Back
188
Based on figures obtained following a Freedom of Information request,
April 2008 Back
189
See http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2008/08/23/100-jobs-go-from-factory-100252-21590182/ Back
190
See http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/848908. Back
191
House of Commons Written Answers
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/cgi-bin/newhtml_hl?DB=semukparl&STEMMER=en&WORDS=public%20analyst&ALL=&ANY=&PHRASE=%22public%20analyst%20%22&CATEGORIES=&SIMPLE=&SPEAKER=&COLOUR=red&STYLE=s&ANCHOR=90126w0051.htm_spnew6&URL=/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090126/text/90126w0051.htm£90126w0051.htm_spnew6
and
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/cgibin/newhtml_hl?DB=semukparl&STEMMER=en&WORDS=public%20analyst&ALL=&ANY=&PHRASE=%22public%20analyst%20%22&CATEGORIES=&SIMPLE=&SPEAKER=&COLOUR=red&STYLE=s&ANCHOR=90112w0039.htm_spnew1&URL=/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090112/text/90112w0039.htm£90112w0039.htm_spnew1. Back
192
A summary of samples reported in West Yorkshire in the quarter
to December 2008 can be found on the WYJS website http://www.wyjs.org.uk/wyjs%20committee%20reports/aats/020209/final-agenda-public.pdf
, page three onwards Back
193
The FSA published a study of samples submitted to Public Analysts
in 2000-01 http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/samplesanalysts.pdf Back
194
Report of the Sudan I Review Panel. FSA, July 2007 (Recommendation
5) http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/sudanreview.pdf Back
195
Changes in food and drink advertising and promotion to children.
A report outlining the changes in the nature and balance of food
and drink advertising and promotion to children, from January
2003 to December 2007. Department of Health, October 2008.
Section 1-Overall food and drink advertising. See http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_089129 Back
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