Public Analysts to Debate Decline of Food Controls in the UK

The President of The Association of Public Analysts sent a report last week to the Food Standards Agency highlighting the decline in numbers of official food control laboratories and more importantly the reduction in qualified Public Analysts in the UK.

The number of Public Analysts has halved in the last 10 years and is likely to reduce still further in 2007. In a time when consumers are encouraged to increase their awareness of food safety and and nutrition the controls are reducing. Reports of food recalls due to contamination or labelling errors appear almost every week on the Food Standards Agency website and it should be a concern to us all.

The official laboratories are closing due to lack of support from local authorities who provide the income through sampling of food. With local priorities focussed more and more on education and social care, food sampling is seen as a low priority in many parts of the country.

Members of the Association have been encouraged by the invitation from the Food Standards Agency to hold discussions on how this decline can be halted and explore new ways of working that will ensure that sufficient scientific resources will be available to enforcement officers should a major problem with food safety occur. The first discussions are expected to be held in January 2007