Annual Review 2010: Promoting a British Success Story
Food safety and the importance of science
Food safety has continued to be a priority for FDF with a focus on
gathering intelligence and developing robust lobbying positions, based on
scientifi c evidence and a good understanding of the industry. Thanks to
our very active and supportive technical committees we have been able to
contribute to and shape a number of key debates over the past year.
We have been active in representing members'
interests in negotiations on proposed European
legislation and national voluntary measures. In
order to do this we maintain a strong presence
in Brussels both directly and supporting the
work of our European trade association CIAA
through attendance and chairmanship of a
number of strategic and technical committees.
At European level the highly complex
ongoing political discussions on a new Food
Information Regulation – governing the area of
food labelling and the provision of information
to consumers – has been a particular focus.
Partly because of our voluntary work in the UK
to implement front-of-pack nutrition labelling
we have experience of many issues which we
can share with decision-makers to inform the
debate.
The Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation
has also continued to raise signifi cant issues
for our members and FDF has been very active
representing members' interests with regard to
its interpretation and implementation. Whilst
the debate on nutrient profi les is expected to
remain dormant for a few more months, we
are now seeing some results with regard to the
nutrition claims annex, as some of the claims
that consumers fi nd most useful and that drive
some of our members' reformulation efforts are
likely to be recognised.
Throughout the year we have lobbied for a
technical solution on genetically modifi ed low
level presence and have started to see the
outcomes of our involvement, although there is
still a lot of work to be done.
In the UK we have focussed on relationship
building following the many changes to the
regulatory environment as a result of the
change in government. The Food Standards
Agency (FSA) has undergone considerable
restructuring and the reorganisation of both
its staff and focus is continuing in 2011. An
announcement is expected on the structure
of the FSA in Scotland in 2011 following the
Scottish Parliamentary election.
New relationships have also been forged
with the Department for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), which is now
responsible for labelling legislation in England
and Wales. We have also been working closely
with the Department of Health (DH), which
has been given responsibility for a number of
dossiers linked to nutrition historically sitting
within FSA.
We continue to present strong arguments in
support of innovation – engaging with the
House of Lords report on nanotechnologies
in food; identifying the implications of the
FSA positioning on cloning; and monitoring
consumer acceptance of new and existing but
still controversial technologies.
Next page: Health and wellbeing: spotlight on public health
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