U.K. plans new food safety agency

U.S. exporters who have customers in the United Kingdom (U.K.) and the European Union (EU) will be very interested in a white paper published earlier this year by the U.K. government. The paper outlines the proposed organizational structure of a new Food Safety Agency (FSA).

The British government uses a publication-and-comment system similar to the United States' Federal Register process whereby government agencies solicit public comment about rules, proposed rules and notices through publication in the Federal Register.

The white paper elicited about 1,000 comments from the British public. This summer, an analysis of the comments and plans for funding the Agency will be published. Following prescribed public publication-and-comment periods, the new Agency is expected to be open for business by the end of 1999.

Government leaders hope the new Agency will reduce confusion about food safety issues and help restore public confidence in food supplies in the wake of recent food scares related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in British cows. BSE shares the same strain of disease agent as the always-fatal human variant, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), which suggests a causal relationship.

FSA Integral to Food Safety

A 12-member commission made up of food hygiene and public health experts and members of the general public would direct the operations of the Agency, to be composed of about 700 civil servants.

The FSA would be responsible for providing policy advice to the U.K. government on food safety standards and certain aspects of nutrition, for preparing food safety legislation and for providing the public with timely information.

The FSA would also commission research and surveillance on a specified range of activities and negotiate food safety matters with the EU, third countries and international organizations.

Except for meat hygiene, local authorities would remain responsible for everyday food law enforcement, with the FSA providing guidance only. However, the FSA would be responsible for licensing fresh meat plants and for ensuring measures to prevent the transmission of BSE to the human food chain.

Once the' Agency becomes a part of the U.K. regulatory process, U.S. exporters will be keeping eyes trained on the way it handles international obligations: How it sticks to international trade rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its take on Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures and other technical barriers to trade under the WTO.

U.S. farmers might find an international ally with the FSA, pending fulfillment of its charge to act as an impartial arbitrator on agricultural trade issues. Also important for free trade supporters: The Agency's mandate to protect human, animal and plant life based on sound science, rather than to use barriers to international trade based on unscientific findings.

The FSA would also make sure that food applications adhered to the requirements of the European Commission (EC) Novel Food Regulations. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) fall under this regulation.

Issues To Be Resolved

There has been some concern that, because of past food scares, the FSA might overreact to health concerns with decisions that might hinder trade.

However, the FSA's purview is not as wide as expected. The U.K.'s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) will continue to regulate pesticides; veterinary medicines and animal feed regulations will be shared by the FSA and MAFF. Some environmental and consumer groups, distrustful of the MAFF since the BSE scare, would prefer to see the FSA more involved with production agriculture.

And of course, there's the everpresent question: How to fund a new agency. The U.K. government proposed that the food industry should pay for the FSA through license fees. But several food industry groups haven't been shy about voicing their opinion that, since the goal of the Agency is to protect public health with respect to food, taxes are the proper funding source. Some groups are also concerned that the Agency's independence may be compromised if it is funded by the food industry.

Copies of the white paper, and later the draft bill, concerning the establishment of the FSA can be obtained from:

American Embassy London PSC 801, Box 48 FPO AE 09498-4048

Guiding Principles of FSA

In short, the white paper proposal for the Food Safety Agency sets forth the following functions and goals:

* Protect the public health in relation to food.

* Assess food standards and safety in an unbiased fashion.

* Make decisions and take actions based on risk assessment.

* Act independently of special interests.

* Provide timely information to the public.

* Make decisions that are open, transparent and consultative.

* Avoid "over-regulation."

* Reconcile U.K. obligations under domes-tic and international law.

Michael Conlon is the agricultural attache at the Foreign Agricultural Service's Office of Agricultural Affairs in London, England. Tel.: (44-171) 408-8063; Fax: (44-171) 409-2019; E-mail: [email protected]

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