Environment Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 6 February 2013.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the role of (a) the Food Standards Agency and (b) his Department is in (i) policing food safety, (ii) tracing the provenance of meat going into frozen and processed foods and (iii) labelling the content of the individual products.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is the central competent authority for food safety and has a statutory function to protect public health and consumers' other interests in relation to food and drink. The majority of food law enforcement is delegated to local authorities throughout the UK who carry out checks of all food businesses in their area to ensure compliance with food safety, traceability and labelling requirements. The FSA has support mechanisms in place to help local authorities deliver the controls and carries out monitoring and audit of their controls of business in their area.
The FSA is directly responsible for leading on food safety incidents, including misleading labelling and food fraud with possible food safety implications.
DEFRA has overall responsibility for food labelling policy in England and negotiations on behalf of the UK on labelling in the European Union. DEFRA has policy responsibility for labelling where this does not relate to food safety or nutrition, including the food authenticity programme. DEFRA spends £450,000 annually on food authenticity research.
Yes0 people think so
No0 people think not
Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.