FSA warns that safety standards must take priority on farms
UK - Farmers must come to terms with the fact that they are part of the food chain. This is appreciated by most progressive individuals who act accordingly, but the majority of industry participants will now be subject to a greater degree of scrutiny.
14 November 2006
2 minute read
That much was made clear last week in Aberdeen by George Paterson, chief executive of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in Scotland.
The FSA was established in 2000 by the government in the wake of an apparent lack of public confidence in food following a range of major scares, including the BSE crisis and the serious outbreak of E coli from a butcher's shop in Wishaw. Both of those events happened ten years ago, but much has been accomplished since then.
However, a new regulation from the European Commission in Brussels - H123 - seeks to give even greater assurances to consumers. This regulation, which comes into force from the beginning of December, will see 17 of the current directives consolidated into just five.
Paterson explained: "The core role of the FSA is food safety and more and more of the regulations are driven by Brussels. There will, inevitably, be more on-farm enforcement and there will be an obligation on the industry to get its act together."
Source: The Scotsman
