FSA ups focus on health
health, surveying the use of health claims, and campaigning to
reduce salt in processed foods.
The UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) is to increase its focus on diet and health, said chairman Sir John Krebs speaking at the inaugural Westminster Diet and Health Seminar in London this week.
Sir John said that the Agency will be working with others across Government to educate the 'next generation' to enable them to improve their dietary health.
Summarising progress made over the past three years (the seminar was held on the third anniversary of the launch of the Food Standards Agency), Krebs said the Agency has had a strong focus on 'traditional' issues of food safety: chemical contaminants, BSE, food poisoning, and authenticity, including getting food labelling onto the European agenda.
However the focus is now to turn to issues of diet and health. "Even though food-borne illness maybe kills 500 people a year, this is dwarfed by the food risks that contribute to cardio-vascular disease and cancer," said Krebs.
"There is also the growing epidemic of obesity, which has increased by a factor of three since 1980 in the country, but which is a worldwide threat, and is a new and growing food risk. Obesity is not simply about diet, but what we eat clearly has an influence."
The FSA chairman also discussed the issue of responsibility. He said there is a role for the FSA to provide accessible and reliable information, and the challenge is to turn information into knowledge - this would include spreading the 'five a day' message, working with children and on school meals.
There is also an incentive for the industry to 'help people help themselves' through labels. However he added there is a need to improve the quality of labelling to clear up the confusion about health claims.
The Food Standards Agency is to carry out further surveys to understand what is being claimed under health claims and how that stacks up against the scientific realities. "We will also check whether or not the industry is following our guidelines on potentially misleading claims such as '80% fat free'," he said.
The Agency also plans to study food ranges targeted at children - are these ranges healthier options or are they simply options that have been packaged for children?
And as we eat ever more processed foods, the FSA wants to see the industry adjust formulations to reflect scientific advice on healthier eating.
"Our current focus is on salt. Research shows that all of us are currently eating 50 per cent more salt than we should. That's been reinforced by new advice from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, which has set for the first time lower target levels for children. Reducing salt in food processed for us will bring huge health benefits to the nation in terms of cardiovascular disease," said Krebs.
Also speaking at the Westminster Diet and Health Forum, director general of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Sylvia Jay commented on the issue of reducing salt in manufactured foods: "Manufacturers are now working with the FSA to identify productswhere salt - or more precisely sodium - reductions have already beenachieved and where further reductions might be possible, for example in key processed foods such as bread, breakfast cereals, soups andsauces. These are sectors, of course, which contribute substantially to children's diets."
