Government urged to press ahead with Food Standards Agency

29 October 1998

Government urged to press ahead with Food Standards Agency

A LEADING food safety expert yesterday (Wednesday) warned the Government not to delay plans for a Food Standards Agency.

Philip James, of the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, said such an agency was vital to restore consumer confidence in food and farming.

“You have to have a mechanism in place,” he warned the Government. “If it does not come, I think you will run into trouble.”

Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday side-stepped calls for the Food Standards Agency to be included in the Queens Speech for the next parliamentary session.

Mr Blair said the legislative programme would be put together “taking account of all the various issues”.

• 
  The Times 29/10/98 page 13
  
• The Independent 29/10/98 page 8 (Questions and Answers)
  
• The Herald 29/10/98 page 12