Scientific credentials vital for food council
Scientific credentials vital for food council
ONLY farmers with a strong practical scientific background should sit on a food standards council to liaise over issues such as pesticide residues, according to the NFU.
Ian Gardiner, NFU director of policy, said the union should have someone who had the knowledge and practical experience to implement science on farms sitting on the council rather than a political figure.
Mr Gardiner said the NFU had looked at the make-up of a food standards body and felt there was also a need for input from senior food scientists with commercial experience.
Labour says its agency, resourced full-time by civil servants from the Department of Health and MAFF, would administer edicts demanded by a body incorporating scientists, consumer organisations, but probably not the farming industry.n