Coalition Government Abolishes Food Standards Agency

London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – British Health Secretary Andrew Lansley will abolish the Food Standards Agency. Lansley will turn over to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs the functions of the FSA, particularly the regulatory tasks over safety and hygiene. The Department of Health will take over the FSA’s oversight over nutrition, diet and public health.

Coalition Government Abolishes Food Standards Agency

The abolition of the FSA is a result of a long battle by the agency with industry over a warning system for grocery items, TV dinners and snacks.

Lansley’s decision was criticized by some groups for giving in to industry. Labor Health spokesman Andrew Burnham said Lansley’s move places a question if the secretary is protecting public health or promoting food firms. Soil Association Director Patrick Holden said Lansley’s decision appears to confirm the organic food group’s suspicion that the food industry has a large influence over the British government.

The FSA row with food companies was a proposed mandatory labeling of food products with the colors red to indicate the amount of fat and saturated fat content, amber for salt and green for sugar. The proposal is in line with a Europe-wide initiative to provide consumers sufficient information about the food available and help Britain battle obesity.

British health, medical and diet groups supported the initiative, while most groceries were against the proposal. European Parliament, however, made a turnaround in June and supported instead another system which had the backing of multinationals. The system pushed for a guideline on the daily amounts of fat, salt and sugar contents, instead of the traffic lights scheme which many consumers said is easier to understand.

During the campaign last year, the Conservative Party has hinted changes in the FSA in terms of reducing its power and placing the watchdog under ministerial control. Until last week, the Department of Health said the status of the FSA was under review.

The agency was apparently caught unaware since it even announced in early July the launch of a website to collate the views of Britons on food safety. The Your Freedom portal was supposed to gather ideas on how regulations could be abolished or amended to make running a food business easier. Instead, it was the FSA – which has 2,000 employees – that will face the axe in the coming days.