Minutes of Food Standards Sub Committee Meeting: 22 May 2008

Welcome and Apologies

Attendees
Paul Bradley (Lothian and Borders Food Liaison Group) - Chair
George Mair (West of Scotland Food Liaison Group)
Jane Couper (Tayside Scientific Services)
Jim Dixon (Perth and Kinross Council)
Jacqui McElhiney (Senior Scientific Advisor, Food Standards Agency Scotland)
Stuart Musgrove (Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS))
Mary Lawton (Scottish Consumer Council)
John Bell (North of Scotland Food Liaison Group)
Catherine Ferro (Food Standards Agency Scotland) - Secretariat

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, particularly Mary Lawton who was attending for the first time and Jane Couper who was deputising for Stuart Joyce and Andrew Mackie.

Apologies had been received from Tom Reid (Consultant Microbiologist, Aberdeen), Lynn Cree (Environmental Health Advisor, Health Protection Scotland), Jervis Browne (East of Scotland Food Liaison Group), Stuart Joyce (Public Analyst, Glasgow Scientific Services), Andrew Mackie (Public Analyst, Edinburgh).

Minutes of last meeting held on 13 March 2008

The minutes were agreed as a true record.

Matters Arising

From 13 March 2008

Paul Bradley was to contact the Trading Standards Institute (TSI) to discuss costings for 'Environmental Health only' use.

The Association of Public Analysts and microbiologist representatives were to make arrangements for their representatives on the Research Working Group to be re-nominated or for replacements to be identified. All nominations were to be passed to Paul Bradley as soon as possible. Karen Sievewright was nominated as a representative for the Food Standards group.

From 22 May 2008

Jacqui McElhiney was to circulate requests for 2007 data to FSSC members.
All members were to submit their top five FSS queries to Paul.

Jacqui McElhiney was to circulate the 2007 FSS sampling data to the committee.

The next RWG meeting was to take place on 30 May in Pullar House.

The committee was asked for suggestions for future work for the RWG. There were suggestions for the gathering and analysis of information on (i) children's menus or (ii) the fat and SO2 content of mince.

Jacqui McElhiney added that she had shown the SF20 survey to the FSA Scotland nutrition team who had been interested in the data. It was suggested that the nutrition team could be given access to the FSS database so that they could download nutritional data for their own reports.

2008/09 Survey Programme
Updates were provided on surveys as emboldened in the 'Active surveys 2008/09 FSSC draft' document.

Options for a Chemical Survey
The committee discussed the chemical survey option for 2008-09, which had been put forward at the last meeting. Consideration was given to whether a survey on the salt, fat and sugar content of a limited range of predominantly Scottish foods should be taken forward. Jacqui McElhiney stressed that the FSA Scotland nutrition team had indicated that this work would be useful in providing data on products for which no information was currently available. It was suggested that much nutritional information was already available on the FSS, and that this should be investigated. Stuart Musgrove suggested that bread products should be included as a previous LACORS survey had highlighted high salt levels in Scottish breads.

A final decision would be made on the survey at the next meeting. However, it was agreed that if the survey were to go ahead it should be limited to two foodstuffs.

Paul Bradley advised the Committee of a meeting to be hosted by LACORS at FSA London on 23 July to discuss nutrition in nursery schools. The FSSC had been invited to provide a Scottish perspective to the meeting. However, Paul Bradley suggested that it may be more appropriate for the FSA Scotland nutrition team to represent Scotland and report back to the Committee through Jacqui McElhiney.
Action: Jacqui McElhiney to investigate nutritional data available on FSS for Scottish foods.
Action: Jacqui McElhiney to ask the FSA Scotland nutrition team to attend a meeting on nursery meals in place of Paul Bradley.

Jacqui McElhiney highlighted a potential FSAS research requirement to investigate sources of Salmonella serotypes in Scotland. The Salmonella reference laboratory already held a lot of data on clinical, animal and environmental isolates. However, data on food was limited. She asked the committee to consider the possibility of increasing this data-set through the increased surveillance of certain foods. This could be conducted by the public analyst laboratories testing all samples of certain ready-to-eat foods, such as fresh produce, sandwiches, seeds and nuts that had been submitted by Environmental Health Officers during a defined period, for the presence of salmonella. Jacqui McElhiney indicated that if this was considered feasible, FSA Scotland would cover additional costs not associated with Local Authorities’ requirements.

The Committee discussed how many samples were likely to be submitted to the laboratories and whether it would be possible for the laboratories to invoice the FSA directly for the additional costs. It was agreed that the FSSC would fully support FSA Scotland if it decided to take this work forward.

Paul Bradley reported that the Group had not met since the last FSSC meeting.

North of Scotland FLG

‘Dual’ date labelling for fresh meat products
The committee discussed the issue of suppliers providing products with dual date labelling whereby retailers would use the ‘use by’ date for fresh meat and the ‘best before’ date for frozen. The committee agreed that this was an illegal practice.

Lasalocid residue in eggs
This is a feed supplement for chickens which should be subject to a withdrawal period and should therefore not be detectable in eggs. The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have responsibility for this veterinary residue. At a recent Royal Environmental Health Institute in Scotland (REHIS) conference a presentation had been given which discussed whether local authority enforcement should consider this a food safety issue, and whether there should be a maximum limit in food. Paul Bradley indicated that Jim Thomson and Lydia Wilkie of FSA Scotland had attended this presentation and had agreed to make enquiries about the issue following the REHIS conference.
Action: Jacqui McElhiney to determine the outcome of enquiries made by Jim Thomson and Lydia Wilkie.

Vietnamese cobbler fish
John Bell advised the committee that this fish was available in Scotland, that it was known to be popular in France and that it had recently caused illness there. The committee recognised that local authorities may wish to sample this product if found on sale in Scotland.

Other FLGs
No further issues were raised by the East or West of Scotland FLGs, or the Lothian and Borders FLG.

There was some discussion on the scoring system for food standards inspections. It was mentioned that once a premises has been rated for its food standards its score would be unlikely to change.

Stuart’s presentation entitled ‘Co-ordinating Food Standards – LACORS role’ covered the LACORS food standards newsletter, food supplements, pesticide use and salt, while focusing on the calorific content of children’s food from leisure parks.

During the presentation, issues raised included what determines a healthy diet and whether the high calorific content found in children’s meals from leisure parks should come as a surprise. Discussions on the headlines this report may create would create an opportunity to publicise the healthy living campaign.

The report had not yet been published but Stuart Musgrove offered the group the data of all the Scottish results, and agreed to the presentation slides being circulated among colleagues within appropriate teams.

On behalf of FSSC Paul Bradley thanked Stuart for his presentation which had reminded the Committee of the benefit of co-ordinated sampling and the importance of Scotland participating in the wider UK programme.

The Committee noted that Paul Bradley had contacted FSAS regarding the question of 'complex menus' used in the food standards inspection hazard rating. It was agreed that FSSC should review the Code of Practice once it was published and identify areas for guidance and 'deemed to satisfy' work. This would most likely commence with an examination of the risk rating system.

Suggested agenda item for the next meeting
George Mair enquired whether guidance was required for Scottish butchers in regard to hanging time between slaughter and mincing. Jacqui McElhiney agreed to look into this matter in advance of the next meeting.
Action: Jacqui McElhiney to ask FSA Scotland enforcement colleagues for advice on LA responsibilities for advising Scottish butchers on hanging time requirements for meat intended for mincing.

Jim Dixon said that he had been tasked with considering possible ways of improving the profile of SFELC and its sub-committees following the last SFELC workshop. The committee agreed that the best option would be for SFELC to have an independent website which could be funded by the FSA. The committee agreed that this would enhance and reinforce the relevance and independence of SFELC.

The next meeting is to be held on 24 July 2008 at 10.30 am at Pullar House, Perth.