Minutes of Food Standards Sub Committee: 12 March 2009

Paul Bradley – Lothian and Borders Food Liaison Group (Chair)
Andrew Mackie – Public Analyst, Edinburgh
Catherine Ferro – FSA in Scotland (Secretariat)
Stuart Joyce – Public Analyst, Glasgow Scientific Services
Jacqui McElhiney – Senior Scientific Advisor, FSA in Scotland
Joe Harkin – West of Scotland Food Liaison Group

Welcome and apologies
The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies had been received by the following members:

John Bell – North of Scotland Food Liaison Group
John Sleith – East of Scotland Food Liaison Group
Mary Lawton – Consumer Focus Scotland
Jim Dixon – Perth and Kinross Council
Tom Reid – Consultant Microbiologist, Aberdeen
Lynn Cree – Environmental Health Advisor, Health Protection Scotland (HPS)
Jane Couper – Tayside Scientific Services

Joe Harkin was welcomed to the FSSC, on his first attendance, in place of George Mair, representing the West of Scotland Food Liaison Group.

Minutes of Last FSSC Meeting (15 January 2009)
The following amendments were made to the minutes. On page 2, Matters Arising, action 18.09.08 item 9, it was clarified that the enquiry in question was from South Lanarkshire council (see below). On page 3, Matters Arising, action 13.03.08 item 1, Paul Bradley explained he was still trying to contact Trading Standards Institute (TSI) with regard to the training DVD.

The minutes were then agreed as a true record.

Matters arising
Actions from 15.01.09
1. Paul Bradley to redraft International Glutamate Information Service (IGIS) letter response and recirculate for approval. – completed
2. Paul Bradley to circulate details of the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS) website detailed a web-based central contact point for collecting/actioning enquiries. – completed
3. Lynn Cree to email the committee an update of the latest on the Food Surveillance System (FSS). – ongoing
4. Paul Bradley to contact LACORS and emphasise that all survey information should only be obtained via FSS – ?
5. John Bell to ensure sample volume requirements for Aberdeen laboratory are communicated to relevant samplers for survey SF21. – ?
6. Paul Bradley / Catherine Ferro to identify recommendations of previous reports which might influence choice of surveys for 2009/10 – completed
7. Jacqui McElhiney to invite a member of the FSA in Scotland, policy labelling team to attend a committee meeting and discuss EU information for Consumers legislation. – completed
8. Mary Lawton to update the committee on progress of the work carried out by the National Food Policy work streams on 'Scottish' and 'Scotch'. – ongoing
9. Food Liaison Groups (FLGs) to contact Jacqui McElhiney directly with information on experience that Local Authorities had with manufacturers of materials in contact with food. In particular, whether written declarations of materials were being seen. – completed

Actions from 18.09.08
2. FSA in Scotland to continue to encourage non-participating councils to use FSS. – ongoing
9. George Mair to clarify the enquiry from South Lanarkshire Council and provide further details to the Research Working Group. – ongoing

Actions from 13.03.08
1. Paul Bradley to contact Trading Standards Institute (TSI) to discuss costings for 'Environmental Health only' use. – ongoing

Report on 2007 data/Food Surveillance System (FSS)
Paul Bradley gave the committee an overview on the background of this report, mentioning in particular the discussion, recommendation and conclusion sections. This will be the first publication in Scotland with results from the UK (FSS). There will be about 100 booklets produced and will be available on both the FSA and UK FSS websites.

Thanks were noted by the committee to the Research Working Group (RWG) and to Anpu Varghese in particular who has spent many hours working on this report.

It was discussed whether Jacqui McElhiney should attend the next SFELC meeting on 2 April to give a short presentation of the UK FSS report, in order to spread the word to a wider audience.
Action: Jacqui McElhiney to check her availability.

General/FSS
It was agreed by the committee that the RWG should continue its work as it has helped to lead to refinements within the FSS database.

For the 2008 report, there should be separate scientific and editorial committees to help smooth the process of writing and publishing the report. The first meeting should take place soon and should discuss the scope of the work; in addition the RWG should invite a wider variety of expertise to join the group. Now that there is a template in place for writing the report it should be easier to produce the subsequent years’ reports.

The new project manager for the FSA, Ethan Taylor, has been in post for six weeks and has made a positive impact on the work. He is keen to meet with Environmental Health Officers (EHO) sampling teams and especially those in North and South Lanarkshire. He may have found a solution to the problem of double entry of data and is keen to explain this to FSS users.
Action: Jacqui McElhiney to arrange for Ethan Taylor to meet with North and South Lanarkshire.

An issue was raised in relation to the management of the FSS system in future, whether a full time FSS manager is required.
Action: Jacqui McElhiney to discuss this with FSA London.

2008/09
The survey programme was discussed. There were no action points, but the following discussion also took place.

Paul Bradley gave an update including the role that the UK FSS database now plays in Scotland, it being an integral role in making a decision on choosing future surveys.

Paul Bradley updated the Committee on problems encountered with LACORS accessing survey data from FSS. It was agreed that the UK FSS database is there to be used and that it should not require Paul Bradley or Jacqui McElhiney to send reports from FSS to LACORS.
Action: Paul Bradley to impress on LACORS that survey data will only be made available via FSS
Action: Jacqui McElhiney to raise these issues with Ethan Taylor, FSA

Consumer Focus Scotland (CFS) report 'Fountain Failures'
Andrew Mackie explained the background that had occurred prior to the communication FSSC had received from Professor Jeni Colbourne, Chief Inspector of Drinking Water, England and Wales.

In 2008 Lothian & Borders FLG carried out a survey on the microbiological quality of water coolers which CFS summarised and published as a report entitled, “Fountain Failures”. In its conclusions it mentions SFELC are organising a survey throughout Scotland. It is with regard to this national survey that Professor Colbourne has made 14 comments / suggestions to the Committee.

Andrew Mackie lead a discussion of the points made by Professor Colbourne. It was agreed that the Committee was in fundamental disagreement with a number of the points raised and that AM should draft a response.
ACTION – Andrew Mackie to draft a response to the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland discussing the points raised by the Chief Inspector of Drinking Water, England and Wales.

It was agreed that this debate and previous issues surrounding the Monosodium Glutamate report should be borne in mind by authors of future protocols and reports.

2009/10
The suggestions for the 2009/10 chemical survey are noted below;
1. SO2 in burgers and sausages,
2. Nitrates in meat products,
3. Colours in cakes and confectionary products,
4. Salt / Sodium levels in Scottish produced breads.

The committee favoured the ‘Colours’ and ‘Salt/sodium’ surveys options, which would be numbered SF22 and SF23 respectively. In addition, Jacqui McElhiney mentioned she would like to carry out these surveys in co-ordination with the Northern Ireland standards group. These will be carried out in the first half of the financial year 2009/10.

Discussion followed around whether a baseline for the salt / sodium content of breads was available.

A suggestion for the choice for the microbiological survey was to gather a data set on pathogens to build up a picture for possible future surveys. There were no further options, as such the choice for the microbiological survey was been postponed at the moment.

Paul Bradley reported that there had been no meeting of FSCWG since the last FSSC meeting.

Andrew Mackie informed the committee that the Western Isles council (Comhairle nan Eilean Siar) was now operating under the North of Scotland FLG.
Action: Andrew Mackie to inform Lynn or Lorna at Health Protection Scotland (HPS) of this information.

Food standards in the catering sector
Paul Bradley explained that Jacqui McElhiney, Andrew Mackie and Steve Hardie of FSA in Scotland would identify the scope of work for this project and would then bring on board people who have front line experience of dealing with this issue.

Update on EU information for consumers legislation
Catherine Ferro informed the committee that Christine Green from the policy food standards and labelling team in FSA in Scotland had provisionally agreed to attend the FSSC on 9 July 09 and give an update on this topic. A current updated provided by Christine had also been circulated.

The next meeting will be held on 14 May 2009 at 10:30am at Pullar House, Perth