FSAW 22-04-01 - Minutes of the Welsh Food Advisory Meeting held on 2 February 2022

Present:

Welsh Food Advisory Committee (WFAC) Members Attending:

Peter Price, Chair; Alan Gardner; Dr Philip Hollington; Christopher Brereton OBE; Georgia Taylor; Dr John Williams; Helen Taylor; Jessica Williams

Officials Attending:

Julie Pierce – Director Wales, Information and Science 
Sioned Fidler – Head of Communications, Welsh Language and Business Support
Lucy Edwards – Business Manager
Jonathan Davies – Head of Policy (Standards) and Consumer Protection
Owen Lewis – Head of Policy (Hygiene) and Local Authority Partnerships
Ben Haden – Head of Strategy Delivery
Sam Faulkner – Head of Strategy Unit

Observers:

Caroline Kitson - Senior Communications Manager, FSA
Katie Mitchell – Senior Strategy Adviser
Nathan King – Senior Strategy Adviser
Kate Hargreaves – Head of Strategy Unit
Kerys James-Palmer- Head of Regulatory Policy

1.  Introductions and apologies

1.1   The Chair welcomed all attendees to the meeting. Apologies were noted from Nathan Barnhouse, Director of FSA in Wales. 

2.  Declaration of interests

2.1    No new declarations were made.

3.  Chair’s Update (Paper FSA 22/02/02)

3.1    The Chair provided an oral update on the December Board meeting and the papers discussed and the January Board retreat. 

4.  Director’s Update (Paper FSA 22/02/03)

4.1    In the absence of the Director, Jonathan Davies and Owen Lewis presented the written report which summarised the key activities of the FSA in Wales since the last meeting on 21 October 2021.

5.  FSA Strategy

5.1    A presentation was given on the FSA Strategy. The presentation explained the FSA mission and vision; Food you can trust, Food is safe, Food is what it says it is and Food is healthier and more sustainable and highlighted that the FSA will continue to prioritise our core role in protecting consumers by preventing and responding to disease and contamination of food whilst also giving consumers confidence that food is authentic and play our part supporting government partners and others to make it easy for consumers to access a healthier and more sustainable diet.

5.2    The presentation also outlined the guiding principles that reflect both the strength of the FSA and what it wants to maintain and the need to modernise and evolve the FSA’s approach considering a rapidly changing food system. 

5.3    Information was also provided on the timeline and implementation of the strategy.

5.4    The committee were pleased to receive the presentation and made the following comments: 

• That it was pleased to see acknowledgement and consideration of the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act and that it is assured that the FSA in Wales operates in the interests of the Act in all aspects of its work.
• That it was keen to understand how the effectiveness of the strategy be measured across the three countries and how differences across the three countries will be considered and evaluated.
• That it is pleased to see cross government working in relation to devolved responsibilities such as labelling.
• That it will be interested to see how the FSA Strategy aligns with the existing and emerging National Food Strategy in England and the strategy being prepared in Wales.
• That the definition of ‘food is healthier and more sustainable’ needs to be clear and agreed with all nations.

5.5   The commented that it looks forward to seeing the finalised Strategy and Board paper.

6.  WFAC forward look

6.1    The WFAC discussed topics of interest for future WFAC meetings, these included: 

• Raw drinking milk
• Less than thoroughly cooked burgers
• Dark kitchens/unregistered food businesses and online suppliers
• Animal Feed
• Antimicrobial resistance
• Food (Wales) Bill

6.2    The Chair and the secretariat will now work on a forward look for the upcoming themed meetings in 2022. 

7.  WFAC network mapping

7.1    The Chair undertook a network mapping exercise with members of the committee to establish any links pertinent to the work of the FSA that could be explored when discussing future topics.

8. AOB  

8.1    Members noted that the next themed meeting was to be held on 21 April at the FSA office in Cardiff.