HC Deb 01 May 1991 vol 190 cc204-6W
Mr. Butterfill

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement about the work of the consumer panel.

Mr. Maclean

My right hon. Friend announced on 2 November 1989,Official Report, Vol. 159, c. 317–18, that he was setting up the consumer panel in order to improve the dialogue between the Ministry and consumers and to allow consumers the opportunity to play a more effective role in the formulation of food policy. In the period to 31 March 1991, the panel has met five times. The minutes of its meetings and all papers submitted to it are publicly available on request and are routinely circulated to over 100 parties. Its agenda are published before each meeting. Senior officials of both MAFF and the Department of Health have attended its meetings, which I have chaired.

The panel has been anxious to examine the procedures for making sure that food is safe. It has looked at the work of five of the expert committees which assist Departments and has probed the representation of consumer interests on these committees and within MAFF. It has also discussed risk assessment and the Department of Health's food hazard warning system. Research and development has been the theme of one meeting and the panel visited MAFF's food science laboratory to see its work at first hand. The panel has emphasised the need for increased consumer education with information published in readily assimilable form; and for full weight to be given to consumer concerns. This work continues.

It has also been anxious to ensure that as much information as possible should be freely available. This has been a recurrent subject during the panel's discussions as well as being specifically discussed on one occasion. The wide availability of panel papers itself contributes to the information put into the public domain. At a meeting earlier this month, I was able to report a number of changes in procedures intended to make more information publicly available and to make access easier.

In addition, panel members have raised a number of issues causing them concern:

  • BSE;
  • food irradiation;
  • water quality;
  • the production and regulation of compound animal feeds the handling of frozen food in retail outlets;
  • the use of pesticides in potato production in Northern Ireland;
  • the need to encourage better nutrition;
  • food safety enforcement standards.

In addition, the panel has discussed matters which were of current interest at the time of meetings such as, the use of cling film, food labelling, the training of food handlers and the so-called "Fourth Hurdle" initiative within the European Parliament.

At its request, the Ministry and the Department of Health have also produced brief notes summarising Departments' aims in relation to food safety.

I have consulted the panel on a number of specific issues on which a consumer input was particularly useful in determining the course to follow:

  • the labelling of cheese made from unpasteurised milk;
  • advice to consumers on the use of saccharin;
  • advice to consumers on the intake of vitamin A;
  • consumer information programmes.

I am grateful to panel members for the time they have given. Their questioning has led us to re-examine departmental practices and thinking and they have widened the range of views which go into the formulation of policy. I have found these discussions very worthwhile.