Focus. Protecting UK consumers: the experience of the Food Standards Agency. Sintesi a cura di Luisa Crisigiovanni. Deirdre Hutton

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1 Protcting UK consumrs: th xprinc of th Food Standards Agncy Dirdr Hutton Sintsi a cura di Luisa Crisigiovanni La Food Standards Agncy è il primo dipartimnto govrnativo nl Rgno Unito ch si occupa di sicurzza salut alimntar d è stata istituita nl 2000 proprio pr tutlar gli intrssi dl consumator. È stata concpita com un dipartimnto non ministrial, govrnato da un Consiglio indipndnt. Gran part dll attività è finalizzata alla sicurzza alimntar, contrastando l tossinfzioni alimntari ch portano a circa 500 dcssi all anno nl Rgno Unito. Tuttavia, il più grand rischio pr la salut pubblica è qullo lgato alla salubrità dlla dita al disquilibrio dll sostanz nutritiv ingrit, problmatich ch conducono all obsità, all malatti cardio-vascolari a crti tipi di cancro. È significativo notar com la FSA utilizzi con intrss l nuov tcnologi, com i social mdia, pr favorir la comunicazion con il pubblico. Usa svariati mtodi pr stringr rapporti con un numro smpr più largo di prson, consapvol ch non tutti possono ssr raggiunti nllo stsso modo: non tutti, infatti, hanno un accsso a Intrnt, sanno usar un tlfono cllular o parlano ingls com prima lingua. La dtrminazion dll Agnzia nl mttr al primo posto l intrss dl consumator non significa comunqu far qullo ch i consumatori vogliono. La Food Standards Agncy, com tutti gli organismi rgolatori, dv trovar un dlicato quilibrio tra la valutazion dlla conoscnza dl consumator il fatto di basar l propri dcisioni sui consigli dgli sprti sulla voc dlla scinza. Oltr a srvirsi dll indicazioni fornit dai comitati scintifici, l Agnzia invst più di 20 milioni di strlin all anno pr una sri di ricrch in divrsi sttori dlla politica alimntar. Significativo è il livllo di aprtura dlla FSA: pr l Agnzia rndr disponibili l informazioni è la norma; consigli informazioni sono rsi largamnt fruibili, inclusa la spigazion di com l dcisioni siano stat prs. La manifstazion più visibil di qusta politica di aprtura riguarda l riunioni dl Consiglio dll Agnzia, organismo dputato a prndr dcisioni. Il Consiglio si riunisc in pubblico chiunqu può assistr alla riunion o guardarla in dirtta sul sito Intrnt. 48 Dirdr Hutton Food Standards Agncy Luisa Crisigiovanni Altroconsumo Associazion Indipndnt di Consumatori Mrcato

2 Il fatto ch il Consiglio si riunisca in sssion aprta assicura una trasparnza sull modalità con cui l Agnzia ffttua la valutazion dl rischio, soppsando l considrazioni, com ssa arrivi alla dcision sulla gstion di qusto rischio. Tutto qusto ha luogo in sssion aprta. Molti stakholdr intrssati partcipano agli incontri, altri li guardano in dirtta sul wb. In gnr circa 50 prson prndono part fisicamnt alla riunion più di 500 la sguono onlin. L Agnzia è sicura ch qusto impgno pr garantir la trasparnza sia la chiav pr ottnr la fiducia di consumatori. E qusta fiducia è ssnzial pr una comunicazion fficac al consumator stsso. Un altro smpio di com l Agnzia dimostri aprtura ni confronti dl pubblico è il Chif Scintist Andrw Wadg s blog. Il blog è prcpito com un volto amico dll Agnzia, ch può incoraggiar l prson ad avvicinarsi a ssa in modi divrsi, d è util pr stimar l impatto dl proprio lavoro sui consumatori. Spsso il modo miglior pr protggr i consumatori è dar loro informazioni ch li rndano sicuri nl momnto in cui prndono dcisioni in autonomia. Pr smpio, fra i progtti ch al momnto mirano a confrir potr ai consumatori attravrso l informazion, vi è qullo rlativo alla valutazion dll igin di cibi di ristoranti di altr imprs di ristorazion. Qust stim si sprimono con un puntggio dato a ciascuna imprsa, ch potrà ssr sposto all ingrsso dl local. L affission è volontaria, ma qusto portrà comunqu i clinti prspicaci a porsi dll domand su qui locali ch non la sporranno. La miglior forma di rgolazion non sta in ciò ch l Agnzia in quanto rgolator dic alla gnt di far, ma piuttosto in un sistma ch dà all prson informazioni sufficinti, appropriat chiar, così ch possano far l propri sclt in manira fficac. Dall ultimo sondaggio sull opinion dll prson ni confronti dll agnzia mrg com il 60% dl pubblico ch conosc la FSA la considri un organizzazion di cui ci si può fidar. Qusta fiducia è guadagnata favorndo la partcipazion dl pubblico. Ed è important ricordar ch i dati scintifici a supporto dll indicazioni di consigli alimntari forniti dall Agnzia vngono accolti dai consumatori proprio in ragion dlla fiducia ch ssi ripongono nlla FSA ni suoi procssi dcisionali. Snza qusta fiducia, ch prsuppon trasparnza partcipazion, l comunicazioni dlla FSA, pur scintificamnt fondat, non avrbbro sguito. Mrcato 49

3 Introduction Th Food Standards Agncy is th lad Govrnmnt dpartmnt in th Unitd Kingdom on food safty and halthy ating. It was stablishd in 2000 with th rmit statd in th Food Standards Act 1999 «to protct th public halth from risks... which may aris in connction with th consumption of food and othrwis to protct th intrst of consumrs in rlation to food». This articl dscribs th work of th Food Standards Agncy in protcting public halth. It looks at th stablishmnt of th Food Standards Agncy and how it nsurs that th intrsts of consumrs ar protctd and th importanc of building trust in th Agncy. It looks at th Agncy s ky principls: putting th consumr first, bing scinc and vidnc basd, and a clar commitmnt to opnnss and indpndnc. All of ths hav contributd to building th Agncy s rputation and nsuring that it can work ffctivly with stakholdrs - th food industry, consumr and halth organisations, othr govrnmnt dpartmnts, local authoritis and th scinc community - to dlivr th Agncy s goals. Th articl also looks at th challngs th Agncy facs in providing information to consumrs. Establishing th FSA Th FSA was st up in th wak of th bovin spongiform ncphalopathy (BSE) crisis of th 1980s and 1990s. Th initial Govrnmnt rspons to BSE suggstd that thr was no risk to public halth. This was subsquntly shown to b inaccurat as popl bcam infctd with nw variant Crutzfld-Jakob disas, blivd to b tramsmittd from ating parts of infctd cattl. This ld to public confidnc in th Govrnmnt ovr food issus raching an all-tim low. Th stablishmnt of th Food Standards Agncy was intndd to addrss this, a frsh start to protcting consumrs. Prviously, th rsponsibility for food safty rstd with th Ministry of Agricultur, Fishris and Food. This dpartmnt was also rsponsibl for promoting th intrsts of th food and farming industry. It was prcivd that this had cratd a conflict of intrst and mant that th intrsts of UK consumrs wr not bing put first. Th Food Standards Agncy was stablishd spcifically to put th intrsts of consumrs first. It was st up as a non-ministrial dpartmnt. Rathr than th authority for th Agncy rsting with a ministr, th Agncy is ld by an indpndnt Board. 50 Mrcato

4 Th rol of th Food Standards Agncy Th work of th Agncy mbracs a numbr of aras. It rgulats food safty law in th UK. It rviws and considrs rsarch on issus rlating to food safty and also undrtaks its own rsarch. Whr appropriat, for xampl in cass whr lgislation is rquird, th Agncy provids advic to Govrnmnt ministrs. In othr aras it provids advic to th public on food and food safty. Work on food safty plays an important rol in tackling food-born illnss which lads to around 500 daths a yar in th UK. But arguably th gratr public halth risk in rlation to food is du to ditary halth, and th imbalanc of nutrints which lads to obsity, cardio-vascular disas and crtain cancrs. Th Agncy has incrasd its focus on improving ditary halth through work on rducing intaks of salt and saturatd fat, improving th nrgy balanc in popl s dits and providing bttr information for consumrs. Its ffctivnss in this work dpnds on a numbr of factors. Ky to ths hav bn dmonstrating to th public and to stakholdrs a dtrmination to put th consumr first. This has ld to an activ programm of consumr ngagmnt so that in all aras of its policy work th Agncy is listning carfully to th viws of consumrs. Engaging with consumrs Th dmocratic principls of social quality and rspct for th individual ar intrinsic to th thr ky rasons for ngaging with consumrs: dvlop ffctiv policy and communication stratgis. Good policy is basd on a gnuin undrstanding of consumrs - thir livs, dsirs and constraints; incras trust and lgitimacy by bing opn to public scrutiny and incrasing public awarnss of our work; dvlop ongoing dialogu with consumrs, and othrs, which nabls th Agncy to build alliancs for positiv chang. Bing accssibl, transparnt and having th public s trust is conduciv to a fluid dialogu, and hlps dialogu continu during difficult tims. Th FSA is a thoughtful organisation, kn to us nw tchnologis, such as social mdia and othr mthods, to facilitat public dialogu. It uss wid-ranging mthods to ngag with as many popl as possibl, bcaus not vryon can b rachd in th sam way - not vryon has onlin accss, is abl to us a mobil phon or can spak English as a first languag, for xampl. Traditional forms of ngagmnt such as public mtings, writtn consultations and focus groups ar usd. But th full spctrum of ngagmnt mth- Mrcato 51

5 ods rangs from quantitativ rsarch, which involvs no dlibration (such as vidnc rviws, opinion polls and survys) and littl dirct dialogu with th public (this includs qualitativ dpth intrviws, rconvnd discussion groups, onlin consultations, onlin discussion forums), through to citizns forums, dlibrativ polling, and citizns summits, as wll as consnsus building workshops, which ar almost ntirly built on dlibration and intraction, and citizn juris, whr dlibration dominats. Th wb is usd to ngag by making th wbsit accssibl and usabl. It is usd to issu prss rlass and nws storis, so th public, via th mdia or othrwis, ar kpt informd arly on about policy dcisions and nw advic. Across th UK, tn Citizns Forums on Food ach mt thr tims a yar to dvlop a dpr, richr convrsation with th public to undrstand som of th currnt concrns that consumrs hav about food issus, and to gain thir input into th arlist stags of policy dvlopmnt. Th cas study blow on animal cloning illustrats th approach takn. Cas study: animal cloning and implications for th food chain Issu Animal cloning is an mrging tchnology in th Europan Union and is mor dvlopd in th US. If its us bcoms conomically possibl, thr is th potntial for food producd from clond animals to com on th markt. Th currnt rgulatory position is that no clond animals, thir offspring or thir products can ntr th food chain. Th FSA rsarchd th UK public s viws about cloning animals, and clond animals, thir offspring and thir products (such as milk and mat) ntring th food chain. Th rsarch was just on part of th ngagmnt procss. It not only informd th FSA policy position in this ara but also informd th communications stratgy, anothr ky part of public ngagmnt. Rsarch mthod and challngs To ovrcom th challng of how to ask popl about a complx subjct thy would hav littl knowldg about, a dlibrativ approach was adoptd, basd on rconvnd workshops. Participants took part in two thr-hour sssions, as wll as carrying out thir own background rading and rsarch. Th FSA providd rading matrial, as wll as links to othr sourcs of information, that ndd to giv sufficint dpth but also b undrstandabl to popl from a wid rang of socio-dmographic backgrounds. 52 Mrcato

6 First workshop focusd on currnt livstock brding mthods, an xplanation of how clons ar producd, how this tchniqu can b applid to animal livstock brding and th implications of this for th food chain. Intrim priod of on wk to allow participants to rflct on th information thy had rcivd and to do thir own rsarch. Scond workshop focusd on participants viws on buying and ating food drivd from clons and thir offspring, as wll as th stps thy thought should b takn if such food wnt on sal in th UK. FSA scintists wr prsnt to answr qustions and ngag in dialogu dirctly. To allow a wid rang of viws to b xprssd, vryon was givn th spac to xprss thir viws at brakout groups and during a mixtur of xrciss. Som participants wr scptical about th purpos of th rsarch, holding th viw that prhaps th FSA had a hiddn agnda to prsuad thm of th bnfits of cloning. Outcoms Participants ky aras of concrn wr whthr food drivd from clons would b saf to at, standards of animal wlfar, th lack of tangibl consumr bnfits, and a mistrust in th motivs of th main playrs involvd. Th us of scinc Th Agncy s dtrmination to put consumrs first dos not man simply doing what consumrs want. Th Food Standards Agncy, lik all rgulatory bodis, has to strik a dlicat balanc btwn considring consumr knowldg, valus and attituds and basing its dcisions on xprt advic and sound scinc. Th Agncy has a strong scinc bas, both in its staff and in th xtrnal advic rcivd. Almost half of th agncy s staff hav a scinc background with th majority of thos having postgraduat rsarch xprinc. In addition thr is xprtis and challng from about 150 minnt scintists who sit on th 10 indpndnt scintific committs which advis th Agncy. For xampl ths includ th committs on carcinogncity, on novl foods and on nutrition. Th two most rcnt additions to th committ structur ar a Gnral Advisory Committ on Scinc and a Social Scinc Committ. Th Gnral Advisory Committ provids an additional chck that scinc govrnanc structurs rmain robust. It also co-ordinats th horizon scanning work undrtakn by all of th scintific advisory committs. This is providing valuabl intllignc on mrging risks and challngs. Th Social Scinc Committ rflcts th growing importanc of this branch of scinc. Social scinc has particularly grown in importanc as th Agncy has dvlopd policis on ditary halth whr thr is a strong nd to undr- Mrcato 53

7 stand bttr th bhaviour of consumrs in ordr to rach bttr policy dcisions. Th social scinc committ is hlping th Agncy do this. As wll as th advic from scintific committs, th Agncy commissions ovr 20m of rsarch ach yar across a rang of food policy aras. Hr ar thr xampls of currnt projcts to dmonstrat th rang which th rsarch programm covrs. A study of causs of infctious intstinal disas to undrstand th xtnt to which foodborn illnss is a caus of th disas. This will improv forcasting of th lvls of foodborn illnss. An Amrican study to undrstand th triggrs of panut intolranc in childrn. This will hlp tst th thory that high lvls of xposur to allrgns at a young ag may prvnt th dvlopmnt of food allrgy. An analytical mthod to hlp dtct mchanically rcovrd mat. This is hlping protct consumrs by nsuring that th hygin ruls around th us of mchanically rcovrd mat ar nforcd. Opnnss and transparncy 54 Thr is a third lmnt to how th Agncy oprats which has bn ky to nsuring public confidnc - an unshakabl commitmnt to opnnss and transparncy. For th Agncy disclosur of information is th norm. Advic and information is mad widly availabl, including xplaining how dcisions ar rachd. Th most visibl manifstation of th policy of opnnss concrns th Agncy s Board mtings. It is at th Board that policy dcisions ar takn. Th Board mts in public; anyon can attnd th mting or watch thm liv on th wbsit. Th fact that th Board mts in opn sssion nsurs that it is clar how w ar wighing th risk assssmnt vidnc against othr considrations and how w com to our risk managmnt dcisions. Lt m giv an xampl of how this works in practic. Th Board was rcntly askd to considr a chang to th ruls allowing ovrthirty-month cattl into th food chain. Undr th nw Europan ruls, crtain countris with robust monitoring systms could amnd th rgulations to allow cattl ovr forty-ight months to ntr th food chain. For th obvious rason of our history, this is a particularly snsitiv subjct in th UK. Th Board considrd th advic of SEAC, th rlvant advisory committ. Its advic highlightd that th risks wr vry small. But in discussion it bcam clar that alongsid any chang it would b snsibl to maintain th currnt lvl of monitoring of BSE lvls in cattl so that w rmaind vigilant to changs in th risk profil. Mrcato

8 Th Board considrd that th cas for a chang had ffctivly bn mad. But that it would b prudnt to sk rassurancs on th futur monitoring rgim, which is th rsponsibility of th Environmnt and Rural Affairs dpartmnt. W thrfor dfrrd a final dcision until thos rassurancs had bn rcivd. Onc thos wr givn at our nxt mting w agrd our rcommndation to ministrs that th ovr forty-ight month chang b implmntd. All of this took plac in our opn sssion. Many intrstd stakholdrs attndd th mtings. Othrs watchd liv on th wb. Typically w will hav 50 popl attnding a Board mting in prson, and up to 500 watching it on th wb. W ar crtain that this commitmnt to opnnss is ky to winning th trust of consumrs. And that trust is ssntial to our ffctiv communication to consumrs. Anothr xampl of how th Agncy dmonstrats opnnss has bn our Chif Scintist Andrw Wadg s blog. This has bn running for two yars, and initially formd part of th Hansard Socity s Digital Dialogus projct. Andrw is trying to rach out to popl who ar intrstd in th scinc bhind th story and ncourags thm to accss th dpth of vidnc and analysis that driv th Board s public discussions of policy. This has triggrd usful dbats around scinc and food safty, such as raw milk. Th blog is sn as a frindly fac of th Agncy, which may also ncourag popl into ngaging with us in othr ways, and is usful for gauging th impact of our work. An illustration of how scinc and consumr communications mt is th study which w undrtook on artificial food colours in Th advic from our Scintific Committ on Toxicity was that th study showd a clar but modst association - not caus and ffct - btwn two mixturs of a spcific st of additivs and an incras in hypractiv bhaviour in som, but not all, childrn. Our initial risk managmnt rspons was thrfor to targt advic at parnts of childrn showing signs of hypractivity as thy would s th most bnfit from cutting out foods containing ths colours. Howvr it swiftly bcam clar that this advic raisd qustions for many othr parnts too. Thr was a strong sns that if ths colours wr only bing addd to food for prsntational rasons thn mor strnuous fforts should b takn to stop thir us. With this fdback w supplmntd our advic with furthr information for consumrs. W mphasisd th point that thr was no immdiat food safty risk, hnc no cas for an immdiat ban. But w also calld on th food industry to tak voluntary action to withdraw ths colours from us by th nd of It was a strong rmindr for us that w nd to b clos to consumrs, and maintain a thorough undrstanding of thir concrns. Only thn can w nsur that our risk managmnt dcisions and our risk communication will find a rcptiv audinc. In many aras th Agncy blivs that th bst way to protct consumrs is to giv thm information so that thy ar confidnt in making thir own d- Mrcato 55

9 cisions. Thr ar two schms at prsnt which sk to mpowr consumrs through information. Th first of ths rlats to food hygin assssmnts for rstaurants and othr catring stablishmnts. Ths assssmnts lad to a scor for ach outlt. W ar now dvloping a Scors on th Doors schm which will allow th scor to b displayd at th vnu. Th scor will probably b translatd into a rating systm, somthing lik a star rating systm. Our xprinc of whr w hav pilotd th schm in th UK, and also th vidnc from schms lswhr in th world, is that consumrs find this information intrsting and usful. Displaying th scor will b voluntary, but w hop that discrning customrs will soon start to ask qustions about placs not displaying th scor. In turn w would xpct this to driv up food hygin standards. Similarly w ar xploring this approach in th us of calori information on rstaurant mnus. W ar working with a numbr of rstaurant chains to bgin using this information and so undrstand th challngs in providing this information and how diffrnt ways of displaying it will inform consumrs. But th outcom w bliv will b a nw and ffctiv way of communicating risk information to consumrs. Working with th grain of th markt, rathr than using th forc of rgulatory powrs. I hav always blivd that th bst form of rgulation is not on whr w as a rgulator tll popl what to do. But rathr a systm that givs popl sufficint, appropriat and clar information so that thy can mak thir own choics in an ffctiv way. Conclusion I am convincd that it is our structur and our cultur which ar ky to assssing and managing food safty risk. Th scintific rigour is th bas on which our dcisions ar mad. Our indpndnc and transparncy provids rassuranc to consumrs. Th trust which consumrs plac in our dcisions also provids markt stability for industry - vry important and a significant chang from th 1990 s. Th futur 56 Popl ar complicatd. What mattrs to an individual might b diffrnt to what mattrs to th widr world, and th difficulty in diffrntiating btwn th two will continu to b a challng which w must bar in mind. Clarly th challngs of food policy and tchnology ar hr to stay. Th World Bank stimats that th global dmand for food will ris by 50% by Such a Mrcato

10 thrat to food scurity may wll impact on th public s attitud to mrging aras of food scinc and tchnologis that might improv th fficincy of food production - such as GM, clond animals and nanotchnology - if ths mthods ar prcivd or provn to b a sustainabl solution for futur gnrations. But tchnological advancs in communication can hlp us with this ngagmnt as wll as prsnting us with issus that w nd to tackl. So w will continu to xprimnt with dvlopmnts in onlin and digital tchnology, to hlp us incras th rang of popl with whom w ngag. And at th sam tim w will continu to work with our staff, our committs and our stakholdrs to nmsh our public ngagmnt in our policy making procss - to knit togthr old mthods with nw tchnologis to achiv th FSA vision of saf food and halthy ating for all. In th latst survy of popl s attituds to th Agncy, 60% of th public who had hard of th Agncy rat th FSA as an organisation thy can trust. But that trust is arnd, and public ngagmnt is vital in hlping us arn it. W hav always bn clar that our policis ar informd by th bst scinc. But without arning that trust, th public will not accpt th scinc that supports our advic on food. Mrcato 57