The UK’s Department of Health yesterday insisted the country’s coalition government has yet to make a decision on the future of the Food Standards Agency. Reports this weekend in the UK suggested that the agency, the country’s food watchdog, would be disbanded. The FSA would see its functions move to the Department of Health and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Reuters said. However, the Department of Health said “no decision had been taken with the... ...Read more »

A leading professor has stepped down from his role in a UK government group set up to look at public opinion on GM food in protest over efforts to “rig” findings, according to reports. Prof Brian Wynne was vice chairman of a group set up by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to gauge the public’s thoughts on GM food. However, Wynne has resigned from his role in protest at the use of taxpayers’ money to promote “propaganda” in favour of genetically modified food, according... ...Read more »

The UK’s Food Standards Agency has today published revised, voluntary salt reduction targets for industry to meet by 2012 – offering more challenging targets to the food industry. The revision has been set for 80 categories of foods, to ensure continued momentum in reducing salt levels is maintained by food retailers and manufacturers, the food standards body advised. Around 75% of the salt consumed is already in everyday foods, the FSA said, with the targets being set for foods that... ...Read more »

The UK Food Standards Agency warns that one in five UK traditional Christmas dinner lovers will risk food poisoning this year by eating old turkey leftovers. A FSA survey looked into the eating habits of UK consumers at Christmas and showed that 23% of people in Wales were most likely to keep turkey leftovers in the fridge for up to a week, way past the recommended two-day limit. While people in Scotland and the north east of England were the quickest to use up their turkey leftovers, those in the... ...Read more »

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has established that there is a continued downward trend in the amount of salt consumed by people in the UK. The Agency has been pushing the decreased salt message for a number of years and an encouraging decline in recent years reflects the positive progress made by the food industry in reformulating products, as well as the behaviour changes of consumers, who are checking labels and adding less salt to their food. The new evidence estimates that the UK’s average... ...Read more »

Alarming results released today by the Australian Division of World Action on Salt and Health (AWASH) show that only 2% of sausages in Australian supermarkets meet acceptable salt levels. AWASH revealed that one single sausage sandwich at a local barbecue could contain as much as 6 grams of salt; 100% of the maximum daily recommended amount for adults and almost double that recommended for children. The product overview shows that other products commonly eaten at barbecues, such as hamburger patties,... ...Read more »