The Food Standards Agency held an open board meeting on 8 May in Cardiff, Wales - which was also broadcast live on the Agency's website - to discuss the recent reports on vitamins and minerals, phytoestrogens and GM foods.
The paper from the Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals (EVM), an independent scientific advisory committee, reviewed data on vitamins and minerals that were either essential to human health or available in food supplements on the UK market. Its controversial report comprises a series of assessments identifying safe upper levels or guidance levels and was at the centre of an uproar within the industry at the end of last week.
The FSA Board said it welcomed the report of the EVM and expressed its appreciation of the hard work that had been put into the exercise by the Working Group and officials. Further it noted that the report will be forwarded to the European Food Safety Authority, which will be advising the Commission on EU maximum limits as well as US food safety authorities. The Board also said it welcomed the consumer advice on possible risks associated with some high-dose products, which has been published on the Agency website.
Future action agreed on by the Agency included considering additional ways of making the advice available to the public, discussing with the industry possible action to reduce the dose and/or provide label warnings for some high-dose food supplements, pending setting of EU maximum limits. The board agreed to report back in six months' time.
The Board also decided that it should carry forward its work to ensure correct advice is available on vitamin and mineral intake for children, while seeking dietary advice from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition on nutritional intake for vitamin A and similarly seeking the views of the Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment on the strength of the evidence that chromium picolinate in food supplements could be carcinogenic.
The Committee on Toxicity (COT) report, which was published on 8 May, considers the possible risks and benefits to health of dietary phytoestrogens - compounds produced by some edible plants, notably soya which can mimic or block the action of the human hormone oestrogen, although they are less potent. Particular consideration in the report is given to infants fed soya-based infant formulas, as they have the highest exposure to dietary phytoestrogens.
The FSA Board said it welcomed the COT Phytoestrogens and Health report and noted that the Agency's executive has written to the Department of Health about a review of their advice on soya-based infant formula feeding.
It also noted that information based on the findings of the Phytoestrogens and Health report is being made available to consumers, and that the Agency's executive will be considering the COT recommendations for further research on phytoestrogens.
Finally, the Board considered a paper that outlines the FSA's remit in relation to GM food and draws together information on consumer attitudes to GM food obtained from work carried out by the FSA since it came into being in April 2000.
The paper summarises the FSA's recent qualitative work, announced in July 2002, to explore consumer views on GM food and a range of different approaches to involving consumers in debate about complex issues. It also suggested some initial, general conclusions that might be drawn from the experience of the FSA's new qualitative work, bearing in mind that a more comprehensive independent evaluation is being commissioned.
The FSA Board commented on the outcome of the activities taken forward by the Agency and the main conclusions arising from this work. It said it had noted and considered advice outlined by the Agency's Consumer Committee on the Agency's approach and that it agreed that it would have been desirable to have consulted the Consumer Committee before embarking on the most recent round of qualitative work.
The Board made suggestions on the issues the Agency should cover in its advice to Ministers regarding consumer views on GM food and voiced its agreement that the advice should also be copied to the Public Debate Steering Board. Lastly, the FSA Board requested a 'lessons learnt' report be made available to a future meeting.