CMi

11/9/2010 -

Food Manufacturing E-bulletin - April 2010

Food Safety News
A spotlight on the hottest topics for the food manufacturing sector

April 2010

In This Month’s Edition……
1. Reducing UK food waste & packaging – Courtauld Commitment Phase II
2. Fish Labelling Rules
3. UK FSA publishes research into consumer attitudes to new technology
4. UK FSA publishes proposals for front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labelling
5. UK FSA review of meat hygiene regulatory control
6. Reducing the frequency of farm inspection in the dairy sector (England)
7. Preferences for salt and sodium labelling
8. CFA/BRC Ready to Eat Foods Shelf Life Guidance
9. UK FSA date marking guidance - consultation launched
10. Reducing saturated fat and sugar in sweet foods
11. UK FSA Food and Allergy Alerts (March/April ‘10)

If you have any queries or comments about these articles please contact Jon Adams - Business Development Manager - Manufacturing on 07801 039 026, email jonathan.adams@nsf-cmi.com

1. Reducing UK food waste & packaging – Courtauld Commitment Phase II

Leading UK grocery manufacturers and retailers have signed up to the above, managed by the Government’s Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and running from April 2010 to December 2012, designed to:

Reduce the carbon impact of grocery packaging by 10% through reducing the weight, increasing the recycling rates, and increasing the recycled content of grocery packaging.
Help consumers reduce the amount of food they waste by 4%.
Cut food and packaging waste throughout the supply chain by 5%.

The Packaging Regulations require businesses that make and use packaging to recycle a proportion of the packaging they supply. A consultation on ambitious new targets to recycle over 70% of packaging waste by 2020 has also been published.

Other measures to cut waste include the upcoming consultation on banning some materials from landfill, the government-funded ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ campaign and work to improve the clarity and consistency of food date labelling and storage guidance.
More info. at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2010/100304a.htm

2. New Fish Labelling Rules

New rules for fish labelling have come into force for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Fish Labelling Regulations 2010 replace the previous Regulations, add new commercial designations (the names of fish) for species of fish that have recently come onto the market and give extra options for some others that were already listed.

The purpose of the Regulations is to ensure that fish are labelled correctly and consistently at the point of sale, so that purchasers know exactly what they are buying, whether it was caught at sea, in inland waters or was farmed and, if caught at sea, in what sea area.

More info: http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2010/apr/fishlabelling

3. UK FSA publishes research into consumer attitudes to new technology

The FSA has published new research looking at people’s attitudes to emerging food technologies, including genetically modified (GM) food, high pressure treatment, gas filled packaging and hypothetical foods that have health benefits.

The research found that people’s knowledge of, and attitudes to, food technologies vary considerably.

The more familiar people are with the names of food technologies the less concerned they are about them. For example, 31% of people were concerned about eating food cooked in a microwave, whereas 57% were concerned about eating food from a magnetron (another name for a microwave).

Compared with 1999, when the same questions were asked, fewer people now said they have a strong attitude to GM food, and there has been a gradual increase in public support for GM food (from 10% in 1999 to 19% in 2008).
These findings come from the 2008 British Social Attitudes survey, designed to chart continuity and change in social, economic, political and moral values and provides important data for many government departments.

More info. at: http://www.food.gov.uk/science/socsci/surveys/foodtechbsa08

4. UK FSA publishes proposals for front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labelling

At the FSA’s Board Meeting in March, a single approach to front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labelling was proposed.
The Board paper proposes that the way information about the amount of fat, saturated fat, salt and sugars in a product is presented should use three elements: traffic light colours, text (high/medium/low) and % GDAs. Some companies are already using this approach whereas others are using FOP schemes that only provide some of these elements.

In March 2006 the Agency recommended a set of principles for FOP labelling that would help consumers easily understand the levels of fat, saturated fat, salt and sugars in food products. Currently, the majority of UK food manufacturers and retailers are voluntarily using FOP schemes although some schemes also use colours other than the Agency’s recommended 'traffic lights' or use colours as a design feature simply to highlight the different nutrients: for example, green for fat and yellow for salt.

An independent evaluation of the effectiveness of these schemes was published in May 2009. This robust study found that the co-existence of different FOP labels confused consumers. It concluded that the words ‘high, medium and low’ were understood best, and combining this text with traffic light colours and percentage Guideline Daily Amounts (% GDAs) would enable more people to make healthier choices easily.

The proposals can be found at: http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/board/fsa100307.pdf

5. UK FSA review of meat hygiene regulatory control

The FSA has started a programme of work to review the current official system of regulation of meat hygiene inspection activities and enforcement.

This work is aimed at improving public health protection while delivering a more risk-based, effective and proportionate system for meat official controls with due regard to animal health and welfare considerations in line with EU requirements.

The current system of controls, particularly post-mortem inspection of meat, is based on a traditional inspection approach, developed more than 100 years ago to tackle the public health concerns of that era, such as parasites and other defects visible to the naked eye. By contrast, the current principle causes of food borne disease are microbiological (e.g. campylobacter, salmonella and E.coli).

More info at: http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2010/mar/meat

6. Reducing the frequency of farm inspection in the dairy sector (England)

As part of the Government’s Whole Farm Approach and in support of Defra's 5 year strategy 'Putting Sustainable Development into Practice in Farming, Food and Animal Health and Welfare', the FSA have issued proposals for consultation designed to reduce the burden of official controls on dairy production holdings in England and Wales by recognising, where applicable, the hygiene aspects of the results of third party audits carried out under the Assured Dairy Farms (ADF) certification scheme.

The reduction would be introduced for dairy farms that have been assessed by Animal Health Dairy Hygiene (AHDH) as lower risk and that also have ADF status.

There is provision in legislation for the recognition of such private quality assurance programmes in the risk prioritisation of official controls. The FSA has already applied this principle to official controls in those primary sectors where food hygiene requirements had not applied prior to the introduction of new hygiene controls in 2006 and now proposes to extend this to the inspections of primary production of milk on farm. Approval by local authorities of on-farm milk processing (such as pasteurisation and cheese making) would remain unchanged.

Detailed proposals available at: http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/consultation/officialinspectdairysecteng.pdf

7. Preferences for salt and sodium labelling

The UK FSA has published details of qualitative research exploring people's preferences and understanding of the way in which salt and sodium information is presented on food labels.

People taking part in the research preferred the use of the term 'salt' on food labels. This was because it was most familiar to them and because they did not necessarily understand the relationship between salt and sodium. While there was understanding of the health consequences of eating too much salt, there was little awareness that sodium is the part of salt that can cause raised blood pressure if eaten in large quantities.

This piece of research was carried out to help inform the UK’s discussions in Europe and internationally on the best way to label foods.

Full details at: http://www.food.gov.uk/science/socsci/surveys/saltsodium

8. CFA/BRC Ready to Eat Foods Shelf Life Guidance

A free download publication from the UK Chilled Foods Association (CFA) and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) – “The Shelf life Of Ready To Eat Food In Relation to L. monocytogenes - Guidance For Food Business Operators” is designed to help businesses to ascertain safe shelf-lives and to meet EU microbiology rules – in particular Regulation (EC) No. 2073/2005 which sets limits on micro-organisms, such as Listeria, in food.

The guidance was developed by a coalition of organisations chaired by the BRC, including the CFA, Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, LACORS, the Health Protection Agency and the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

Download available at: http://www.chilledfood.org/MEDIA/NEWS/New+Shelf+Life+Guidance+for+Ready+to+Eat+Foods

9. UK FSA date marking guidance - consultation launched

New guidance is out for consultation designed to help industry when deciding appropriate date marks (‘best before’ or ‘use by’) to use on food products; current guidance was last re-issued in ’03.

The guidance sets out key principles that should be considered by food businesses when determining date marks, including a flow chart to aid the date-marking decision-making process. A simplified two-page version of the guide to legal compliance is also being issued in order to help small businesses.

The revision of this guidance is part of a wider programme of work being undertaken by Defra, WRAP, and the FSA, who are working closely with industry to identify and implement appropriate changes to practice which will help consumers better understand the date labels.

The consultation closes on 16/06/10 prior to finalisation of the guidance.

Consultation documents available at:
http://www.food.gov.uk/consultations/consulteng/2010/fsaguidanceappdatemarksfoodeng

10. Reducing saturated fat and sugar in sweet foods

Following public consultation in ‘09, the UK FSA has published final recommendations for saturated fat reduction in biscuits, cakes, buns, chocolates and added sugar reductions in soft drinks.

The final recommendations include:

reducing the saturated fat level in some chocolate confectionery (bars with fillings) by at least 10%
where soft drinks contain added sugar, making single portion sizes of 250ml available
reducing the saturated fat content in plain sweet and savoury biscuits, and plain cakes by at least 10%; and 5% in non-plain biscuits and cakes

Further recommendations are expected to follow in the summer on dairy and meat products, pastry and savoury snacks.

Recommendations available at: http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/satfatrecommendations

11. UK FSA Food and Allergy Alerts (March/April ‘10)

Food Alerts:
03/03: Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc recalls it’s own-brand Toffee & Pecan Ice Cream 950g, BBE Apr 2011 due to possible contamination with pieces of rubber
03/03: Waitrose recalls it’s own-brand Natural Roasted Peanuts 250g, BB 03Jul10, due to possible contamination with small pieces of rubber.
05/03: Tesco withdraws 4 varieties of own-brand sandwiches with 'use by' dates of 5 March and 6 March because the lettuce used in the sandwiches might be contaminated with slug pellets. (Big & Tasty Meatball & Cheese, Chicken Salad, Finest Club, Fresh in the Capital Club)
12/03: Tangerine Confectionery recalls some batches of Butterkist Sweet Microwave Popcorn (100g and 3 x 100g multi-packs) due to the potential presence of rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae) within the product.
30/03: Wester Lawrenceton Farm Ltd recalls several batches of Carolla and Caerphilly cheese due to contamination with Listeria monocytogenes (Distribution in Scotland only)
14/04: Ella's Kitchen (Brands) Ltd recalls certain batches of Stage 3 Totally Cool Caribbean Chicken with Mangoes due to potential presence of hardened pieces of vegetables.

Allergy Alerts:
10/03: Sainsbury’s withdraws a batch of own-brand Mandarin Jelly 172g due to a packaging error, a small number of packs contain Mandarin Royale (a dessert with layers of sponge, jelly and topped with cream). Allergens: milk, egg, gluten (wheat)
30/03: Heineken UK withdraws 16 fl.oz cans (singles & 4-pack) of Murphy’s Draught Style Stout Pasteurised Beer (Best Before 31Dec10 L9348) because the mislabelled cans do not mention that the product contains barley gluten. Allergen: gluten (barley)
16/04: The Healthy Bowels Company Ltd 'Lepicol' probiotic product contains incorrect allergen labelling information. Allergen: Milk
07/04: Dorset Cereals withdraws certain batches of Simply Fruity Muesli (820g) due to possible nut inclusion, affected batches only in Tesco Stores. Allergen: Nuts (Brazil and hazelnuts)

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