Brand name release with residue tests?

After a number of publicised food residue 'scares', the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF) has proposed some changes to food surveys (including pesticide residues). MAFF suggests more details of samples analysed "including brand names where possible" should be made public, and has called for comments from interested organisations. Whether or not to provide details of brand names has been particularly contentious. In recent months consumer groups have called for the release of brand name data, for example, with lindane in milk or phthalates (used as plastic softeners) in baby milk. MAFF's current policy is not to release brand names except in isolated cases where some brands exceed a defined safety limit and consumers may therefore wish to choose alternatives. MAFF's logic is that brand name release is unlikely to be helpful to consumers. Most surveys are 'snap shots' of a situation and a single result may not necessarily be representative of that product or brand. However, the issue has now become one of 'consumer confidence' in the UK food safety system.

Comments (by 18/10/96) and details of the proposals: Mrs C Leonard, MAFF, Room 210, Ergon House, c/o Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR, Tel. 0171 238 5734, Fax 0171 238 5331.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 33, September 1996, page 27]