Response to the Inquiry of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on Food Information

Submitted on behalf of IFR by
Dr Nick Walton and Dr Siân Astley

June 2004

The nutritional content of foods

IFR believes that it is important that nutritional information is presented to consumers in a balanced way. From a nutritional viewpoint, the vast majority of individual foods do not have an ideal composition and it is the frequency of consumption and the composition of the diet as a whole that are significant. Cheese, for example, whilst usually a high-fat food, can be an important component of a balanced diet and can contribute appreciably to overall calcium intake.

Encouraging consumers – particularly children – to be aware of the long-term health implications of what they eat is critical. Such awareness requires balanced nutritional information to be presented on the one hand and recognition by consumers on the other that they must make “active” choices. One important initiative in this field, involving IFR researchers, is the SMARTCARD scheme, which enables dietary choice through school meals to be monitored at point of purchase. Regulators, health educators and the food industry all have a part to play in ensuring that consumers are presented with balanced, accurate nutritional and compositional information. This should include unambiguous information on the effects that food processing may have on composition.

The safety of foods

This has been a major topic of public concern from the 1980s onwards as a result of successive, high-profile episodes in the UK and elsewhere (Salmonella in eggs, BSE, GM crops, acrylamide). IFR is active in a number of research programmes aimed at exploring consumer attitudes to food-safety risks. An important principle is that consumers tend to demonstrate a greater level of concern in relation to risks that they perceive as being beyond their control; thus, microbiological risks in the kitchen may be ignored because the consumer believes (s)he is in control of them. This has implications for the safety labelling of (for example) chilled, ready-to-eat foods. Further, a social climate in which, in general, less time is being spent by consumers in the purchase and preparation of raw foods may tend to encourage an increased expectation that foods, as bought, should be completely safe.

Against this background, it is very important that robust standards of (particularly) microbiological safety and shelf-life recommendation are maintained. This is particularly so in the light of global sourcing practices. Precautionary food-allergen labelling is a critical issue in view of the potentially fatal consequences for susceptible individuals.

The means of production of foods

There is considerable scope for confusion and misunderstanding in this area. Terms such as “pure” and “natural” may convey messages to the consumer that differ from the precise definitions understood by regulators and by food manufacturers. The status of the term “natural” in relation to GM products, for example, needs to be resolved. Terms such as “home-made” may have an imprecise meaning. In some cases, consumers may not be clear what information is conveyed by a logo, for example the “Red Tractor” symbol.

In recent years, there have been substantial advances in chemical profiling and spectroscopic techniques (notably SNIF-NMR®, isotope-ratio mass spectrometry and multi-element mass spectrometry) for the differentiation of food products according to their geographical origin and/or means of production. IFR is one of the lead organisations undertaking research in this field, funded under contracts from FSA and from the EC. Differentiation between organic and conventional production is in principle possible using isotope-ratio approaches. It may be possible to detect clear evidence in meat of animal movements prior to slaughter, and thereby to confirm whether animals have been reared for the required period in a claimed region of origin. Such developments are increasingly important in underpinning labelling practices and in providing analytical evidence acceptable in courts of law.

The EC has recently announced over 25 million Euro of funding under the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) to two new Integrated Projects – SAFE FOOD and WELFARE QUALITY - under Priority 5 -' Food Quality and Safety', which are the first to take a 'fork to farm' approach, addressing both consumer concerns and market demands. These new projects bring together researchers from Europe and beyond on an unprecedented scale and with ambitious goals. The research activities will underpin the development of European standards of best practice in food quality and safety, through dialogue and knowledge exchange and the implementation of the European Research Area (ERA). The remit of WELFARE QUALITY is “Integration of animal welfare in the food quality chain: from public concern to improved welfare and transparent quality”. Animal welfare practices affect “quality of life” for livestock, thereby influencing disease incidence and product quality, and are of substantial concern to both consumers and producers. Both Integrated Projects aim to restore consumer confidence whilst improving the quality of food, by stimulating the development of sustainable production systems.

Ethical considerations

Many consumers take account of ethical considerations when buying foods, for example those sold under the “Fairtrade” logo. Consumers may not always be clear precisely what benefits are associated with such designations. There are further concerns of energy efficiency, agrochemical inputs and “food miles”. Some of these issues might in principle be addressed by the analytical approaches outlined in 3) above. Labour practices are problematic since they are not traceable though the food products themselves. Enforcement is therefore ultimately dependent upon inspection and certification. This is a field where further research may be required to clarify current practices.

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee report published March 2005 can be found here [pdf format] on the UK Parliamentary website