Food on the Web 13

This is a mixed bag of reviews.However, there is a strong European Union presence: the first batch of Web sites are listed as a reminder of the diverse range of food issues being considered by the Commission. Many of these items are reporting the outcomes of inspections, audits or scientific review activities.The remainder of the sites reviewed are all UK originated.

Web site reviews

1. Some European Union sites

European Commission, DG24 new items. The European Commission DG24 which focuses on consumer policy and consumer health protection has a very extensive Web site which includes many items of interest. The site is updated on a daily basis as new items become available.

The list which follows highlights items new to the site during January and February 1999 (this article has been prepared early in March 1999). This list does not include all the items posted by DG24 but rather is edited to provide a focus on food-related matters:

• Information on a joint European Commission and European Parliament Conference on the European Union and Food Security the focus was on the lessons to be learned from the BSE crisis. The conference was held in Brussels on 30 November and 1 December 1998.The URL is http://www.eu.int/comm/dg24/health/bse/bse08_en.html

• Scientific Committee on Food: agenda for the 115th meeting, Brussels 20/21 January 1999The URL is http://www.eu.int/comm/dg24/health/sc/scf/agenda_en.htmlThis is a somewhat ‘‘untidy’’ Web site since the secretariat merely tag the new agenda information on to a document which also includes agenda information on a number of previous meetings. However, it does mean that the URL leads directly to the agenda for the most recent SCF meeting (which will by date of publication be much more recent than the example cited here).

• Scientific Steering Committee: agenda for meeting of 21/22 January 1999.The URL is http://www.eu.int/comm/dg24/health/sc/scc/agenda_en.htmlAs with the above item, this site is evolving with the addition of each new agenda on to the start of an existing Web page. The Scientific Steering Committee exists to provide the European Commission with a coordinating overview of the work of a number of scientific advisory committees such as the Scientific Committee for Food.

• Scientific Committee on Food: Opinion on caffeine, taurine and D-glucurono-g-lactone as constituents of so-called ‘‘energy’’ drinks. Expressed at the SCF meeting on 21 January 1999.The URL is http://www.eu.int/comm/dg24/health/sc/scf/out22_en.html

• Minutes of the 114th meeting of the Scientific Committee on Food held 9/10 December 1998.The URL is http://www.eu.int/comm/dg24/health/sc/scf/out23_en.html

• Scientific Steering Committee Minutes of meeting of 10/11 December 1998.The URL is http://www.eu.int/comm/dg24/health/sc/ssc/out36_en.html

• Scientific Steering Committee evaluation of a new method for production of gelatine (including consideration of BSE concerns).The URL is http://www.eu.int/comm/dg24/health/sc/ssc/out37_en.html

• Scientific Committee for Food: Opinion from a toxicological evaluation of five aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, xylene, ethylbenzene and styrene in the context of risk to public health from dietary exposure with particular reference to olive oil.The URL is http://www.eu.int/comm/dg24/health/sc/scf/out24_en.html

EU veterinary audits of monitoring for residues and an explanation of the European Commission URLs. The European Commission is undertaking audits of the arrangements put in place by EU member states to ensure that established limits are maintained for the residues of veterinary medicines in live animals and animal products. The national reports follow a standard reporting pattern which allows for comparisons between member states.

Each national report is published on the DG24 Website. The URLs of example reports are given below note that the audit programme is continuing:

• 1.

  UK: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg24/health/vi/reports/vi_rep_unik_03_en.html

• 2.

  Finland: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg24/health/vi/reports/vi_rep_finl_03_en.html

It will be noted that there are only minor differences in the two URLs cited above (unik is replaced by finl); thus it is possible to construct with relative ease the routes into reports about the situation in other EU member states(Spain is indicated by ‘‘spai’’ whilst Italy is indicated by ‘‘ital’’ and Sweden by ‘‘swed’’). Thus, if any reader has a particular interest in a specific country it is a simple matter to construct a URL which has a fair chance of success.

However, readers should note that it is pure coincidence that ‘‘_03_’’appears in both the URLs cited above. The ‘‘3’’ merely denotes the fact that this is the third report relating to veterinary inspections for the named country. For example, the ‘‘_03_’’ report for Spain is concerned with surveillance in respect of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies.

The URL can be dissected further to suggest routes to other materials. The‘‘/vi/’’ and ‘‘vi_rep_’’ elements of the address indicate that the item is concerned with veterinary inspections (vi). An equivalent convention applies to phytosanitary inspections (concerned with plant health matters) in this case the‘‘v’’ is replaced by ‘‘p’’. For example, the following URL links to a phytosanitary inspection of Sweden: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg24/health/pi/reports/pi_rep_swed_01_en.html

The above conventions are not limited to inspections of EU member states for example ‘‘_usa_’’ refers to inspections in the USA while ‘‘_ icel_’’ refers to inspections in Iceland and ‘‘_uae_’’ to inspections in the United Arab Emirates.

Finally, throughout the EU Web network there is a recognition of the need to provide equivalent information in each of the 11 recognised languages. While not every document is made available in each language, the following convention is used: the language of each document is indicated in the last two letters prior to ‘‘.html’’

• en English;

• fr French;

• de German;

• es Spanish;

• da Danish;

• he Greek;

• it Italian;

• pt Portuguese;

• fi Finnish;

• sv Swedish;

• nl Dutch.

The simple substitution of ‘‘en’’ for ‘‘fr’’ in most of the EU URLs will change the language of presentation to French rather than English. The rule is not perfect as documents are not always published in all languages; it will work in most instances for the principal EU languages English and French, it will work in many instances with Spanish, Italian and German but is less reliable with the other EU languages since there is often delay in translation of major documents and minor items may not be posted in translation.

Evaluation of the official foodstuffs control system. The previous item referred specifically to the programme of inspection audits conducted in respect of procedures to control veterinary residues in animal products and made reference in passing to the equivalent phytosanitary audit inspections. A third set of audits is made under Article 5 of EU Directive 93/99/EEC on the official control of foodstuffs. The reports from the first batch of the second round of national audits are available on the Web. The easiest access route is via the following URL: http://europan.eu.int/comm/dg24/afh/afh06_en.htmlThis offers links to the audit reports completed to date.

2. Some UK sites

BSE factual accounts. The Philips Inquiry into the UK outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is (at the time of writing) moving into its second phase. To conclude phase 1, the inquiry has published a series of draft factual accounts. These documents are intended to provide summaries of the materials presented to the inquiry so far and to provide the basis for discussion in phase 2. Documents are available on the following topics:

• The Southwood Working Party;

• The Tyrrell Committee;

• Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee;

• Central Veterinary Laboratory (Part 1);

• Early days;

• Slaughter and compensation;

• The ruminant feed ban;

• Introduction of the specified bovine offals ban;

• Government and Southgate;

• The introduction of the animal SBO ban;

• The ‘‘touch’’ test;

• The ELISA test;

• Central Veterinary Laboratory (Part 2).

The URL to access the above documents, others which might be added to the list and the BSE Inquiry generally is http://www.bse.org.uk

Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes. This Committee was created some years ago to provide Ministers with advice on the safety of novel foods and novel processes used in food production. The Committee has responsibility for the evaluation and where appropriate recommendations for approval of novel foods. The Committee’s responsibilities were strengthened with the adoption in 1997 of the European Union’s Novel Foods Regulation. The ACNFP reviews all UK applications for the approval of novel foods (including genetically modified foods).

A Web site to provide information on the work of the ACNFP has been created to provide generally accessible information on the work of the Committee.The URL is http://www.maff.gov.uk/food/novel/acnfp.htmThe Web site includes:

• Minutes of ACNFP meetings (since March 1998).

• Papers presented to the ACNFP.

• The ACNFP assessments of products submitted to the UK authorities under the EU Novel Foods Regulation.

• The latest ACNFP Annual Report.

A review of the framework for overseeing developments in biotechnology and genetic modification is currently under way.

The Food Directory. The Food Directory was established by The Food Foundation as a Web-based source of information for children and their teachers. The Food Directory database is supported by Marks & Spencer and aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive source on nutrition, cooking and other food skills, and the use and appreciation of food and drink.

The Food Foundation is a registered charity and its initial development and day-to-day running costs have been underwritten by BBC Worldwide Publications.

The Food Foundation Web site currently includes a summary of research into the attitudes to food and cooking and sources of information for young people in the UK. This work was sponsored by Tesco.The URL for this site is http://www.fooddirectory.co.uk

IFST Position Statement ­ organic foods. In line with its established practice, the Institute of Food Science and Technology has posted the text of its latest Position Statement which considers organic foods to its Web site. The Position Statement is organised as follows:

• 1.

  Introduction and definitions.

• 2.

  Background:

  • brief history;

  • the contemporary organic consumer;

  • market growth.

• 3.

  Legislation:

  • EU legislation;

  • USA legislation;

  • certification procedures.

• 4.

  Production, quality and safety:

  • guiding principles for organic food manufacture;

  • quality and safety in production;

  • microbiological safety;

  • agricultural chemical residues;

  • nutrition;

  • flavour.

• 5.

  Future prospects:

  • market development;

  • can organic farming feed the world?;

  • implications for the mainstream food industry.

• 6.

  Conclusions.

The URL for this document is http://www.easynet.co.uk/ifst/hottop24.htm

Concluding comment

This review has divided into two sections EU and UK this is a mere fraction of the available food-related Web sites and an attempt will be made in future reviews to concentrate on Web-based materials originating elsewhere in the world.

However, regular readers of this column will notice that a number of the sites referred to above are providing further information from organisations visited previously:

• The EU in its various guises has a massive Internet presence with thousands of documents now available. The review has highlighted a few of the more recent items. It is intended that a listing similar to that presented earlier will be a regular feature of this series of reviews.

• At the time of writing, the BSE inquiry is moving into its second phase(during which the Lord Justice Philips and his team will seek to deal with the contradictions in the evidence presented in phase 1 and with challenges to this evidence). The Draft Factual Accounts noted in this review represent an important stage in this process. However, by the date of publication, it is inevitable that considerably more information will have been posted to this important Web site.

• The IFST has posted its latest Position Statement.

If you have identified a Web site likely to be of interest to readers of British Food Journal please contact the author of this series of reviews as follows: by e-mail to stephen.fallows@luton.ac.ukby fax to 01234 766926 or 01582 743237; by post at the University of Luton.

Stephen FallowsUniversity of Luton