How to relax with a hamburger
Nature 391(6665): 309
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 0028-0836 PMID: 9450725 Document Number: 496455
The newly proposed Food Standards Agency in the U.K. is a welcome initial step toward the recovery of public trust in food. Assurances regarding the safety of British beef in the late 1980s had more to do with the economic interests of a lucrative industry than with solid science. These interests were directly reflected in the tight control exercised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food over veterinary data on the bovine spongiform encephalopathy epidemic in the U.K. Thankfully, the new agency will be independent of government and will report to the health secretary, thus embodying the principle that advice on food safety be prepared at arm's length from the interests of food producers. The commitment to publish the agency's findings is also a welcome development. One unresolved issue, however, is the way in which the agency's research agenda is to be set.