These are notes and quotes paraphrased from the round table discussion at the Food Crime and Integrity Event Wednesday 3rd December 2014.
Comment: It’s really pleasing that the Elliott report was produced – and that the FSA are developing the food crime unit , because with the cuts coming in force and the problems increasing in all local authorities across the area – were going to need some support, hopefully they’ll be able to…
Question: Maybe there should be some regional units as well as a a central unit to support this work…..Would it be feasible to look at partnerships with research laboratories in universities maybe?
Response: The issue with this though is the BIG companies have the best defense lawyers, and universities just can not operate in a robust enough environment to stand up to their scrutiny.
Comment: The problem with having a centralized testing unit is “Where do you come in the queue for testing?” How many people are before you, what is your relationship with the place doing the testing etc etc.
Discussion: Public Health England are looking at the load on public analysis nationally.
There are only 6 remaining public analysts in the UK. There needs to be some funding for this work because for there to be a prosecution there has to be a public analyst involved. So if they all left, and there were none left what would that mean for food integrity in the UK?