Concerns over toxic food testing
SA warns that food such as bacon could contain toxins
Also In The News
|
Published by Corgi Books, out now, paperback, 464 pages, £6. |  |
Wednesday, 17, Jan 2007 02:59
Government funding cutbacks for the testing of toxic content in imported food could pose serious health risks in the UK, the Soil Association (SA) has warned.
Although the Veterinary Residues Committee (VRC) recommends that £1.75 million a year is needed, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has cut funding to about £900,000.
As a result of "woefully inadequate" testing, just seven types of imported food were tested in 2006 and three of these for just one drug type, the SA claims.
No testing of eggs, beef, lamb, pork, bacon, milk or butter was undertaken last year.
The SA has expressed its concerns that toxics residues in food could go unnoticed if the VRC decides tomorrow to publish its plans for imported food produce in advance.
Such a decision, the SA claims, would allow producers in exporting countries to switch to different drugs and send food to Britain which could contain dangerous drug residues, without this being detected.
SA policy adviser Richard Young said: "This would only make it easier for dangerous drugs to enter the food chain undetected."
"There are real dangers from some residues in food which may cause cancer and other health problems. The proposal to tell producers in advance which products and drugs will be tested, and which not, is totally unacceptable, because it will put British consumers at greater risk."
In response to the claims, a spokesman for the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), which is advised by the VRC, said: "Many of the banned substances or marker residues in the non-statutory programme are relatively stable and so would persist (e.g malachite green and nitrofurans). Publishing the programme early. would therefore make little difference, as these substances will have already been applied."
He added that the money available is "sufficient" to assess potential hazards.