Food Standards Agency
 |
|
| Non-ministerial government department overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1 April 2000 |
| Jurisdiction | England, Wales & Northern Ireland |
| Headquarters | Aviation House, 125 Kingsway, London, WC2B 6NH |
| Annual budget | £159.7 million (2009-2010) |
| Non-ministerial government department executive |
|
| Website | www |
The Food Standards Agency is a non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for protecting public health in relation to food in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is led by a board appointed to act in the public interest. Its headquarters are in London, opposite Holborn tube station, with national offices in Wales and Northern Ireland. The agency had a national office in Scotland until April 2015.
The Agency was created in 2001 based on a report by Professor James, issued after several high-profile outbreaks and deaths from foodborne illness. It was felt that it was inappropriate to have one government department, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, responsible for both the health of the farming and food processing industries and for food safety.
Uniquely for a UK Government department, the Food Standards Act gave the Agency the statutory right to publish the advice it gives to Ministers - and as a signal of its independence it declared that it would invariably do so. From its inception, the Agency declared that it would take no decisions about food policy except in open Board meetings accessible to the public. Since 2003, these meetings have been webcast live, enabling consumers to see the decision-making process in action. Each Board meeting concludes with a Q&A session in which web viewers can question the Board or its Executive directly.
In 2006, the Wine Standards Board merged with the FSA to take over responsibility for enforcing the EU wine regime in the UK.
Formerly an executive agency of the FSA, the Meat Hygiene Service merged with the FSA in April 2010 to form a new operations group. The operations group has responsibility for the delivery of official controls.
...
Wikipedia