FSA 'to be axed'

14/07/2010 19:04:46

The Food Standards Agency (FSA), the watchdog which is responsible for protecting public health and its relationship to food, is to be axed.

Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, is to abolish the organisation and reassign its duties to different departments, it has been claimed.

Safety, hygiene and the non-ministerial department's other regulatory functions are to be run by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, while its other duties are to be moved over to the Department of Health.

Andrew Burnham, health spokesman for the opposition Labour Party, has accused Mr Lansley of caving in to big business.

He said that this most-recent decision is the latest in a number of steps suggesting that he is not willing to stand up to the food industry.

Mr Burnham stated: "It does raise the question whether the health secretary wants to protect the public health or promote food companies."

The FSA was originally set up in 2000 and has the remit of protecting the public health and consumer interests in the area of food.

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