FSA chair to step down after four years

The chair of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is to step down from her role next year after four years, it was announced today.

Under Dame Deirdre Hutton, the FSA has sought to engage caterers and high street operators over issues such as salt, packaging, traffic lights and healthier food within the workplace.

However, the FSA's decision to opt for a six-tier voluntary "scores on the doors" scheme for restaurants, pubs and caterers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland last week has attracted fierce criticism from trade associations, which see it as unnecessarily complicated and bureaucratic.

Hutton said: "Having completed four years I felt it was time for a new chair to take the agency on to its next stage of development.

"I have been with the agency for nearly half of its relatively short life, during which consumer confidence in the FSA as a regulator, and a source of trusted advice, has continued to rise."

The FSA was formally launched in 2000 with the remit of protecting consumer interests in relation to food safety and standards.

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By Chris Druce

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