EHOs want powerful Euro food authority

The proposed European Food Authority (EFA) could be nothing but an expensive layer of bureaucracy if it is not given real enforcement powers, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) has warned MEPs.

Its warning coincided with a European Parliament committee meeting that was considering 150 amendments to a draft report on the European Commission's White Paper on food safety, published in January. These will be discussed by the European Parliament next month.

A CIEH spokesman said it supported the view that the Europe-wide food body should become an authority, with the power to compel each EU country to comply with its individual food-safety regulations, as well as to standardise systems such as the collection of food-poisoning figures across the European Union.

But others are pushing for it to become an agency, which would give guidance and advice but would not compel any member state to follow it.

The CIEH is also concerned about the White Paper's apparent lack of a coherent EU food policy. Such a policy, the institute believes, should not be restricted to food safety but should address issues such as food quality.

The CIEH believes the EFA, scheduled to be launched by 2002, should give priority to the collection of food-poisoning figures and improve the response to food-poisoning outbreaks, which it said was poor across the EU.

by Angela Frewin