Meeting of the Parliament 02 October 2014
The attempts to reformulate foods with lower levels of salt remain important. Working with the industry on that will be an important part of FSS’s work.
On saturated fats, although excellent progress has been made in reducing the amount of trans fats—members might remember that I proposed a member’s bill to try to eliminate substantially the presence of trans fats, except in natural form—I believe that the new food standards body will need to continue to address that issue rigorously, particularly in respect of takeaways, which I believe it will be reporting on shortly. Takeaways are eaten more by people in deprived communities and they contain substantial amounts of trans fats.
Sugar is the final part of the equation; calories from sugar might be contributing to the problem of obesity. Although the rate of increase in the levels of obesity has now flattened, it presents one of the most serious challenges to Scots living healthier and longer lives, which is the ambition of the Government and us, because 27.8 per cent of Scots are regarded as obese. That is greater than the figure for England, and it compares to southern European countries’ obesity level of around 15 per cent, and Japan’s level of only about 3.5 per cent.
One of the main consequences of the epidemic of people being overweight is the substantial rise in type 2 diabetes, which is now thought to affect 0.25 million people in Scotland. It has resulted in, for example, a 20 per cent increase in amputations in the past couple of years because of the associated vascular diseases. The public cost of dealing with obesity is predicted to rise to £3 billion by 2030.
The important remit of the FSS is to improve protection of the public from risks to health arising in connection with consumption of food, and protection of the other interests of consumers in relation to food. Those are commendable objectives that we support, along with the new remit of improving “the extent to which” consumers
“have diets that are conducive to good health.”
The bill will put the current co-operation between FSS, the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland on a statutory basis. I understand that the Government has undertaken to ensure when the bill is passed that many of the suggestions that have been made in consultations for direct involvement by FSS will be considered. Those include more direct involvement in the regulation of animal health, animal by-products, eggs, poultry, meat, organic food labelling and drinking water quality. Those suggestions are all commendable, but I suggest that the Government should proceed cautiously and not overload FSS in its first year or two of operation. It will need to be properly financed, and the Health and Sport Committee has expressed some caution in that regard.
There are substantial challenges around food-borne infection and new challenges will arise that are presently unknown. We must recognise that Scotland has suffered one of the worst outbreaks of E coli, in Wishaw in the 1990s, and although most lessons have been learned, Scotland still has a higher level of the dangerous E coli than the other home nations. The FSA has admitted that campylobacter in poultry is stubbornly difficult to control, so that will continue to need to be addressed. As the minister said, there are 50 deaths a year from food poisoning and 2,000 admissions to hospital, but it is suspected that 130,000 consumers a year are affected by it although the exact figure is not known.
Food hygiene continues to be important, so following the Welsh and Northern Irish examples and building on our own experience will be important.
I also want to mention the use of hormones and antibiotics. Antibiotic use in animals is not a new concern—the Swann report in the 1960s advocated caution—but recent growing interest in our own human microbiome and our symbiotic relationship with billions of bacteria in our gut might reawaken interest in what antibiotics are being used in animals.
A number of other issues and concerns were raised in the committee’s report and they will be looked at during stage 2. The minister mentioned the question of appeals against certain convictions or acts, and the Scottish Grocers Federation also raised that issue. I am glad that consideration is to be given to the appeals system. The Scotch Whisky Association has also raised concerns about the appeals process, so it will be looked at at stage 2.
The final area that I want to refer to is the promotion of the food and drink industry, which is of substantial importance for Scotland. Our exports are good and growing, but recognition of Scotland as a place of excellent food is fundamental. I was recently in France, where I was able to see Scottish salmon in French markets. They were identified among all the other sources of salmon because of the label rouge; it is the only salmon that has that. That sort of appellation will be vital to us in the future, so I welcome the fact that FSS is going to play an important role in that.
The proposed newly independent corporate body will, I hope, be able to provide the necessary leadership and advice on issues of nutrition to create a fitter and healthier community as the 21st century progresses.
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