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Food Standards Agency

Thursday 28 August 2008

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About the BSE review

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, announced the review of BSE controls at a special Downing Street summit of food and farming industry leaders on March 30, 2000

The Prime Minister's Action Plan for Farming said, "Food safety is at the top of the Government's agenda. Britain now has the highest and tightest standards in the world. We will maintain these. But we must have no 'gold plating' at the expense of the industry. This means effective, rather than onerous, regulation."

Just four days later, at the launch of the Food Standards Agency, Sir John Krebs, FSA Chairman, set out the role of the new organisation and put the BSE controls review in context. Sir John said, "The Prime Minister announced that we will be reviewing the BSE controls to ensure that they adequately protect consumers and reflect the risks. With the Agency being set up and taking over responsibility for this area, this review is timely. We know that the current controls are based on the best expert advice available. We wish to review these controls in the light of emerging knowledge of BSE as well as new variant CJD to ensure that they service their purpose both now and in the future. This review will be completed before the end of the year."

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BSE Controls Review meetings and papers

The Food Standards Agency organised a series of consultation meetings - all held in public - to ensure the BSE controls review was both open and accessible.

BSE Report

In March 2000, as part of the Action Plan for Farming, the soon-to-be-established Food Standards Agency (FSA) was asked by the Prime Minister to review the current measures in place to protect the public against the risks associated with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in relation to the food chain.

BSE controls review: common questions

Your questions answered

BSE controls review: key people

Here are the key people and organisations involved in the BSE controls review.

Correspondence

At each stage of the review the FSA has asked for responses and comments to the draft review. We have received many letters and 'Have your say' web submissions.

PM's Statement

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, announced the review of BSE controls at a special Downing Street summit of food and farming industry leaders on March 30, 2000.

Review History

What is the BSE controls review looking at?

When the BSE controls review was announced in March this year the Prime Minister gave the Food Standards Agency (FSA) the following job to do:

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