Thursday 28 August 2008

Food surveys

survey

Surveys help to protect and inform consumers, judge the effectiveness of regulation, monitor trends and assess risks.

They aim to:

protect consumer safety, the authenticity of food and nutritional quality of the UK diet
allow consumers to make informed choices
inform UK negotiations in Brussels and other international meetings
assess the effectiveness of legislation and Codes of Practice
monitor trends both in terms of concentrations and geographical location
enable consumer exposure assessments to be made

The Agency carries out surveys in the following areas:

chemical contaminants in food
chemical contaminants from food contact materials
food additives
food authenticity
nutrients in food
radionuclides in food
microbiological contamination of food
dietary surveys

The Agency normally releases the full details of the samples analysed in its surveys including their brand names together with the results. This policy has had several positive side effects:

the consumer has more information on which to base their choice of food
quality assurance criteria have led to more rigorous analytical procedures
surveys are now larger and more representative of the brands on the market
industry has become more aware of the need to be diligent with respect to quality control

For practical and legal reasons, there will be a small number of well-defined circumstances in which we will not release advice or information. You can find out more about these circumstances in paragraph 2.7 of our policy on openness .

The Agency carries out surveys for information gathering purposes and monitoring, and not for law enforcement. However, the Agency liaises with the enforcement authorities if an urgent food safety problem is found and the survey results are made available to enforcement authorities prior to publication so that follow up action can be taken where appropriate.

The importance of surveys

Surveys are important because they carry out checks on retail foods and can therefore alert the Agency to potential food safety issues. However, a food survey that has entirely negative results is just as important as one that shows up a potential problem.

Find out more

Ongoing food surveys

The Agency's work to monitor the safety and quality of food includes a substantial programme of surveys.

Food surveys published in 2007

All the Food Survey Information Sheets and ad hoc food surveys published in 2007 by the Agency.

Food surveys published in 2008

All the Food Survey Information Sheets and ad hoc food surveys published in 2008 by the Agency.

Food surveys published in 2006

Food Survey Information Sheets and other ad hoc food surveys published by the Agency in 2006.

Food surveys published in 2005

Food Survey Information Sheets and any other ad hoc food surveys published by the Agency in 2005.

Food surveys published in 2004

Food Survey Information Sheets and other ad hoc food surveys published by the Agency in 2004.

Food surveys published in 2003

Food Survey Information Sheets and any ad hoc food surveys published by the Agency in 2003.

Food surveys published in 2002

Food Survey Information Sheets for 2002 and any ad hoc surveys published in that year.

Food surveys published in 2001

Food Survey Information Sheets for 2001 and any ad hoc food surveys published during the year.

Food surveys published in 2000

Food Survey Information Sheets for 2000 and ad hoc food surveys carried out by the Agency. Information Sheets published before 2000, are available on our archive website .

Guidelines for undertaking surveys

The Food Standards Agency collects information from non-statutory food surveys to form part of the science base for the development of food policy.

Microbiological surveillance

Foodborne illness is an extremely important aspect of food safety. The FSA aims to achieve further reductions in foodborne disease by 2010 and it can do this through ensuring that all sectors of the food chain control their procedures effectively to prevent harmful microorganisms from contaminating food.

Pesticide surveillance

The Pesticide Residues Committee provides independent advice to Ministers and the Chief Executives of the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) and the Food Standards Agency on matters relating to the surveillance programme for pesticides residue in the UK food supply.

Radiological surveillance

Provisional radiological surveillance results for the Food Standards Agency's aquatic and terrestrial radioactivity surveillance programme around nuclear licensed sites in England and Wales. Full results, together with assessments of the doses received are reported in the annual Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE) reports.

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