Food Safety Act

It is an obligation under the Food Safety Act for each Local Authority to appoint a public analyst to test samples. We are one of those approved, official food control laboratories.

We also have a close working relationship with the Food Standards Agency, meaning we are often at the forefront of nationally sensitive projects, such as the research into the carcinogenic colour Sudan I in spices.

In addition we are responsible for:

• Ensuring that food is accurately described, of the quality demanded by the consumer, safe to eat and does not contain undeclared genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or residues of pesticides, heavy metals, harmful colourants, mycotoxins or other undesirable substances;
• Investigating consumer food complaints and providing expert witness reports where legal actions is proposed;
• Advising food control officers about sampling procedures and providing intelligence to guide focussed sampling programmes;
• Ensuring that food containers and wrappings are suitable for their intended purpose and do not transfer constituents to food.

So what does that mean in practice?

Local Authorities Trading Standards departments submit samples to us, either as part of their general monitoring processes or because they have reason to believe that nutritional and compositional food claims on the packaging, or the standards set by law in terms of food products are not being met.

This could be that there is less meat in a product than advertised on the packet, or that there are unsatisfactory levels of toxins present.

Our role is to undertake tests and provide an expert report back to the local authority to allow them to progress action where required.

Why does Worcestershire stand out?

As well as supplying general services, we have developed our expertise specifically in the area of genetically modified organisms.

This was first adopted by the service in 1997 after attendance at a conference revealed that there were no other labs offering testing. After a period of specialist training for selected staff in Germany and the USA, we were the first UK laboratory to be accredited for GMO testing.

Further investment in DNA related testing has led to the purchase of Bioanalyser instrumentation. Bioanalyser is a state of the art technique and has allowed development of other DNA based work such as fish species identification. As the first public analyst using this technique, Worcestershire County Council Scientific Services is once again leading the pack.