Concern over proposed merger of FSAI

CONCERN HAS been expressed that the proposed merger of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) with two other bodies will dilute consumer protection.

Food safety expert Prof Pat Wall, of UCD, and the Consumers’ Association of Ireland both said it was vital that the visibility and reputation of the FSAI is not lost in any amalgamation.

The amalgamation of the FSAI, the Office of Tobacco Control and the Irish Medicines Board into a Public Health and Medicines Safety Authority was one of 30 separate rationalisations of State agencies proposed in last year’s budget.

Mr Wall told The Irish Timesit was important that the name of the FSAI, as well as its focus on consumers, wasn't lost in any merger.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen, when he was minister for health in 1999, wrote that a single body with responsibility for enforcing food safety legislation and the promotion of standards and awareness was the best way to protect consumers.

Prof Wall said he wasn’t against the amalgamation but felt there was no reason why the individual brands couldn’t continue to exist.

It was ironic that Ireland’s food watchdog was to go when so many other food safety agencies around Europe were modelled on it, he said. The FSAI, which was set up 10 years ago in the aftermath of the BSE crisis, has been widely studied by other EU states seeking to put in place their own consumer protection measures.

“When the FSAI says something is safe, consumers believe them. It enjoys international respect and is an important part of the international network of food protection agencies,” said Mr Wall, a former chief executive of the agency and former chairman of the European Food Safety Authority.

“It is important that the visibility enjoyed by the agency and its reputation isn’t lost in a new agency, with a new name. In fact, the name should stay, just as the Guinness name stayed when Diageo was set up.”

Mr Wall said he accepted the need for savings and greater cost effectiveness. He suggested this could be achieved through a merger of the FSAI, its equivalent in the North and Safefood, an all-Ireland body set up under the Belfast Agreement to promote food safety on the island. He acknowledged this might not be possible because of jurisdictional issues.

The Consumers’ Association of Ireland also expressed concern that the merger might reduce the scientific capability of the FSAI.

Chief executive Dermott Jewell, who is also a member of the FSAI’s food safety consultative council, said he would be concerned if the merger left the agency with reduced powers.