Welcoming yesterday’s decision to clarify the future role of the Food Standards Agency, Melanie Leech, the Food and Drink Federation’s Director General, said:

“As the voice of the UK food and drink manufacturing sector, we believe it is important to maintain an independent food safety regulator and fully support today’s decision by the Government to retain the Food Standards Agency.

“The FSA has helped to create an environment in which public confidence in the food they eat has grown significantly in recent years and it makes sense to build on that by focusing the Agency’s future activities on safety and hygiene issues. We look forward to working closely with our regulator to ensure that we maintain these high levels of consumer trust.

“We also support the decision to move responsibility for nutrition, and other food policy issues, back into Government departments. This should lead to clearer and more consistent policy making, while avoiding unnecessary duplication of effort across Whitehall.”