Presented at the 46th Annual General Meeting of the Association held at the Bishops Court Hotel, Torquay, by the Honorary Secretary, Paul Lenartowicz.

This report reviews the activities of the Association of Public Analysts (APA) during the year ended December 31st 1998, and discusses external events that influence the development of the Association and its members.

For a second year running, moves towards establishment of a UK Food Standards Agency were the focus of many of the activities of the Association, with the publication in January 1998 of the Government's White Paper Food Standards Agency - A Force for Change and subsequent reviews of the Public Analyst service in England & Wales and in Scotland.

While this activity was taking place the deadline of November 1998 for compliance with the requirements of the EU's "Additional Measures Directive" (EC Directive 93/99/EEC, Additional Measures concerning the Official Control of Foodstuffs) approached, accompanied by the final stages of the accreditation process for those laboratories which had not previously been accredited for the required scope of work in order to be notified as 'Official Laboratories for Food Control' in the UK

Against this backdrop the Association's members continued to carry out their role of protecting the public through the application of science to the assessment of the safety, quality, authenticity and labelling of food, and similar activity in relation to other products and materials. Typical areas where problems have been found include:

• Nuts products containing excessive levels of aflatoxin, a potent carcinogen produced by moulds.
• Meat and poultry described as fresh but which had previously been frozen and defrosted
• Canned foods containing excessive levels of tin.
• Foods labelled as being free from specified components such as gluten but which were not free from them.
• Foods containing excessive levels of additives.
• Meat products deficient in meat (there are compositional standards for a range of meat products such as sausages, burgers and pies which regularly fail to be met).
• Meat products failing to declare their meat content or added water content - 15 years after the current labelling requirements came into force.
• Falsely labelled spirits with a cheap brand masquerading as a name brand.
• Products containing sweeteners but without the declaration "with sweeteners" accompanying the name as required to inform the consumer.
• Foods not labelled as containing Genetically Modified ingredients despite their presence.
• Foods misleadingly labelled.
   

Public Analysts are the statutorily appointed enforcement scientists working at local authority level to provide a scientific assessment of food in respect of chemical contamination and composition in order to assess its safety, quality, authenticity and labelling. Many Public Analysts also have a dual role as Food Examiners undertaking bacteriological examination as well, the Public Analyst's statutory qualifications being an approved qualification for this purpose (there being merit in being able to carry out all scientific investigations of a sample under one roof thus avoiding the complication of splitting a sample for different needs).

In respect of samples submitted to him, it is the Public Analyst who decides whether or not a food is safe and complies with the law - as such his is a pivotal role in the system. The Public Analyst is thus far more than a mere analytical chemist or manager of an analytical laboratory, hence the reason for his statutory qualification (the Mastership in Chemical Analysis), which is the highest postgraduate level qualification in applied analytical chemistry and is specifically geared to interpretation in the light of the law, providing an accreditation of the individual charged with this grave responsibility to complement the accreditation of the laboratory in which he works.

A key factor in the system is that whatever their employment position (salaried employees or private consultants), Public Analysts act as independent scientists, concerned with the scientific truth relating to samples submitted for analysis.

In addition to food the high levels of expertise and equipment in Public Analysts' laboratories are made available for the protection of the public in relation to other products and materials, helping local authorities to provide best value to the communities they serve by providing a 'one-stop shop' specifically geared to and understanding the needs of public protection.
 

Following the "James Report" of the previous year which discussed the need for a Food Standards Agency, January 1998 saw publication of the Government's plans for establishment of such an Agency in the form of a White Paper entitled Food Standards Agency - A Force for Change.

The White Paper presented a detailed picture of the Government's plans and intentions for an Agency to be responsible for protecting the interests of the consumer in all matters related to food. The detail in the White Paper clearly had its roots in the 'James Report' upon which the APA had submitted substantial comments on two occasions in 1997. The APA responded to the consultation process by making a detailed submission which looked at the proposals from a scientific viewpoint taking the intention to place the consumer first as a fundamental requirement. A summary of the comments and recommendations made by the APA is reproduced as Annex 1 to this annual report.

The White Paper also proposed that there should be a review of the Public Analyst Service in England & Wales, in Scotland and in Northern Ireland, the first two of which were undertaken during the course of 1998.
 

In February 1998 this committee was looking at the proposals made in the White Paper, and invited the Association to give evidence. Peter Clare (then the Hon. Secretary) gave evidence on the Association's behalf, indicating the Association's support for the concept of a Food Standards Agency independent from MAFF, and emphasising the various points that were to be included in the APA 's formal response to the consultation on the White Paper, including the need for the Agency to 'police' the enforcement system to ensure its effectiveness.
 

The 1998 Annual Conference was held on 23rd-24th April at the Linton Lodge Hotel in Oxford, comprising a closed session on the Thursday afternoon at which matters related to the development of the profession and the anticipated review of the Public Analyst Service were discussed, followed by an open session on the Friday.

The theme of the open session was Quality Assured - Protecting the Safety and Quality of Food. The first speaker was Jane Brown, head of MAFF's Food Standards Legislation Team, who presented the Ministry's view of the need for a Food Standards Agency and its likely scope of work. This was followed by a presentation by Dr Alastair Robertson of Safeway Stores PLC who discussed the controls that diligent traders have in place to ensure the quality and safety of food they supply. The morning concluded with talks by a Public Analyst, Alan Richards, and a Food Examiner, John Waddell, on the reliability of food analysis and examination.

The afternoon session was opened by Professor Tim Lang, Director of the Centre for Food Policy at Thames Valley University, who discussed various requirements for protecting and advising consumers, including a discussion on food poverty. Dr Axel Preuss followed with a detailed outline of the food law enforcement system in Germany, where the minimum sampling rate of 5 samples per 1000 population is met (unlike the UK's rarely met target of just 2.5), and Dr George Stephenson, Public Analyst, brought much of the day together with a paper on the Unique Role of Public Analysts, giving an insight into the interpretation of test data and resultant advice.

The conference closed with the formal Annual Dinner of the Association during which Mastership in Chemical Analysis Award Certificates were presented on behalf of the Royal Society of Chemistry to Miss Jane Couper, Dr Geoffrey Haywood, Mr Peter Maynard and Mr John Searle, the successful candidates from the examinations completed in 1997.
 

On 23rd April the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food announced the commencement of the review of Public Analyst arrangements in England and Wales, under the chairmanship of Alan Turner, OBE, former chief chemist of Cadbury Schweppes and Past President of the Institute of Food Science and Technology, now an independent consultant on Food Science, Technology and Law, and on 6th May 1998 the Minister of Health and the Arts at the Scottish Office announced the review of Food Related Scientific Services in Scotland, under the chairmanship of Professor Morag Timbury, former Director of the Central Public Health Laboratory Service, now retired.

These two reviews were given extremely tight deadlines within which to consult interested parties, and resulted in substantial preparative activity within the APA. In practice the separate organisation APAS (Association of Public Analysts in Scotland) took on board the response to the Scottish review, while APA members based in England and Wales addressed the review south of the border.

The APA produced a comprehensive paper which presented a detailed overview of the Public Analyst Service from the origins of UK food law to the present day, showing how and why it exists and examining in detail all aspects of the service including its purpose, its scientific capability, the use to which the service is put, its funding, its needs and the needs of the system it exists to support, and the essential background activities it undertakes. The paper pulled no punches when it came to discussing the limitations of the service, primarily arising from prolonged and systematic underfunding. Annex 2 to this annual report summarises the main points made in the paper. The paper was submitted to the Review Group together with a substantial bundle of supporting documentation to ensure that the Group had ready access to all relevant information. The supplementary information (which where appropriate included parallel information relating to equivalent services elsewhere in the EU) included details on training and qualifications, copies of various past reports on the service, information on the relevant legislative background and framework, information on laboratories, information on the relationships between laboratories and other bodies, etc.

It is with grateful thanks that Council acknowledges the substantial input made by a number of members and officers of the Association in preparing the paper, particular tribute being due to the President who devoted an amount of his personal time in those few weeks that probably exceeds the lifetime contribution to the Association by many members. Others who contributed significant amounts of time and whose names should be mentioned included Mr Brian Dredge (Coordinator of Scientific Affairs), Mr Martin Godfray (retired member), Mr Norman Harrison (Past President), Mr Paul Lenartowicz (Hon. Secretary), Mr Bob Stevens (Vice President) and Mrs Carol Stevens.

Following submission of the paper as written evidence to the Review Group, the President, Vice President and Hon Secretary were called to give oral evidence, which was done as part of a two-hour session that included oral submissions by the Institute of Trading Standards Administration and a combined submission by LACOTS (the Local Authorities Co-Ordinating Body on Food and Trading Standards) and the Local Government Association.

At the end of October both Review Groups published their findings. A summary of the findings of the Review of Public Analyst Arrangements in England and Wales and those pertinent to the Public Analyst part of the service from the Review of Food-Related Scientific Services in Scotland appear as Annexes 3 and 4 to this report.

The Association was most interested to receive these reviews, and indeed was pleased to see the overwhelming support for the vital role that Public Analysts play. It was noted that although in the body of the report the England and Wales Review clearly identified that gross underfunding was a common theme referred to in numerous submissions, no direct recommendation to resolve this was made, instead there was a rather oblique remark commencing "If funding is to continue to be locally controlled...". The APA wondered if the Review Group may have considered that its terms of reference precluded any specific consideration of funding, although the Scottish Review seemed to have been less constrained.

Immediately following publication of the reports the APA identified those matters to which either the Association should address itself or which would at least require substantial input by Public Analysts, and which warranted action in the short term, and established working groups to commence the necessary development work.

Particular topics included the establishment of a national database of sample information, the development of a risk-based sampling strategy, the development of a protocol for using outside experts, examination of practical approaches to benchmarking, the development of a model to help ensure that the Public Analyst service continues to provide best value, and the development of a formalised scheme to help ensure continuing professional competence. In addition three members of the Association were already involved with a review of the Mastership in Chemical Analysis examination which had been established by the Royal Society of Chemistry over a year earlier. It was intended that many of these topics would reach a stage where an outline paper could be presented at the 1999 annual conference/AGM.
 

EU Directive 93/99/EEC, Additional Measures concerning the Official Control of Foodstuffs set out the requirements for Official Laboratories carrying out the analysis of food as part of the food control system.

The essential requirements set out in this Directive are that laboratories must comply with the general criteria for the operation of testing laboratories laid down in European Standard EN45001, supplemented by standard operating procedures and the random audit of their compliance, that they must use validated methods and participate in proficiency testing schemes, and that officers involved in food control must be adequately qualified.

By their statutory qualification of Mastership in Chemical Analysis (M.Chem.A.) Public Analysts are clearly qualified to undertake the necessary role, and since the instigation of the Validated Enforcement Methods Service (VEMS) scheme a decade ago the requirements for use of validated methods have been satisfied. Similarly all APA members' laboratories have for some years participated in a proficiency testing scheme known as FAPAS (Food Analysis Performance Assessment Scheme).

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), in conjunction with the Department of Health (DoH) and the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) drafted an agreement which set out the scopes of accreditation and proficiency testing that were considered to represent the minimum acceptable for inclusion on the UK list of Official Laboratories to be notified to the European Commission. In accordance with the EU Directive this draft Agreement set a deadline of November 1998 for compliance by any laboratory wishing to be notified as an Official Laboratory.

During 1998 those Public Analyst laboratories which had not previously been accredited for the required scope of food analysis went through the final stages of the accreditation process, such that by November all APA members' laboratories had indeed been assessed by UKAS.
 

A group of members' laboratories considered tendering for part of the analytical work on veterinary residues in meat products for the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, with the President establishing a limited company called Public Analyst Service Ltd to provide the unifying umbrella needed to facilitate the working together as one body a number of laboratories under multiple ownership.

Although on this occasion the time available from the decision to consider bidding for the work until the deadline for submission of tenders was insufficient to put together the necessary package, the process that was undertaken was felt to be valuable in paving the way for future collaboration between laboratories.
 

The Annual Review by the Government Chemist was published in December. The Association's Council was dismayed to find that the report contained criticisms of the Public Analyst Service which were quite untrue and reflected a lack of in-depth understanding of the real Public Analyst Service by the authors, for example the implication that Public Analysts had not embraced modern techniques such as DNA analysis and that they did not have proper programmes for the training of junior staff, while criticism of resources did not make it clear that funding is a matter over which Public Analysts do not have any control. There has been improved liaison in recent years between the Association and the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC) and it was astounding therefore to read comments which were not only inaccurate but which could also be seen as self-serving given the recently privatised status of the LGC. A meeting with the Government Chemist and his staff to resolve this catalogue of misinformation was sought early in 1999.
 

One of the Association's functions in furtherance of the interests of Public Analysts is the provision of a means of harmonising the ongoing scientific activity which forms the core of the Public Analyst Service, in order to ensure consistency of enforcement and best practice. This is a major role for the Association's Scientific Affairs Committee, which in 1998 gave particular consideration to the following -:

• Finalising the protocol for generic accreditation purposes.
• Production of some priority VEMS (Validated Enforcement Methods Service) methods.
• Refinement of quality control requirements for VEMS methods.
• Revision of the standards applicable to fat content of minced beef described by terms implying that the product is 'lean'.
• Revision of methods for calculating meat content.
   

The tenth annual 4-day residential training course aimed at M.Chem.A. candidates was held in Reading in March 1998, organised by the Training Committee. Seminars are an important part of the training and development activity of Public Analysts and their laboratory staff, and one such event during the year also organised by Training Committee was a technical meeting at a Midlands chocolate factory which included an insight into the technology of modern confectionery manufacture.

In addition Training Committee published the second edition of the Microscopy Training Guide, fully revised and expanded since the first edition, being one in a series of informative guides available to assist in training of staff in Public Analysts' laboratories, including M.Chem.A. candidates.

All these training activities receive the support of the APA Educational Trust, a trust set up to provide financial sponsorship for the training and development of analytical chemists.
 

Summary of the APA response to the White Paper Food Standards Agency - A Force for Change published on 15th January 1998

Specific comments were made on 31 paragraphs of the White Paper in order to clarify and strengthen the function of the Agency as a body responsible for putting the consumer first in ensuring the safety and standard of food. In addition the following recommendations were made:

1. Enforcement Powers: the APA supports food enforcement remaining with local authorities, and also supports firmer coordination and monitoring of local authority performance. The proposal that the Agency should be empowered to take over enforcement from any local authority that fails to provide an adequate service is also supported, but the Agency should not itself have enforcement powers in its own right.
    
2. Surveillance and Monitoring: although the Agency's activities should include surveillance and monitoring of food, it should be recognised that local authorities do important and significant surveillance and monitoring work as part of the enforcement process to which Public Analysts are prime contributors, which at present is largely unrecognised and is often duplicated by MAFF. It is hoped that the 'culture change' promised with the Food Standards Agency will indeed result in better coordination to meet local and national needs.
    
3. Scientific Services: the APA recommends setting up a Scientific Services Unit within the Food Standards Agency to direct and coordinate all scientific services concerned with food and agriculture. In addition proper recognition should be given to Food Examiners responsible for ensuring the microbiological safety of food. Where food examination is carried out within a Public Analyst's laboratory there is the added benefit of being able to combine chemical analysis with microbiological examination.
    
4. Funding: proper funding arrangements are absolutely fundamental, nationally and locally, to ensure the provision of scientific services for food law enforcement. Of the £170M - £180M understood to be the grant from central Government for food enforcement, the White Paper indicates that only 2/3 to 3/4 of this amount is actually spent by local authorities on food control. Adequate control is needed to ensure that the Public Analyst Service receives sufficient funding to carry out its essential role in food safety and quality. The voluntary efforts currently made by individual Public Analysts to support and forward the work of the APA and the Public Analyst Service should be recognised and supported.
    
5. With respect to the proposed review of the Public Analyst Service, the following points must be addressed :-

• Funding arrangements, including level of support for scientific services.
• Public expectations for science in food enforcement and protection.
• Role in the enforcement process, including recognition and support.
• Qualifications.
• Relationship to the Food Standards Agency, and UK and regional coordination.
• Service standards, monitoring and auditing arrangements.
• Arrangements for both food and other scientific work required by local authorities.
   

Summary of the major points and recommendations made in the APA submission to the Review of Public Analyst Arrangements in England and Wales

Public Analysts are highly dedicated and are committed to the public good and this has been convincingly demonstrated by their activities in:

• Establishing and maintaining training without external funding.
• Achieving third party assessed quality systems in advance of November, 1998, without external funding.
• Establishing a cooperative system for the production of validated methods of analysis for use by all Public Analysts.
• Wholehearted participation in the activities of the Local Authorities Co-ordinating Body on Food and Trading Standards, the Local Government Association, the Welsh Local Government Association, the Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities and the Association of Local Authorities of Northern Ireland without external funding.
   

The following is a summary of the recommendations made by the Independent Review Group chaired by Mr Alan Turner, OBE.

The following is a summary of the recommendations made by the Independent Review Group chaired by Professor Morag Timbury, insofar as they relate to Public Analysts.