New committee to introduce stricter controls for food

The Balearic director generals of public health, consumer affairs, commerce, agriculture, fisheries, tourism planning, rubbish disposal and development have set up a food safety committee, to draw up a plan for the Balearics. Margalida Buades, the director general of public health, said that the committee will seek full control of food, from production to consumer. It was inspired by a European white paper on food safety, published after the recent food scares throughout Europe. The report outlined initiatives to raise the quality of food products consumed in the European Union. These directives have been used to draw up the general lines of a draft on which the food safety plan will be based, and Buades said that the committee will demand “responsibility in every element in the food chain.” She went on to explain that the controls would be like an audit. Companies will be checked to make sure all the systems which guarantee their products are in place. As to the nature of these controls, Buades, who is the committee's deputy chair, said that “administrations have to promote measures, but behind this there must be a coercive element” to enable them to make sure that the regulations are being followed. Another of the factors which the food safety committee wants to explore is the existence of “transparent information” for the consumer. This is likely to lead to clearer guidelines for labelling products. It was not revealed how often the committee would meet, or when it expected to have its plan ready for approval.