Recent cases requiring the Government Chemist’s help have ranged from genetically modified rice from China to pesticides and mycotoxins in different foods, according to a referee analyst.

Paul Hancock told attendees at the Government Chemist Conference that a variety of technically complex cases are being received with the workload returning

Continue Reading GMOs and mycotoxins on Government Chemist’s radar

The pressures on local authorities and food laboratories were among the issues discussed at the latest Food Standards Scotland (FSS) board meeting.

One plan to resolve the situation is for a nationally funded official laboratory service in Scotland. This could see the four existing public analyst labs remain within local

Continue Reading Local authority resources and lab capability on Scotland’s food standards agenda

Scotland is planning a new food sampling strategy to tackle challenges associated with the current approach to testing.

The proposed model has four strands of surveillance managed and funded by Food Standards Scotland (FSS), and is separate from the verification sampling by local authorities as part of their routine inspections.
Continue Reading Food testing gets overhaul in Scotland; feeder mice issue revisited

Public analyst laboratories are facing a number of challenges but there are also opportunities, according to the president of the Association of Public Analysts (APA) in the United Kingdom.

APA members are appointed public analysts who specialize in analysis to support enforcement by trading standards, environmental health in local authorities
Continue Reading Impact of COVID-19 and Brexit on public analysts and food safety testing discussed

A catering company in Wales has been fined in relation to five people who became ill from eating mackerel in July 2019.

DM Catering (Pembs) Ltd. was fined £2,550 ($3,300) by Haverfordwest magistrates in late September after pleading guilty to storing foods likely to support the growth of pathogenic microorganisms
Continue Reading Company fined after five suffer food poisoning from fish