June 16, 2016

Food safety & authenticity: Laboratory of the Government Chemist conference

The annual conference of the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC), an independent company that carries out food testing and analysis, will take place on 21-22 June 2016. This meeting brings together scientists, regulators, enforcement agencies, industry, and policy makers to discuss food fraud, authenticity and safety.

Ahead of the conference, a panel of experts came to the SMC to discuss these issues and update journalists on the progress made in food safety and authenticity in the years since the horse meat scandal. This was an opportunity to hear about:

• The setting up of the Food Authenticity Network (a recommendation of the Elliott review after the horse meat scandal) and how much has been achieved since 2013
• Mislabelling of food
• Food fraud- how common is it and what else can be done to prevent it?
• What happens when two labs disagree on the test results of the content of food?
• The role of science in uncovering some of the century’s biggest food scams

Speakers:

Mr Michael Walker, Consultant Referee Analyst, Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC)

Ms Selvarani Elahi, Deputy Government Chemist, LGC, & Coordinator of the Food Authenticity Network

Prof. Richard Evershed, Professor of Biogeochemistry, University of Bristol