Department of Health ‘difficult’, says Dairy UK boss

By Nicholas Robinson

- Last updated on GMT

The Department of Health was putting obstacles in the way of the dairy industry in the form of salt targets, said Dairy UK boss Judith Bryans
The Department of Health was putting obstacles in the way of the dairy industry in the form of salt targets, said Dairy UK boss Judith Bryans

Related tags Dairy industry Milk England

The boss of Dairy UK has criticised the Department of Health (DH) for putting obstacles in the way of the dairy industry in the form of salt targets.

Judith Bryans, Dairy UK chief executive, told FoodManufacture.co.uk in this exclusive podcast that the DoH’s 2017 salt targets​ were a growing area of concern among cheese producers and potentially detrimental to quality and safety.

“One of our most difficult areas to deal with is the DH,” ​said Bryans. “On the one hand you’ve got the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs asking the dairy industry to grow and recognising the potential and on the other hand you’ve got the DH doing things that are not helpful to the dairy industry in terms of its image​.”

Bryans was speaking at the launch of Dairy UK’s Dairy Makes a Difference ​campaign at the House of Commons on Tuesday (April 30), which was hosted by Neil Parish, Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton.

Coherent messages

The campaign was set up to inform government that the dairy industry wanted coherence in the messages they were sending out to the public about dairy.

“In the next couple of days we are going to be writing to some of the ministers and talking to them about some of the targets that the DH has set for salt in cheeses,” ​she said.

Listen to this exclusive podcast to hear Bryans talk about how the dairy industry’s contributions to the DoH’s salt targets were not taken on board.

You can also hear Parish speak about how the government must support the dairy industry in order for it to grow to cater for a rising population and an increase in demand for dairy.

Meanwhile, George Eustice, food minister, gave a speech at the launch of the campaign highlighting the health benefits of dairy products in a balanced diet.   

Related topics Dairy Preservatives and acidulants

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