‘Safe havens’ are just not safe enough
“I am concerned that without a change in the status quo, including attitudes, there will in fact be inadequate information sharing between industry and regulators,” said David Edwards, an independent food safety consultant. “In my opinion more creative thinking is required to encourage and support information sharing.”
Edwards was speaking at a conference on the future of the food industry organised by food safety specialist NSF International at the offices of law firm DWF in London last month. Dominic Watkins, head of DWF’s food group, echoed Edwards’ concerns. “Intelligence gathering is closer, but hasn’t happened,” he remarked.
Food Crime Unit
A Food Crime Unit (FCU) has been set up within the FSA as proposed in Professor Chris Elliott’s report into the 2013 horsemeat scandal. While still early days for the FCU, it would get better and its effectiveness would be reviewed in two years’ time, said John Barnes, head of the FSA’s Local Delivery Division.
Another Elliott recommendation was to set up an industry ‘intelligence hub’. This has involved discussions with a number of industry organisations.
As part of the intelligence hub, Elliott proposed the establishment of ‘safe havens’ for the sharing of sensitive information between the industry and FSA investigators. Safe havens are intended to protect those disclosing information from being penalised for doing so.
“We understand we have got to have safe havens,” said Barnes. He also recognised there were occasions when the FSA had been reluctant to share information it held with industry for fear of exacerbating problems.
Industry concerns
“There is a need to tackle industry concerns that companies that do share information early can be disadvantaged in doing so while their competitors keep their heads down – striking a balance between the need to act publicly versus commercial in confidence issues,” warned Edwards.
Barnes called for more collaboration between the FSA and firms in the food sector. He noted that while local authorities supplied about 400 reports of food fraud each quarter, there needed to be better intelligence from industry. The top four food fraud reports had involved smaller businesses, he added.
“We have got to share intelligence, share expertise and share our resources to deal with the rogues that are out there,” said Barnes. “Intelligence sharing is improving but it’s not where it needs to be. We’ve got to build the networks and you’ve got to trust us.”
