asked the Minister for Health if his Department are carrying out independent research work on food additives and chemical sweeteners or if we are dependent on work carried out abroad.
9.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Food Additives.
8.
asked the Minister for Health if he is satisfied that the availability of artificial sweeteners in this country is not injurious to health.
10.
asked the Minister for Health if he will make a statement on the control of standards his Department apply in relation to additives in food.
11.
asked the Minister for Health if standard tests are carried out on imported foodstuffs or if we are dependent on British and American stanards in this regard.
12.
asked the Minister for Health if he will make a statement on his Department's position in relation to the free availability of a food additive (details supplied) in Ireland when it has been deemed unsafe in America after tests there showed that it produces tumours in animals.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 to 12, inclusive, together, as they deal with the general area of food additives.
Although no research on food additives is carried out under the auspices of my Department, I am advised by the Food Advisory Committee about the suitability of individual additives for use in food. Before the committee would recommend that an additive is suitable for use in food they would have to be satisfied by the manufacturer that it is safe from a health point of view and that its use in the food is absolutely necessary. Both conditions must be satisfied. The committee would also examine all the available evidence drawn up by international bodies such as the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation, and the Scientific Committee for Food of the EC before making their decision.
My Department control the use of additives through regulations made under the Health Acts, 1947-70, and the European Communities Act, 1972. These regulations, made on the recommendation of the Food Advisory Committee, specify the additives which may be used in food and in some cases, restrict the use of specified additives to certain foods up to specific limits. These regulations apply to the importation, distribution and sale of food and are regularly updated to take account of EC directives.
In addition to these specific controls, the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts and the Food Hygiene Regulations contain provisions which provide general protection to the public by prohibiting the sale of food which is adulterated, contaminated or otherwise unfit for human consumption.
The controls are enforced by the health boards. Each health board conduct planned food sampling programmes under which different foods are sampled and analysed each week. The samples are analysed by the public analysts. They carry out a twofold analysis, one for compliance with specific regulations where these exist and one for compliance with the provisions of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts and the Food Hygiene Regulations. The test used, where these are not prescribed in the relevant legislation, are internationally recognised ones. If a sample is found not to comply with the law, the analysts issue a certificate on which prosecution proceedings may be taken by the health board.
With regard to artificial sweeteners, no specific regulation on their use exists at present, with the exception of the Health (Cyclamate in Food) Regulations, 1970. However, the use of sweeteners is monitored by the public analysts with a view to ensuring that no sweeteners are being sold here which are injurious to health.
With regard to the particular food additive referred to by the Deputy, the scientific evidence on this was considered by the relevant members of the Food Advisory Committee who advised the approval of its use in this country. It has also been approved for use by the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation; by the Food and Drugs Administration in the USA; by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in the UK; and, most recently, in a report on artificial sweeteners from the Scientific Committee for Food of the EC.
Is the Minister concerned about a report in a recent publication that the Food and Drugs Administration in the US discovered that faked results were being published by independent research institutes in the US on artificial sweeteners and the publication showed that the sweetener mentioned in my question had produced tumours in laboratory animals during tests? Will he inform the House if there has been any communication between his Department and the Food and Drugs Administration in the United States on this matter? Further, is he concerned with the report in 1983 of the Southern Health Board which showed that 43 per cent of cooked foods that were analysed and 42 per cent of uncooked foods analysed were found to be unsatisfactory? What steps does he propose to take to improve the situation?
The allegation that the sweetener in question had been banned in the United States is not true. It was made in the "World in Action" programme on UTV before Christmas. I think I have clarified that point in my first reply. Secondly, I am aware of the report of the Southern Health Board. I have not got it here in relation to my brief but it is a more general question about the operation of the hygiene regulations of the Southern Health Board.
Will the Minister say why we have not under the aegis of his Department a public health laboratory similar to that in other European countries to ensure that we have our own research facilities to examine specimens and to make certain that everything is up to the proper standards? Do the Government intend to amend legislation to ensure, through the Department of Health or the health boards, that there will be control over food sold? As the Minister is aware, much of the control, for example, in respect of meat and meat products rests with local authorities. Does the Minister not think it more appropriate that this power should be vested in the health boards so that the directors of community care would be responsible for ensuring that food is up to the right quality?
I would not be entirely opposed to the statement of the Deputy with the proviso that there should be a transfer of resources from the Department of the Environment or the local authorities to the health boards if that work was to be done. Secondly, there is great pressure on my Department to play a much larger role in relation to additives in respect of agriculture. I have agreed to the Department having a far stronger role in relation to additives in meat processed. It looks as though we are going to have our hands full. The Department would have to have a transfer of resources from the Department of Agriculture because we have a very small staff and we do not have the facility for this kind of operation.
Question Time is over.
Just one question in relation to——
I am afraid not. The remaining questions will appear on tomorrow's Order Paper.
(Interruptions.)
There is nothing I can do about it.
It appears that everything we raise is out of order.
In view of the fact that the Chair ruled out my Private Notice Question asking the Minister for Agriculture to publish the submission to the EC whereby certain areas of south Kerry were not included as disadvantaged areas, in the revision of disadvantaged areas, which will cost the small farmers in this area £¼ million——
Has the Deputy a request to make?
Will the Ceann Comhairle allow me to raise this matter on the Adjournment tonight?
I will communicate with the Deputy.