Matters Arising

ACM/MIN/103 

Topic and action required

Action Taken

4.4

Subject to the above amendments, members approved the minutes of the 102^nd meeting as an accurate record and agreed that they should be posted on the ACMSF website.

Minutes now available on website

5.2

A committee member inquired why a response had been given to the actions regarding the Clostridia subgroup report when it had not yet been through public consultation. Secretariat to follow up.

Followed up with committee member who raised the action by email on 5/10/23

5.3

It was also highlighted the length of time that it was taking to get a response to the outstanding action from the 100^th meeting (relating to the storage of samples collected in relation to botulism in cattle, sheep, and goats). The secretariat is to work with Dr Stephen Wyllie to obtain a response from APHA before the next meeting.

Response from Dr Stephen Wyllie circulated to committee on 12/10/23

5.4

The committee requested that Robin May be approached to determine the reasons behind the delays to the IID3 project to try to prevent them from happening in the future. Secretariat to follow up.

The secretariat will follow up on this action at an appropriate point during the project .

5.5

A committee member highlighted the time it has taken to circulate the final draft of the ACMSF horizon scanning workshop 2022 summary and asked what actions were being taken on the points raised during the workshop. Secretariat to update the committee on the progress horizon scanning summaries at the next meeting.

Horizon scanning summary circulated prior to the meeting.

7.2

A committee member raised the used of phage as a bio preservative in foods and asked if there were guidelines about the use of phage. The query was in relation to a question that came out of a recent science committee meeting on if phage was to be considered as a food. The secretariat is to ask for a presentation from the Regulated Products team on this subject at a future meeting.

Presentation by Dr Francesca Hodges from Innovate UK has been arranged for this meeting on the use of phage in food.

9.4

The S. Typhimurium in pigs’ data was highlighted by a committee member who asked if APHA were planning another nationwide survey of slaughter pigs for different pathogens. Dr Stephen Wyllie informed the committee that there is currently a sheep survey being undertaken but he was not aware of any being undertaken in pigs, however, he will confirm with colleagues at APHA.

Response from Dr Stephen Wyllie circulated to committee on 12/10/23

ACM/MIN/102 

Topic and action required

Action Taken

6.1 (bullet point 9)

The AMR working group have advised the secretariat that a full risk assessment on nisin is needed before any comment can be given regarding its use to replace QACs. The secretariat is to check if a full RA has been considered by the FSA.

We have liaised with AEJEG (Joint Expert Group on Additives, Enzymes and other Regulated Products) who have raised a similar query and are currently in discussion with the legal team regarding whether the ACMSF’s request for a full risk assessment would be justified.

Application (RP42) for use of Nisin in egg analogues (liquid and solid) will be reviewed by AMR subgroup at next meeting and we are in discussions with policy about a strategic risk assessment on the use of nisin on food.

7.2 (bullet point 4)

Temperature abuse has been highlighted as the cause of the majority of incidents relating to botulism in chilled foods. It is recommended that the FSA highlight the importance of temperature control in consumer food hygiene campaigns, together with adherence to recommended Use By dates, to reinforce these critical consumer food safety controls.

The secretariat held a meeting with policy to discuss this action on 6/7/23. Policy have taken this action on board and are happy to reflect in advice to consumers. They noted advice on temperature control and use by dates are routinely factored into routine plans for consumer messaging.  Recent examples of cold chain related messaging include power cut advice, and advice to university freshers which had a particular focus on use by dates.

7.2 (bullet point 5)

Whilst existing controls act to maintain safety with respect to botulism in chilled and ambient manufactured foods it is recommended that FSA guidelines should be slightly modified to include in the control actions “a combination of controlling factors which can be shown consistently to prevent toxin production by non-proteolytic C. botulinum”. This is to provide flexibility to support innovation by food business operators that can lead to reduced energy usage, waste reduction and safe shelf-life extensions.

The secretariat held a meeting with policy to discuss this action on 6/7/23. Action taken on board by policy. We were informed that guidance is intended to be revised and is part of policies ‘100-day plan’. However, with the Report on Botulinum Neurotoxin-Producing Clostridia pending it was decided that the guidance should be review after the publication of the report.

7.3 (bullet point 11)

The committee discussed that if the public were made more aware of the risks of buying from unregulated food producers, then they would be less likely to do so. Again, it was concluded that we need to communicate more effectively with consumers and food business on the risks to public health.

The secretariat held a meeting with policy to discuss this action on 6/7/23. Several areas of work currently underway to address the risk from unregulated food producers were highlighted.

For example, a paper on the Cost of Living is being prepared and will look at this area. The report was requested by the Audit and Risk Committee (ARAC) which asked for a deep dive on the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) response to the cost-of-living crisis.

Furthermore, the ABC (Achieving Business Compliance) programme has been designed to achieve food regulation that is data driven and evolves with the rapidly evolving food system, so all food is safe for consumers regardless of where and how it is bought.  Some of the work the programme is undertaking includes:

• Working with some of the key players (aggregators) who work with a large number of food businesses, to ensure there are robust processes to ensure that food businesses on their platforms are properly registered with the relevant local authorities before they are allowed to trade on these large platforms. 

• Working with Local Authorities to support their regulatory role, helping them direct their resources at the businesses which pose the greatest risk (which may include those who are not registered) in modernising the Food Law Code of Practice delivery models for Food Standards (FSDM) and Food Hygiene (FHDM).

• Testing new approaches to regulation which is hoped will also potentially reduce the burdens on LAs to regulate some compliant businesses - further providing opportunity to target the higher risk or non-compliant businesses (including unregistered FBOs).

• Reviewing the "Safer Food Better Business" pack, which is designed to support smaller/medium food businesses.  This includes reminders for FBOs to ensure their business is registered with their LA.

8.4 (bullet point 6)

The committee discussed that the handwashing message was diluted in COVID-19 and the public became confused with different messages regarding the virus from different sources. It was discussed that information on why people stop washing hands and why they don’t is needed. A member pointed out that the impact of interventions such as a handwashing campaign tends be a short-lived and then behaviour returns to as it was before. In relation to this there was a concern raised that, in a post-covid society, that there is a danger of government led health advice fatigue, and that a food safety campaign may be better placed in the future.

The secretariats held a meeting with policy to discuss this action on 6/7/23. Policy highlighted two recent research projects on this area Kitchen Life 2 and handwashing behavioural trails. They will be preparing recommendations from these reports and will keep in mind the suggestion from the committee when reviewing advice. Policy may reach out to comms in the future regarding their capacity for a new social media campaign around hand washing.

ACM/MIN/101  

Topic and action required

Action Taken

9.5

UK Food Safety Network

Share the finalised horizon scanning report with UKFSN

Will be shared once report is published.

ACM/MIN/100

Topic and action required

Action Taken

5

Botulism in cattle, sheep and goats - update on recommendations from the ACMSF Botulism in Cattle, Sheep and Goats reports

Through paper ACM/1387, APHA responded to the points the committee made on the APHA update on the recommendations from the botulism in cattle, sheep and goats report. The committee at the February 2022 meeting was dissatisfied with the reply provided for recommendations 8.7 (Samples collected during clinical investigations should be archived to assist with the development of further assay systems), explaining that the Committee is asking APHA to either provide or enable storage, rather than to develop assays as the response implies, and 8.15 (the committee would like more information on the evidence that is being collected on toxin types other than C & D causing botulism in UK ruminants). Dr Stephen Wyllie agreed to liaise with APHA in addressing the committee’s concern on the response provided in ACM/1387.

Response from Dr Stephen Wyllie circulated to committee on 12/10/23

ACM/MIN/99

Topic and action required

Action Taken

8.3

Salmonella Typhimurium in humans

(24% of human isolates were S Typhimurium) and incident rate in pigs (first quarter of 2021 had 21 incidents compared to 18 incidents in 2020 and below 10 in previous years) which reveals a picture of continuous increasing incidents of S. Typhimurium. Salmonella in Livestock report in 2020 also suggests that there has been a greater than 10% increase in overall Salmonella in incidents in pigs over that period of time. When a similar query on this pathogen was raised at the last committee meeting APHA attributed the increases to the system used to collect data and indicated that they were considering a more structured survey of Salmonella prevalence across the pig industry. Dr Wyllie agreed to seek up to date advice on this matter for the committee.

Response from Dr Stephen Wyllie circulated to committee on 12/10/23