Update from other committees

Updates from other Committees

Science Council  

Last open meeting: 23 June 2022  

• The Chair presented a summary of her activity over the last 6 months. 
• The CSA updated the Council on his recent activity and discussions (publication of the first FSA annual review of food standards “Our Food”, modelling FSA staff headcount reduction for Cabinet Office, the Precision Breeding Bill and alternative proteins). 
• An update on progress of Working Group 6 on Food Safety and Net Zero Carbon (including the interim report and an HMG workshop). 
• Updates from Science Council members attending Scientific Advisory Committees (SACs) and a brief on the tailored SAC review for Cabinet Office.

Next open meeting: 8 December 2022

Advisory Committee for Social Science (ACSS)

Formally established in April 2018, the Advisory Committee for Social Science (ACSS) provides expert strategic advice to the FSA on the use of the social sciences.

Last meeting: 20th July 2022 (9^th plenary, open session).  

Key agenda items: 

• Julie Hill has started her role as Chair of the ACSS. 
• Three new members join the committee in October, Dr Charlotte Hardman, Professor Fiona Gillison and Dr Naomi Maynard.  
• ACSS secretariat and Julie Hill are attending the DEFRA SSEG (Social Science Expert Group) meeting in Cambridge in November 2022.  

Working group highlights:  

• The Assurance working group are supporting the development of a ‘good science’ quality assurance toolkit to support the production of high-quality research. The group have also taken part in the first ‘Social Science Gateway Session’. 
• The Kitchen Life 2 working group continues to support the research project Kitchen Life 2. 
• The Climate Change and Consumer Behaviour working group had a recent publication around the impact of climate change on consumer food behaviours. The group has paused until new members are in position.  
• The Wider Consumer Interests working group continues to support this new ARI and focus on Household Food Insecurity and the Consumer Insight Tracker.  
• The Economics working group have agreed their Terms of References and reviewed the economic work plan for the next financial year. They will meet again in November.  

 Next open meeting:  2^nd February 2023. 

Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP) 

Last meeting: 7^th September 2022  

• The Barley rice protein draft opinion returned for further review with a request for further information regarding outstanding issues on advised once again.  
• The Cetylated fatty acids draft opinion was also reviewed with a copy to be circulated to Members for further input. 
• A new application, Magnesium-L-threonate was reviewed for the first time with more information to be requested from applicant. 
• The first meeting of the ACNFP/COT subcommittee held on 27/07/2022 considered the toxicology datasets and concluded that a list of toxicological uncertainties must be tackled before opinions on the safety of CBD isolates can be made. The next meeting will be on 28/10/2022 discussing CBD isolates and Synthetics CBD products with the hope to provide an outlook on CBD validation going into the new year. 
• The work of the ACNFP PGT Subcommittee in its first two meetings (22/07/2022 and 08/08/2022) was summarised, along a Policy update on the progress of the Precision Breeding bill and the input requested from ACNFP to support FSA strategic goals in developing framework for Precision Bred Organisms.  
• A workshop was held to review the latest discussion of the PGT Subcommittee on the development of framework for Precision Bred Organisms. Further work is being planned for the PGT Subcommittee. 

Next meeting: 16^th November 2022 

Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT)

Last meeting: 6^th September 2022

Topics discussed include: 

At their September meeting the Committee discussed a position paper on Chitosan used in food contact materials, the potential health effects of raspberry leaf in the maternal diet, and volatile organic compounds in aircraft cabin air in comparison with other modes of transport. They considered a statement on the safety of green tea catechins and a report on approaches to chronic dietary exposure assessment for chemicals in food. The Committee continued to work on a draft statement on the effects of lead on maternal health. 

Next meeting: 25^th October 2022 

Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COC)  

Last meeting:  2 March 2022

Topics on the agenda included: 

• Hydroxyanthracene derivatives in supplements 
• Horizon scanning 
• Annual report 
• Update to guidance statements including biomarkers, interpretation of cancer risk characterisation and alternative approaches 

Next meeting:  17 November 2022 

The Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COM) 

Last meeting:  1 March 2022 

Topics discussed included:   

• Review of EFSA opinion on titanium dioxide 
• Hydroxyanthracene derivatives in supplements  
• Horizon scanning 
• BPA 
• Smoke flavourings 
• Draft COC guidance statement “The Use of Biomarkers in Carcinogenic Risk Assessment 
• Draft COC, COM and COT document “How do the Committees evaluate the relevance and reliability of data when assessing a chemical of concern?” 

 Next meeting: 13 October 2022 

Secretariat

October 2022