Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they have taken following the recommendation of the Elliott Review into the integrity and assurance of food supply networks that they should “work in partnership with Public Health England and local authorities with their own laboratories to consider appropriate options for an integrated shared scientific service around food standards”; and whether there has been any public scrutiny of this project as was requested in that Review.

In response to the recommendations of the Elliott Review, the following actions that have been undertaken to address the integrity and assurance of the food supply networks include:

- Creation of a United Kingdom Virtual Food Authenticity Network to bring together centres of scientific expertise on food standards; and

- Supporting sharing analytical best practice on food standards across laboratories via a new coordinated knowledge transfer programme to upskill laboratories in the application of analytical methods and support food law enforcement; and supporting the Mastership in Chemical Analysis (MChemA).

The Government response to the Elliott review of the integrity and assurance of food supply networks was published in September 2014. A copy is attached. This document provides the details of the Government’s actions and commitments to address the recommendations of the Elliott Review and was open to the public for further enquiries and comments.