Written question asked by Lord Dykes (Liberal Democrat), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Thornton (Labour) on Wednesday, 10 February 2010.

Food: Irradiation

Question: To ask Her Majesty's Government what resources they are planning to protect and inform the public of the incidence of irradiated foodstuffs.

Answer: Regulations are in place across the United Kingdom covering the sale and import of irradiated food and the licensing and inspection of food irradiation facilities. Local authorities take targeted samples of products on sale as part of their routine enforcement work. European Directive 1999/2/EC requires the results of this sampling for irradiated foods to be reported to the European Commission and published annually in the Official Journal. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) works with local authorities to take action where illegally irradiated or mislabelled products are discovered. The FSA has also set up regular meetings with representatives of the food supplement industry on improving traceability and sampling of ingredients and to assist in producing an industry guidance document to help improve compliance with food irradiation legislation. All irradiated foods, or foods containing irradiated ingredients, must be labelled with the words ““irradiated”” or ““treated with ionising radiation””. This is a requirement of the Food Labelling Regulations 1996, as amended.

Secondary information