| ACMSF | | Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food. |
| ACNFP | | Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes. |
| ACP | | Advisory Committee on Pesticides. |
| ADAS | | Formerly an Executive Agency of MAFF and the Welsh Office, ADAS (previously known as the Agricultural Development Advisory Service) was privatised on 1 April 1997. It provides technical, strategic and business consultancy to all land based industries, especially food production, processing and retailing, land management, waste disposal and energy. The Farming and Rural Conservation Agency (FRCA) now carries out those functions of ADAS which were not considered suitable for privatisation. |
| Advisory Committees | | See Annex 2, Appendix 2. |
| Aflatoxins | | A group of mycotoxins produced by moulds which grow in improperly stored nuts, grains, dried fruits and certain other foods. |
| BBSRC | | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. |
| Better Regulation Guide | | Produced by the Better Regulation Unit, Cabinet Office in 1997. This guide describes good practice at all stages of regulating including guidance, using a worked example, on the preparation of Regulatory Appraisals. |
| BSE | | Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is a neurological disorder affecting adult cattle. It is a subacute transmissible spongiform encephalopathy and is believed to be the bovine equivalent of scrapie disease in sheep, that has occurred as the result of the exposure of cattle to animal feeds containing the scrapie agent. |
|
CAP | | Common Agricultural Policy. British agriculture policy has been integrated within the CAP since the UK joined the European Community in 1973. Its objectives are as follows: |
| | a) ensuring the rational development of agricultural production thus ensuring a fair standard of living for the agricultural population
b) to stabilise markets
c) to guarantee a secure supply of food
d) to assure reasonable retail prices to consumers. |
| CCDC | | Consultant in Communicable Disease Control. |
| Chief Medical Officer | | The Chief Medical Officer is the professional head of the Medical Civil Service and the Department of Health medical staff. He is also the Chief Medical Officer for the Government, the Department of Education and Employment, MAFF, the Home Office and the Department of Social Security. He also provides medical advice to other Government Departments including DoE, DTI and FCO. Territorial Departments each have their own CMO whose role is to advise their respective Secretary of State and other territorial ministers. They oversee the work of policy units in their respective Health Departments. Responsibilities include preparing and publishing an annual report on the health of the population. There is also an important liaison role between the Chief Medical Officers. |
| Chief Veterinary Officer | | The Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) is the professional head of the Veterinary Service and principal adviser to MAFF and other Whitehall Departments and their Ministers on veterinary matters. The CVO plays an important role in representing the United Kingdom in a wide range of international fora on issues related to the protection of public and animal health, the promotion of animal welfare and the facilitation of trade in animals and animal products. The CVO as head of the State Veterinary Service also has responsibility for ensuring that Government policy in these areas is fully implemented. |
| Codex Alimentarius | | Latin for 'food code' It is a code of food standards for all nations, developed by an international commission established in 1962 when the FAO and the WHO recognised the need for international standards to guide the world's growing food industry and to protect the health of consumers. The standards contain "requirements for food aimed at ensuring the consumer a sound, wholesome food product free from adulteration and correctly labelled and presented". |
| COMA | | Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy |
| Commissioner for Public Appointments | | Appointed by the Head of State to monitor, regulate and provide advice on Government Departments' procedures for Ministerial appointments to public bodies. |
| Communicable disease | | A disease, the causative organisms of which are capable of being passed from a person, animal or the environment (which would include food and water) to a susceptible individual. |
| Competent authority | | A body or institution which has the authority to enforce Commission legislation. |
| Compositional requirements | | The minimum legal requirements for manufactured foods. |
| Council of Ministers | | The Council is the only EU institution which directly represents the fifteen Member Governments, each Government holding a seat. The Council is the Communities' principal decision making body, acting on proposals from the European Commission. |
| Crown Office Holder | | A person appointed to a civil office under the Crown, either by the Crown itself, or on behalf of the Crown by a Minister of the Crown, or in some cases by some non-ministerial office holders. |
| Deliberate Release | | The intentional introduction into the environment of a genetically modified organism. |
| DETR | | Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions. |
| DH | | Department of Health. |
| Dietary supplements sold as food | | These are products which are generally sold in capsule, pill, powder or tablet form, which are intended to supplement the diet and which are not subject to licensing under medicines regulation. |
| Directives (horizontal and vertical) | | Instruments of EC legislation. Vertical Directives regulate a specific commodity or industrial sector. Horizontal Directives regulate more than one commodity or industrial sector. |
| Directorate General | | An administrative Department of the European Commission. There are currently 24 Directorate Generals. |
| DTI | | Department of Trade and Industry. |
| Due diligence defence | | Section 21 of the Food Safety Act 1990 introduced a due diligence defence into food law in GB. The provision can apply differently in different circumstances. Sub-section 1 applies generally. It provides a defence that the person charged took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence by himself or by a person under his control. This defence is available to manufacturers and to importers of the food as well as to retailers. |
| DWI | | Drinking Water Inspectorate - reports to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions and the Secretary of State for Wales. Main tasks are to carry out technical audits of water companies; advise the Secretary of State on the steps required to enforce obligations under the relevant legislation; investigate accidents which affect water quality adversely; advise on the prosecution of water companies if water has been supplied which is unfit for human consumption and to provide technical and scientific advice to Ministers and officials on drinking water policy issues including water quality, research and consumer complaints. |
| EC | | European Community. |
| Enabling powers | | Provisions in primary legislation conferring powers, usually on a Minister or Ministers, to make secondary legislation. |
| EU | | European Union. |
| EU competence | | Whereby the EU .has legal authority to act. |
| Executive Agency | | An executive agency is a Government Department, or semi-autonomous unit within a Department, which carries out executive functions within a policy and resources framework set by Ministers. |
| FAO | | Food and Agriculture Organisation, a branch of the United Nations. |
| FRCA | | Farming and Rural Conservation Agency. Provides services to the Government on the design, development and implementation of policies on the integration of farming and conservation, rural land use and diversification in the rural economy. |
| Food Hazard Warning System | | A system operated by the Department of Health to alert local enforcement authorities, and where necessary, the EU to any foodborne risk to public health. |
| Fortified foods | | Foods to which nutrients have been deliberately added. |
| FSA | | Food Standards Agency. |
| Functional foods | | Foods which claim to have special properties valuable to health, but which do not have a medicinal product licence. |
| GMO | | Genetically Modified Organism. An organism in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination. |
| Grant-in-aid | | This is a payment to a body to assist it in furthering its objectives. |
| HSC/HSE | | Health and Safety Commission and Executive. Statutory bodies created under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Report primarily to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, but also report to other Secretaries of State for certain functions. Responsible for ensuring that risks to peoples' health and safety from work activities are properly controlled. |
| Hygiene Assessment System (HAS) | | A risk-based method of assessing hygiene standards in licensed slaughterhouses and cutting plants; generates the HAS score. |
| Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control | | EC Directive 96/91 on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control lays down measures designed to prevent, or where that is not practicable reduce, emissions to air, water and land from a range of the potentially most polluting industrial activities in order to achieve a high level of protection for the environment as a whole. The requirements of the directive must be transposed into UK legislation by 31 October 1999. |
| Irradiation | | Food irradiation is exposure to ionising radiation resulting in a reduction in the levels of bacteria. It can also be used to kill pathogenic organisms, reduce spoilage and delay ripening and sprouting in food. |
| LACOTS | | Local Authorities Co-ordinating Body on Food and Trading Standards is a local authority funded body created to promote good law and best practice in trading standards and food safety. LACOTS is the Single Liaison Body for the United Kingdom. |
| Legislation (primary and secondary) | | Primary legislation is laws enacted by Parliament, known as statutes or Acts of Parliament. In general, statutes contain major policy and legal provisions and often contain enabling powers for Ministers to make secondary legislation. |
| | Secondary legislation is instruments made under powers conferred by, or under statute, the commonest forms of which are regulations and orders. |
| LINK programmes | | The LINK initiative promotes partnership between industry and the research base with the aim of stimulating innovation and wealth creation. LINK research, which is pre-competitive , covers a wide range of technology and generic product areas. MAFF supports several programmes of food research under the LINK scheme. |
| MAFF | | Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. |
| Medicines Control Agency | | This is an Executive Agency of the Department of Health reporting to the Secretary of State. It deals with the implementation of the Medicines Acts 1968 and 1971 and the Biological Standards Act 1975. It also covers policy matters relating to the safety, quality and efficacy of medicines and international aspects of medicines control. |
| MRC | | The Medical Research Council (MRC) is a research organisation which aims to improve health by promoting research into all areas of medical and related science. It supports medical research through its research establishments, grants to individual scientists and support for post-graduate students. |
| Mutual recognition arrangements | | Mutual recognition is a procedure under which a pharmaceutical company, having obtained a marketing authorisation for its veterinary medicinal product in one member state, can apply to one or more of the other member states to recognise that approval and grant identical authorisations. |
| Natural toxicants | | These are poisonous substances which occur naturally in a wide variety of foods. Consuming normal amounts of foods containing these substances causes no harm. |
| NDPB | | A Non-Departmental Public Body is an organisation which has a role in the processes of national government, but is not a government department or part of one, and accordingly operates to a greater or lesser extent at arm's length from Ministers. |
| Next Steps | | The Next Steps initiative was launched in 1988 to improve management in government by promoting general principles of good management, including accountability, delegation and openness. |
| Nolan principles | | Are the general principles of conduct which underpin public life. These are selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. |
| Novel Foods and processes | | A novel food is one which has not previously been used for human consumption to a significant degree in the EU. |
| Office of Science and Technology (OST) | | Part of the Department of Trade and Industry; the OST's aim is to develop and co-ordinate, transdepartmentally,Government policy on science, engineering and technology. |
| Our Healthier Nation | | The Government's new health strategy for England. A Green Paper for consultation is to be published this winter, leading to a White Paper for summer 1998. |
| Parliamentary Select Committee | | A cross-party committee of MPs "selected" for a particular task, generally one of inquiry, investigation and scrutiny. Amongst the most common Parliamentary Select Committees are the departmentally-related Select Committees which examine the expenditure, administration and policy of government departments and associated public bodies. |
| Pathogen | | Any micro-organism that causes a disease. |
| Peach rules | | Govern Ministerial appointments to executive NDPB's and NHS bodies issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments (Sir Len Peach). The rules are set out in detail in the Commissioner's "Code of Practice for Public Appointments Procedures". |
| Peer review | | The process used by the scientific community to assess a scientific paper, report, project, or proposal by seeking comments on it from independent assessors ('peers') working in the same field. |
| Pennington Report | | The report of the Pennington Group on "the circumstances leading to the 1996 outbreak of infection with E.coli 0157 in Central Scotland, the implications for food safety and the lessons to be learned". |
| PHLS | | The Public Health Laboratory Service - provides clinical diagnostic microbiology services to NHS Trusts, general practitioners and other customers, as well as food and environmental microbiology for public health customers, including health and local authorities. Its laboratories also assist health and local authorities in the investigation of outbreaks of infection, and contribute to the surveillance of communicable disease, locally and nationally. |
| PSD | | Pesticides Safety Directorate, an Executive Agency of MAFF. The Directorate monitors and licenses all pesticides for safety and effectiveness, and operates strict follow-up controls over their supply and use. |
| R and D | | Research and Development. |
| Regulatory Appraisal Guide | | Produced by the Better Regulation Unit, Cabinet Office in 1997. This booklet offers general guidance to policy makers on Regulatory Appraisal. |
| Research Councils | | Bodies established by Royal Charter, funded principally from the science budget, and charged with supporting research and postgraduate training. |
| Ring-fencing | | Allocating money to local authorities on the basis that it can only be used for funding a specific function. |
| Risk Assessment | | The scientific evaluation of known or potential adverse health effects resulting from human exposure to foodborne hazards. |
| Risk Communication | | An interactive process of exchange of information and opinion on risk among risk assessors, risk managers and other interested parties. |
| Risk Management | | The process of weighing policy to accept, minimise or reduce assessed risk and to select and implement appropriate options. |
| Scottish Food Co-ordinating Committee | | A multi-disciplinary group with members from local government, central government and professional associations for the co-ordination of the enforcement of food law in Scotland and liaison with LACOTS on UK matters. |
| SEPA | | Scottish Environmental Protection Agency. |
| Single Liaison Body | | Under the Additional Food Control Measures Directive 93/99/EEC, each Member State has a nominated single liaison body, whose role is to improve inter-state co-operation and provide an efficient means of resolving transborder food complaints and investigations. |
SPS
(Sanitary and Phytosanitary) | | Measures designed to protect animal plant and human health. |
| SVS | | State Veterinary Service. |
| TBT | | Technical Barriers to Trade. |
| Third countries | | Any country or territory which is not part of the customs territory of the European Community. |
| VMD | | Veterinary Medicines Directorate, an Executive Agency of MAFF. |
| | Responsible for the licensing and control of the manufacture and marketing of veterinary medicines, for the surveillance of residues in animal products, and for the monitoring of suspected adverse reactions to veterinary medicines in animals and humans. |
| VPC | | Veterinary Products Committee. |
| WHO | | World Health Organisation, a branch of the United Nations. |
| Zoonosis | | An animal disease communicable to man. |
| Zootechnical feed additives | | Antibiotics, growth promoters, coccidiostats and other medicinal substances when used as additives in feedingstuffs. |
