Contents
- Attendance
- European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018
- Scrutiny of NHS Boards (State Hospitals Board for Scotland)
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018
Food and Feed Hygiene and Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) (EU Exit) (No 2) Regulations 2019
Good morning, and welcome to the 29th meeting of the Health and Sport Committee in 2019. We have received apologies from David Torrance and Miles Briggs. I am delighted to welcome Sandra White back to the committee. Before we start, I ask everyone to ensure that their mobile phones are off or on silent. Please do not record or film proceedings, as we will do that ourselves.
The first item on our agenda this morning is the committee’s consideration of a consent notification that has been sent by the Scottish Government relating to the Food and Feed Hygiene and Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) (EU Exit) (No 2) Regulations 2019. The purpose of the statutory instrument is to ensure continuation of consumer protection elements of the current food and feed regulatory regime. Updates are proposed to the current body of European Union food law dealing with such matters. The committee scrutinised the regulations earlier in the year, and we are now being asked simply to consider the Scottish Government’s decision to consent, rather than the specific terms of the SI, which we considered previously.
Do members have any comments or questions to raise?
I am quite happy to proceed as indicated. The Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing, Joe FitzPatrick, has written us a letter on the matter, but I continue to have concerns about how we will manage food and feed safety, especially given my knowledge about the Food and Drug Administration’s “Food Defect Levels Handbook” in relation to certain products in our food and feed that might come from other countries. However, I am content to proceed with the regulations today.
That is noted. I have no doubt that we will have the opportunity to discuss those wider issues in the new year when these matters next come before us.
If there are no further comments, is the committee content to make no recommendations on the instrument?
Members indicated agreement.