• silicon.com
• Technology
• Software

By Felicity Ussher, 9 March 2000 00:25

NEWS Food standards authorities in the UK are considering setting up a master database of food information in response to consumer fears over safety. Software supplier i-Label has already met with the UK Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) over the creation of wide-ranging database that would contain scientific information that is not currently available to consumers. Stephen Wallace, MD of i-Label, said discussions with MAFF have focussed on how manufacturers could be persuaded to supply confidential information on their produce. "i-Label could introduce sections in the database that would not be in the public domain," said Wallace. He agreed that this would be a good compromise for food manufacturers, which are extremely protective about the break-down of their ingredients. i-Label is in a key position for such a project as it supplies structured databases to most British supermarkets, including: Asda, Safeway, Tesco and Waitrose. Mona Patel, senior public affairs officer for the Consumers Association, said: "We would welcome the establishment of a database to address the issue of comprehensive labelling. The CA is campaigning for food manufacturers to provide a complete list of ingredients, nutritional elements, genetically modified derivatives and the country of origin labelling. But the database would have to be accessible by all consumers." It is not yet clear whether the master database - if it goes ahead - will be backed up in law. i-Label looks more likely to take the self-regulatory path, and has already approached the Consumer Association to try to gain its endorsement. At present, online databases of foodstuffs only cover information that is already in the public domain, such as advice on nutrition, storage and usage. Tesco launched the first searchable archive of "lifestyle" information in January, and Sainsbury's is due to follow suit at the end of this month.