Government Chemist Stakeholder Workshop Report 2019
Report summarising the process and conclusions of a priority finding exercise which will inform the work of the Government Chemist in the next programme
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This report presents the findings of the stakeholder workshop carried out on 14 May 2019 at the Royal Society of Chemistry, Burlington House, London.
Forty-three stakeholders from across the food and feed sector, including representatives from manufacturers, distributors, retailers, importers, regulators, legal and government, established the key drivers influencing the food and feed sector to which the proposed Government Chemist Programme 2020-2023 should respond.
The workshop comprised of two components, an initial brainstorming followed by a prioritisation stage. In excess of 250 ideas were gathered in the initial brainstorming phase. From this wealth of information, participants decided the following as priorities:
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the impact of alternative packaging materials,
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the use of point of use analysis technologies,
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persistent issues with allergen testing,
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increase in food fraud in a global market, and
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lack of trust in emerging technologies as well as the databases they use.
Based on these identified priorities, the Office of the Government Chemist will work on drafting future work programme for further prioritisation by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) appointed Programme Expert Group in November 2019, to allow contracting and start of the finally agreed programme in April 2020.