New food chief has consumer confidence and safety on menu

Date: 16/01/03

By Karen Carstens

GEOFFREY Podger can't wait to roll up his sleeves and get down to the daily grind of his new job in Brussels.

"I'm delighted to have this post," the Englishman said during a recent stopover in the capital of Europe. "I like challenges and this is a very worthwhile one."

Podger, an ebullient 50-year-old with a boyish grin and an infectious laugh, takes over the helm of the fledgling European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on 1 February.

As the independent advisory body's executive director, he will be tasked with getting its scientific risk assessment panels up and running as soon as possible - a tall order considering the European Parliament has granted only half the budget originally allocated to the EFSA for 2003.

The Authority's 15-member management board grudgingly accepted the €8.2 million figure in December to become operational this year. A bid by MEPs to push for a decision on the location of EFSA's headquarters was the suspected reason for the dramatic slash.

"In a sense Parliament is trying to help. It has taken a very strong position on this," said Podger, who has been chief of the London-based Food Standards Agency since it was launched in April 2000.

"Of course we would prefer to have the whole budget. But we have sufficient funds to get started."

The EFSA is temporarily based in Brussels pending a decision by EU leaders on its final home - the front-runners are Helsinki, Parma, Barcelona and Lille.

Commission President Romano Prodi has reportedly been pushing for Parma in his native Italy, while some sources say David Byrne, the health and consumer protection commissioner, would rather keep it in Brussels to maintain close links between DG Sanco and the food safety watchdog.

"It's a bit unfortunate that we have this uncertainty," Podger said, without revealing which location he would prefer.

But the location question must take a back seat to more urgent matters, he added.

"What EFSA needs is time to absorb and take over the whole committee structure," he said. "We will be taking over all the advisory committees (from DG Sanco), and this is a very major task."

Eight scientific panels composed of yet-to-be-hired independent experts will be set up, including panels on food additives, plant health, genetically modified organisms, contaminants in the food chain, animal welfare and biological hazards such as BSE.

A second task will be "consensus-building between all the major players," Podger said. "It is essential to go through this process."

Podger has met food safety officials in France and other member states, as well as with representatives of groups such as BEUC, the Brussels-based European consumers association.

"They want to see more openness in scientific advice," he said, adding that one of his top priorities will be to push for more transparency in food safety issues.

The overarching goal, however, should be "to increase consumer confidence and actually bring about a generally safer food environment," he said.

In this vein, Podger hopes to make the EFSA "more consumer oriented".

It will also seek to immediately address concerns such as the acrylamide scare, triggered by the recent discovery of a potentially cancer-causing chemical found in chips and crisps processed at high temperatures.

"We want to do more than simply become involved in a lot of technical approvals," he said. "We want to take on new food issues as they arise."

Interview with Geoffrey Podger, who takes over the helm of the fledgling European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on 1 February 2003.