Food safety body delayed

TONY BLAIR is set to pledge his backing for the Food Standards Agency - a powerful independent watchdog which will monitor the safety and quality of food - when he addresses MPs after this week's Queen's speech, writes Marie Woolf.

But he will disappoint consumer groups by stopping short of a commitment to introduce a Bill setting up the body in the next parliamentary session.

In a move to reassure the public and assuage campaigners' anger, he will promise to establish "the foundations" for the Agency next year.

The Prime Minister insisted that a reference to the Food Standards Agency go in the Queen's Speech. Government advisers believe that omitting this manifesto pledge would be a political mistake.

The Government was stung by a series of food scares last week, including the revelation of high levels of tin in some brands of canned tomatoes.

"There has been a lot of discussion about this but there is no parliamentary time. The Prime Minister is going to express his commitment to the agency and lay the foundations for it," said one insider.

The Government is likely to beef up the role of the Joint Food Safety and Standards Group - a watchdog committee composed of officials from the Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of Health.

The committee last week met supermarkets over the canned-tomato problem, leading to some brands being withdrawn from shelves.

Plans for the agency have been beset by difficulties. Supermarkets have objected to paying for it and there have been differences over who should sit on the body.