A Healthier Scotland: Consultation on Creating a New Food Body

5. Relationships with other organisations

57. The FSA works with a range of other organisations in a variety of ways to deliver its responsibilities. In particular it has a detailed protocol to handle food related incidents. The new food body will also need to collaborate, cooperate and coordinate with other organisations. These will include the FSA, Defra, Department of Health, local authorities, the Scottish Government, Health Protection Scotland (HPS), NHS Health Scotland, relevant professional bodies such as the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland, academic institutions and research funders.

58. The new food body will establish appropriate working relationships with all relevant bodies, where necessary setting out contracts, service level agreements or memoranda of understanding, and ensuring in particular that a robust incident handling protocol will be established that will ensure consistency in approach and effective working with the FSA and with appropriate stakeholders, including the EU. This will be the subject of detailed discussion and negotiations during the programme to establish the new food body.

Question 13: Are there any additional or alternative relationships that you would suggest that would help the new food body achieve the Scottish Ministers' objective of longer, healthier lives for the people of Scotland? Please give details and reasons.