In the United Kingdom, Public Analysts are highly educated and experienced scientists with knowledge of food and consumer product law and its application. They work to protect the public, by applying current legislation, in particular the Food Safety Act 1990, and legislation relating to consumer protection, public health and safety and environmental matters. They are often also qualified Agricultural Analysts.

PropertyValue
dbpprop:abstract
  • In the United Kingdom, Public Analysts are highly educated and experienced scientists with knowledge of food and consumer product law and its application. They work to protect the public, by applying current legislation, in particular the Food Safety Act 1990, and legislation relating to consumer protection, public health and safety and environmental matters. They are often also qualified Agricultural Analysts. In addition as a matter of necessity Public Analysts carry out private chemical analysis, without which their laboratories would not survive. Public Analysts could be described as forensic scientists who dissect food and products rather than people. Public Analysts direct and carry out the analysis of food and drink, water, consumer products, environmental products (and agricultual products if they are also Agricultural Analysts) that the public come into contact with. The results are usually used to check compliance with existing legislation. They may also be used for research purposes to formulate new legislation or guidelines, or to survey samples across different conditions or populations. Since they are involved in analysing the nutritional content of food, Public Analysts often participate in supporting government strategies relating to health such as tackling obesity, monitoring salt content in food or identifying 'good fats' and 'bad fats' in different products. Increasingly, Public Analysts check marketing claims and labelling to see whether it is misleading or unrepresentative of the product being advertised. </gallery>Every local authority in the United Kingdom must appoint a Public Analyst. Those appointed must be chemists qualified as defined in the The Food Safety (Sampling and Qualifications) Regulations 1990 (= the Mastership in Chemical Analysis, see below), or such other qualifications that may be approved by the Secretary of State. The Public Analyst is a key person in the UK’s food law enforcement system, being the person ultimately responsible for determining whether or not a food that has been sent for analysis is safe and legal. To do this the Public Analyst will: Analyse food: for composition: many foods have legally defined, customary or expected compositions for additives: which must be legally permitted and within prescribed concentrations for contamination: chemical, microbiological to assess the accuracy of labelling to investigate whether complaints by the public are justified Interpret relevant law passed by the EU and UK: act as expert witness in prosecutions In addition to their central rôle in relation to food law enforcement, Public Analysts provide expert scientific support to local authorities and the private sector in various other areas, for example they: analyse drinking, bathing water including swimming pools, industrial effluents, industrial process waters and other waters investigate environmental products and processes including assessing land contamination, building materials and examining fuels advise on waste management investigate and monitor air pollution advise on consumer safety - in particular consumer products such as toys monitor asbestos and other hazards
dbpprop:reference
rdfs:comment
  • In the United Kingdom, Public Analysts are highly educated and experienced scientists with knowledge of food and consumer product law and its application. They work to protect the public, by applying current legislation, in particular the Food Safety Act 1990, and legislation relating to consumer protection, public health and safety and environmental matters. They are often also qualified Agricultural Analysts.
rdfs:label
  • Public analyst
skos:subject
foaf:page
is dbpprop:disambiguates of
is dbpprop:redirect of