The regulation of food in Britain in the 1990s

Food policy and regulation in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s has been dogged by a series of controversies. For the most part these have concerned issues of safety and have raised searching questions about the way in which food is regulated and who undertakes that regulation. In this paper, we explore the changing patterns of food regulation in Britain. In particular, we draw attention to the emergence during the 1990s of a private interest style of regulation in the food system that contrasts with the traditional regulatory style based upon notions of the public interest. Such changes to the regulation of food have important implications for the work of the proposed Food Standards Agency.