Petition hand in to Emma Miles, the Chief Executive of the FSA

We have arranged to formerly hand in the petition on Wednesday 12th February, to Emma Miles, the Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) at their headquarters in London.
 
I will hand in this Petition along with Paul Bell the National Officer for Unison. Paul represents the Independent Meat Hygiene Inspectors etc who work directly for the FSA.
 
Sean Humber our solicitor from Leigh, Day & Co will also be attending. Sean has helped us personally and others, free of charge for over 20 years in relation to trying to reduce the number of cases of food borne illness.
 
We will hopefully be discussing amongst other issues, why The Food Standards Agency (FSA) have awarded a three-year contract, for the second time, for meat official controls to Eville and Jones Limited in England & Wales. Also, as part of this contract there will be additional services for dairy and audit functions. Please see the link below.
 
https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/news/contract-for-fsa-delivered-meat-and-dairy-official-controls-awarded-to-eville-and-jones-ltd
 
We note that on 18th June last year the Food Standards Agency Scotland (FSS) announced the transfer of Official Veterinarians and Meat Hygiene Inspection Function, to the FSS. They stated:

“Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has taken the difficult decision to end its contract with Hallmark Meat Hygiene Ltd. Hallmark supplies Official Veterinarians and Meat Hygiene Inspectors to undertake controls to support Scotland’s important meat, game and poultry industries. 
FSS’s primary objective remains to ensure that the high safety and animal welfare standards in Scotland’s meat industry are not compromised, and that consumers’ interests are protected”.
 
It appears that the FSA in England are less protective in relation to consumer safety than the Scottish Food Standards Agency (FSS) despite the enormous support that you have given in relation to the petition. Why didn’t the FSA bring Independent Inspections back in house in England and Wales, as the FSS have done in Scotland.
 
The comments that you have made in signing the petition should have made them aware of public feeling on this issue as they are well aware of this petition and have access to it on line. 
 
The petition will stay open after the hand in, as we believe that consumers deserve to be protected from all food borne illnesses and it is the responsibility of the competent authority [FSA] to address all such issues.
 
Thank you for all your continued help and support.  The number of signatures we have received and the comments made have been unbelievably supportive and encouraging.
 
The battle goes on.