Friday, 11 August 2017

How safe are Dutch eggs to eat?

About 700,000 eggs have been sent to the UK from potentially contaminated Dutch farms, up from an early estimate of 21,000, the food watchdog has said.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said it was very unlikely that there was a risk to public health.
However, 11 products containing egg - including sandwiches and salads - have been withdrawn from supermarkets.
Dutch police have now arrested two people suspected of using the insecticide fipronil.
The FSA said the 700,000 figure represented 0.007% of eggs eaten in the UK each year.
What do we know about the Europe egg scare?
It added that in the UK, the Dutch eggs were not sold as shell eggs but used in foods with many other ingredients - mostly sandwich fillings or other chilled foods.
It said traces of fipronil - which can be harmful to humans - were mixed with other eggs so chemical residues would be "highly diluted".
The British Egg Industry Council said shell eggs on sale to consumers in the UK were not affected.
It said: "All major UK retailers stock British Lion shell eggs and tests have shown that there is no risk from British eggs."

Withdrawn egg products

  • Sainsbury's ham and egg salad (240g) use by 9-14 August 2017
  • Sainsbury's potato and egg salad (300g) use by 9-14 August
  • Morrisons potato and egg salad (250g) use by up to 13 August
  • Morrisons egg and cress sandwich (sold in Morrisons Cafe only) use by up to and including 11 August
  • Morrisons cafe sandwich selection (sold in Morrisons Cafe only) use by up to and including 11 August
  • Waitrose free range egg mayonnaise deli filler (240g) use by 13 and 16 August
  • Waitrose free range reduced fat egg mayonnaise deli filler (170g) use by 14 August
  • Waitrose free range egg and bacon deli filler (170g) use by 14 and 16 August
  • Asda baby potato and free range egg salad (270g) use by 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 August
  • Asda spinach and free range egg snack pot (110g) use by 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 August
  • Asda FTG ham and cheddar ploughman's salad bowl (320g) use by 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 August
Source: FSA (10 August)

Scandal 'isn't over'

Twenty tonnes of insecticide-tainted eggs have been sold in Denmark, the country's food safety authority says.
Denmark is believed to be the tenth country to be affected, with Romania and Luxembourg among the latest to report finding contaminated products.
Supermarkets in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany have withdrawn millions of eggs from sale.
In the UK, processed foods containing eggs, including sandwiches and salads, have been recalled from Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Waitrose and Asda.
The FSA initially thought far fewer eggs - 21,000 - had been distributed to the UK from implicated farms between March and June this year.
Prof Chris Elliott, of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen's University Belfast, said it was not surprising that the figure had increased by so much - and warned "the scandal isn't over yet".
"Often when these food scandals start to break, you start to get dribbles of information," he told BBC Radio 4's PM programme.
"And as the authorities in Belgium and Holland get more information they pass that onto our own Food Standards Agency.
"The potential is that number of 700,000 could increase quite a bit yet," he added.

Should I stop eating eggs?

OmeletteImage copyright AFP
By James Gallagher, health and science reporter, BBC News
Fipronil should not be allowed anywhere near food.
But the risk from eggs is thought to be low, because the number of contaminated eggs is also low.
While 700,000 eggs sounds like a lot, it is worth remembering we eat 34 million every single day in the UK.
It is why the Food Standards Agency says it is "very unlikely" there is any health risk.
Many of the affected eggs will have already passed through the food chain before anyone was aware of the scandal.
And the FSA has now pulled egg sandwiches and egg salads off the shelves that were made while contaminated eggs were still being imported.
It insisted there is "no need" for people to stop eating eggs.

Fipronil, which is used to kill lice and ticks on animals, can damage people's kidneys, liver and thyroid glands if eaten in large quantities.
Heather Hancock, FSA chairwoman, said it was not "something to worry about" and that any health impact was unlikely.
"These aren't eggs that are in people's fridges in the UK, these are eggs that have gone into the food chain and the level of risk to public health is very low," she told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme.
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How safe are Dutch eggs to eat?

In an update on Thursday, the FSA said: "Some of the products made from these eggs will have had a short shelf life and will have already been consumed, however, we identified some that were still within the expiry date."
The FSA said decision to withdraw the products was not due to food safety concerns but based on the fact that the pesticide is not authorised for use in food-producing animals.
It added: "While in some European countries eggs containing fipronil residues have been sold as fresh eggs, in the UK this is not the case."
Aldi and Lidl stores in Germany are among the supermarkets to remove eggs from their shelves, in a move Aldi described as "purely precautionary". Eggs sold in its UK stores were British, Aldi said.
It follows a joint investigation by Dutch and Belgian police of several premises thought to be using the substance, which can harm humans and is banned in food production.
The Netherlands is Europe's biggest egg producer - and one of the largest exporters of eggs and egg products in the world.
The problem first surfaced earlier in August, when Aldi withdrew all its eggs from sale in Germany.
It has since emerged Belgian officials knew about the contamination in June, but did not make the information public.
More than 100 poultry farms have been closed during the investigation, and 26 suspects identified and evidence seized from their companies.
It is thought that fipronil was added to disinfectant used on some chicken farms.
The UK produces 85% of the eggs it consumes but imports almost two billion annually, the FSA said. 

Wednesday, 2 August 2017

Some university students receive so little tuition they pay the equivalent of £1,000 an hour for contact with academic staff, researchers say.

Some university students receive so little tuition they pay the equivalent of £1,000 an hour for contact with academic staff, researchers say.
On average, economics undergraduates receive the equivalent of just 26 hours of one-to-one teaching over a three-year course, research published by the journal Fiscal Studies suggests.
Physics students receive almost three times as much for the same fees.
"It seems a bit bizarre," report author Dr Mike Peacey told the BBC.
"It certainly seems like humanities students are subsidising Stem [science, technology, engineering and maths] students," said Dr Peacey, an economics lecturer at the New College of the Humanities, in London.
"Really, students are paying a kind of university tax rather than tuition fees.
"Maybe that's what you want, but we should be a bit more upfront and honest about this."
10 charts that show the effect of tuition fees
Leading universities rated 'bronze'
Many English universities now charge UK and EU students the maximum, £9,250 for the vast majority of undergraduate courses.
Using Freedom of Information law, researchers from Bristol University and the New College of the Humanities obtained data from 67 UK universities.
To compare teaching received, for example, by history students in small group tutorials with that received by physics students in a mixture of lectures, seminars and laboratories, they then came up with a measure - total equivalent adjusted contact hours (Teach) - to convert teaching time and class size into the equivalent number of hours of one-to-one contact.
They found that on average over three years:
  • physics students received 74.6 hours
  • history students received 32.6 hours
  • economics students received 26.1 hours
Students in labImage copyright Getty Images
Image caption Science and technology students have traditionally had more teaching time
There were also wide variations within subjects. For example, economics students at the top 10% of universities received almost five times as much teaching as those in the lowest 10%.
"How much students must pay in tuition fees makes no difference to how much teaching they receive," the report says.
"Clearly, some students are receiving much better value for money than others.
"For a market to function properly, participants must be able to compare what is offered by different providers."
The authors suggest their Teach measure could inform the government's new Teaching Excellence Framework, which assesses teaching quality at UK universities by subject.

'Ripped off'

Students studying Stem subjects have always had more contact hours, they add, and increasing the amount of teaching "may not be beneficial for all students - for example, if the cost of extra contact is lower teacher quality".
"Even when quality is held constant, some students may be better off working on their own."
Dr Peacey said: "Lots of people have suspected that there are cross-subsidies between subjects.
"If physics students are receiving much more tuition than history students, it could be that both are paying more than the tuition costs but the physics students are being less ripped off than the history students.
"I think if this measure got taken up and universities were asked to provide this information to students, it might be that different universities might offer differential rates for tuition.
"Maybe universities offering more contact time would charge more in fees." 

Lord Adonis “And why did we give university vice chancellors a licence to print money?”



He said: “The greed of the vice-chancellors sealed their fate.
“They increased their own pay and perks as fast as they increased tuition fees, and are now ‘earning’ salaries of £275,000 on average and in some cases over £400,000.”
He also criticised the Government’s “egregious” recent decision to raise interest rates on student loans taken out since 2012 to 6.1 per cent, citing a study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that suggested many would never pay them off.
The report, released on Wednesday, said: “The combination of high fees and large maintenance loans contributes to English graduates having the highest student debts in the developed world.”
The IFS also said the interest rates were “very high” at up to three per cent above inflation.


“And why did we give university vice chancellors a licence to print money?”Lord Adonis backs the scrapping of tuition fees despite being instrumental in charges being introduced Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell DBE DL, Vice Chancellor

National and international leadership

The Vice-Chancellor holds a number of senior positions both nationally and internationally, acting as an advisor to the higher education sector, government organisations, multi-national corporations and not-for-profit organisations.

Current roles include:

  • Director of Universities UK (UUK)
  • Chair of the UUK Funding Policy Network
  • Director of Universities Superannuation Scheme
  • Member of the Council of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
  • Deputy Lieutenant of Somerset
  • Member of the Science & Technology Honours Committee
  • Non-Executive Director of NHS Improvement Board

National and international leadership

The Vice-Chancellor holds a number of senior positions both nationally and internationally, acting as an advisor to the higher education sector, government organisations, multi-national corporations and not-for-profit organisations.

Current roles include:

  • Director of Universities UK (UUK)
  • Chair of the UUK Funding Policy Network
  • Director of Universities Superannuation Scheme
  • Member of the Council of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
  • Deputy Lieutenant of Somerset
  • Member of the Science & Technology Honours Committee
  • Non-Executive Director of NHS Improvement Board

President and Vice-Chancellor

Professor Dame Glynis M. Breakwell DBE, DL

BA, MSc, MA, PhD, DSc, LLD(Hon) CPsychol, FBPsS, FRSA, PFHEA, HonFBPsS, FAcSS

Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell DBE, DL was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bath in 2001. She is one of Europe’s leading social psychologists and in 2014 was named in the Science Council’s list of ‘100 leading UK practising scientists’.
Dame Glynis is an active public policy adviser and researcher specialising in leadership, identity processes and risk management and has produced over 20 books including, most recently, the second edition of The Psychology of Risk.
Dame Glynis took her PhD from the University of Bristol and an MA and DSc from the University of Oxford where she held a Prize Fellowship at Nuffield College. In 2004, in recognition of her contribution to the social sciences, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Bristol and in 2004 became an Honorary Professor at the University of Shandong in China.
She has been a Fellow of the British Psychological Society since 1987 and is a chartered health psychologist. In 2002 she was elected an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences, and in 2006 became an Honorary Fellow of the British Psychological Society – an accolade currently shared with just over 30 others.
Dame Glynis has nationally championed the role of universities in scientific and technological innovation, exploitation and economic regeneration, and has worked over many years to widen participation in science and achieve knowledge transfer from higher education to business. In 2012 this work was recognised when she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's New Year Honours for services to higher education.
Since her appointment as Vice-Chancellor, Dame Glynis has led the growth and development of the University of Bath, enhancing its reputation as a world-class University for both its research and teaching. She has led the establishment of a flagship sports facility on the campus where many international and medal-winning athletes now train, and more recently led the development of The Edge – the University’s new arts and management building.
In addition to her role as Vice-Chancellor, Dame Glynis holds a number of senior positions both nationally and internationally, acting as an adviser to the higher education sector, government organisations, multi-national corporations and not-for-profit organisations.
He declared: “Fees have become so politically diseased, they should be abolished entirely.”
Latest figures show that three in four students paying the highest fee of £9,250 a year will never clear their debt.
While admitting he was “largely responsible” for ex-PM Mr Blair’s education reforms, Lord Adonis said the rocketing bills were mainly the result of “opportunism and greed” of university chiefs.
The Government has said the current system, introduced by the coalition in 2012, is fair and warned scrapping the fees would be “mind-bogglingly expensive”.
But Lord Adonis asked yesterday: “How did we get from the idea of a reasonable contribution to the cost of university tuition – the principle of the Blair reform of 2004, for which I was largely responsible – to today’s Frankenstein’s monster of £50,000-plus debts for graduates on modest salaries?
“And why did we give university vice chancellors a licence to print money?”Lord Adonis backs the scrapping of tuition fees despite being instrumental in charges being introduced
He declared: “Fees have become so politically diseased, they should be abolished entirely.”
Latest figures show that three in four students paying the highest fee of £9,250 a year will never clear their debt.
While admitting he was “largely responsible” for ex-PM Mr Blair’s education reforms, Lord Adonis said the rocketing bills were mainly the result of “opportunism and greed” of university chiefs.
The Government has said the current system, introduced by the coalition in 2012, is fair and warned scrapping the fees would be “mind-bogglingly expensive”.
But Lord Adonis asked yesterday: “How did we get from the idea of a reasonable contribution to the cost of university tuition – the principle of the Blair reform of 2004, for which I was largely responsible – to today’s Frankenstein’s monster of £50,000-plus debts for graduates on modest salaries?
“And why did we give university vice chancellors a licence to print money?”
Tony Blair hatched the higher education reform in 2004
Getty Images
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Tony Blair hatched the higher education reform in 2004 

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