Reid names new Food Standards Agency chair

Dame Deirdre Hutton has swapped one FSA for another, leaving her post as deputy chair of the Financial Services Authority to become chair of the Food Standards Agency.

Dame Deirdre, who is also a member of the Better Regulation Task Force, chair of the National Consumer Council, and deputy chair of the European Food Safety Authority, takes up the post in succession to Sir John Krebs who leaves the agency on April 10.

Her appointment was announced by Health Secretary John Reid, who said the skills she picked up in working with the European Food Safety Authority and the Foresight Panel, along with her experience of corporate governance and risk-based regulation, would be “invaluable”.

Noting that diet, health and public protection were central aspirations, Dame Deirdre said: ” My priority will be to take forward government, consumers and the food industry in partnership so that we can succeed together.”