Food: Safety, Science, and Policy, by Professor Sir John Krebs, FRS, Oxford University

Is the food you eat safe? Who makes the decisions on what is safe and what role does science play in decision making? What happens when the scientific evidence is incomplete or when the experts disagree? What about when the scientific evidence is at odds with the perceptions of the consumer? In discussing these questions Professor John Krebs will draw on five years' experience as Head of the Regulator for Food Safety and Nutrition (The Food Standards Agency) in the United Kingdom and will illustrate his talk with examples including BSE, dioxins in food, and dietary health.

Professor Sir John Krebs is a Royal Society Research Professor in the Department of Zoology at Oxford University, and one of the world's most distinguished ecologists. Between 1994 and 1999 he was Chief Executive of the UK Natural Environment Research Council, and between 2000 and 2005 he was the first Chairman of the UK Food Standards Agency, a new government department set up in the wake of BSE to protect the interests of consumers in relation to food. In October 2005 he will take up the post of Principal of Jesus College Oxford.