Assurances this week from Agriculture Minister Douglas Hogg that his "overriding and paramount obligation" is to the community as a whole to ensure that British food is safe, did nothing to dissuade the promoters of an independent Food Standards Agency. He was speaking on BBC Radio's Today programme only hours before striding into the Royal Show at Stoneleigh, the UK's premier farming showcase, which was given greater significance this year by the BSE crisis. In the event, the hapless Hogg received a fairly quiet reception from disgruntled farmers and food traders, although he failed to turn the rising tide of opinion against the shape of the much criticised Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Many believe the MAFF vessel must ultimately head for the Whitehall breaker's yard - to be dismantled and rebuilt into separate food and farming ships, more suitably equipped for the often stormy nineties waters. Cries for the creation of a more focused Food Standards Agency, perhaps part of a solus organisation free from the conflict of interests between farming and food safety that come from a single ministry, have a familiar ring. As most experienced Whitehall-watchers know, they have been heard in the grocery industry for nigh on two decades. But the important difference on this occasion is that the mad cow problem, set to remain part of our trading lives for some time, has given the pleas an urgency which politicians of most parties will find hard to ignore. Thus it is set to heighten the calls for major reform, whoever is the tenant of Number 10 after the General Election. The organisation at Whitehall Place has become less appropriate and the developing case for an independent agency has merit. Perhaps the early birth of a new, dedicated food ministry would also be a step in restoring consumer confidence after one of the biggest body blows ever to befall the sector. The days of MAFF in its present form must surely be numbered.