So the FSA is to be abolished, according to the Department of Health. Well, that's what the papers were saying on Monday morning.

It turns out the DH said no such thing. On Monday afternoon it released a hastily prepared statement explaining that, as with all of the quangos set up under New Labour, the future of the FSA was merely under review.

So, it's both no news and old news. New health secretary Andrew Lansley has been very clear on his position vis-à-vis the watchdog. In March, he described it to The Grocer as "a conflicting voice within government", and told us he would look to take away its responsibilities for diet and public health.

But while bizarre in their timing, Monday's news stories are utterly predictable in tone, claiming Lansley buckled under pressure from the big, bad purveyors of junk food.

If the FSA is axed, the only new detail in this week's reports is that Defra will have responsibility for food safety and hygiene. And as far as The Grocer knows, no major food and drink multinationals are lobbying hard either way.

Equally puzzling was the picture in the Daily Mail of a small boy surrounded by food and drink, headlined: "In one shocking image, the rubbish an average child eats every year."

This "rubbish" included products such as milk, cheese, fruit juice and high-fibre cereals. Also on display were bags of McCain oven chips proudly displaying their all-green traffic light labels, developed by the FSA.

Lazy, ill-informed reports like these are indicative of the problems surrounding the debate on health and obesity. Of course the industry has a part to play. Lansley simply wants it to be a serious, grown-up conversation.

He's also asked the industry to foot the bill for Change4Life. But thanks to single-issue lobby groups and a reactionary press, he is getting a kicking. And I thought the Mail didn't like the nanny state.