Public Health Minister Tessa Jowell today met health experts at a breast cancer screening unit acclaimed as one of the best in the country - in York.

The minister wanted to see for herself the breast cancer screening unit at York District Hospital, where women get their screening results the same day.

And after a whistle-stop tour of the unit today, she said: "I am extremely impressed by what I have seen. This is the kind of service that will enable the Government to reach its aim of reducing preventable cancer by a fifth by 2010.

"It is absolutely vital that we use the great advances made in screening and radiology for the benefit of women, both to save lives and to ensure that any trauma and anxiety about the diagnosis is minimised."

The service provides screening for the whole of North Yorkshire, the largest geographical area in the country, with the help of two mobile screening units. The take up of 82 per cent is among the highest in the United Kingdom.

Cancer accounts for one-in-four deaths, making it a priority for Government moves to improve the nation's health.

York MP Hugh Bayley, who was accompanying the minister today, said: "This is a very worrying disease and it is excellent that the York unit can give women results on the day they are tested."

Mrs Jowell was in York with her colleague, the food safety minister Jeff Rooker, to attend a Food Advisory Conference at the Swallow Hotel about the need to ensure members of the public know what is in the food they eat.

Mr Rooker warned food safety needed to be improved by driving up standards - and that need had to be balanced with the needs of farmers suffering from tougher regulations and the problems hitting the pig industry.

Mr Rooker said: "We do not wish to damage farmers but the public has a right to know more about what they are eating. We have to drive up standards."

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