'Honest Food Campaign' wins Tesco over

Now here is some really good news to report. Back on the 22nd of last February I filed a piece about the 'Honest Food Campaign' an initiative that seems to be driven by Nick Herbert, the Tories shadow to Hilary Benn the DEFRA minister. A particular concern for Mr Herbert has been the use of food labelling by supermarkets whereby certain meats are described as being produced in Britain when quite emphatically the pigs, chicken or lambs have not been born and bred in this country. The labelling all depends on where the last process took place: for instance a joint could be stuffed in this country and for that reason alone could be described as "Produce of the UK". Utterly misleading of course and something I've railed about before.

This is an example then in which an opposition party can be proactive. I'm not criticising Mr Benn particularly - I imagine he has a very full in tray in his large and diverse department and anyway being a vegetarian one shouldn't perhaps expect him to have the same passion on this argument as some others.

Why I am highlighting the campaign right now is the fact that Tesco, the Nation's largest grocer by far, is going to alter its labelling so that "Produce of the UK" really does mean that the bird or beast comes from this country. For some reason beef already does have stricter labelling - possibly due to the past BSE scare.

We are of course very conservative with a small 'c' in Britain and worthwhile campaigns like this don't alter attitudes and behaviour overnight; it's just a case of keep grinding away and eventually success will happen.

Gone past 'Use By' date and I'm still alive

I'm sure that I've mentioned this before: I have a real thing about wasted food. It's not just the economic cost (to me) of uneaten food chucked out it's the fact that so many people in the world are starving so that I shouldn't be wasting my share. Then there is the extra going into the back of the refuse lorry, and ultimately landfill and that is costing us all money. In fairness it has to be noted that as I am a one person household it is perhaps easier for me to ensure that food waste is virtually non-existent.

Usually I'm pretty canny with my shopping and so seldom find myself with part used grocery items when the 'best before' or 'use by' date arrives. However there have been a couple of times just recently when that sort of skill has been wanting. In the first instance I had a pot of coleslaw (yum yum) that took me a few days beyond that date to eat with my salads. Fortunately I have a very useful bit of kit to detect whether it was still OK to eat, the good old hooter otherwise known as one's nose! Each time it came out of the fridge I had a look and gave it a sniff - no problem so I continued to use it. I also this morning finished a bottle of 'cranberry and raspberry drink' and that was a couple of days over the 'use by' date. Now by some miracle I'm still alive, I didn't get any sort of food poisoning either! I'm not saying every product is so lenient regarding these dates but what I am getting round to is the enormous waste created by perfectly palatable food finding its way into the dustbin when there would have been no problem consuming it.

Here endeth the lesson ...

Tories launch 'Honest Food' campaign

I was pleased to see the new Tory spokesman for the Environment, Nick Herbert, launch an important campaign the other day. Under the banner 'Honest Food' he is demanding that meat products labelled as 'British' would mean that the animal was born and bred in this country - the current situation is that say pig meat from Denmark processed into sausages in the UK can be described as British. The customer could understandably I think believe that said meat in the sausages actually came from pigs reared here. This whole concept is something I've been aware of and concerned about for a very long time.

Some people are asserting that this is 'protectionism'. I don't see that. Bear in mind that, by common agreement, we lead the way in the UK over matters of farm animal welfare. It may not be perfect in some people's eyes but it is better than pretty well anywhere else in Europe. Where the meat is processed is of lesser importance surely, it's where the beast is born and bred that the customers have a right to know about. In Devon and Cornwall we have a wonderful patchwork of relatively small fields whose visual appeal is important to local and visitor alike. It's the farmers rearing livestock who give us the countryside that we find aesthetically satisfying. In many ways too nature benefits from the presence of livestock farming.

I remember now, at least I think I do, something of a parallel when the furore over live animal transport across the channel to the continent was at its height. If memory serves me correctly the French, as an example, could buy Welsh lamb on the hoof rather than the hook so that when slaughtered it could be described as "French lamb". Yes I'm sure that was it. There has never been a shred of justification for a live animal to be transported abroad if the sole aim is for it to go to the abattoir, I couldn't be clearer about that.

So good luck to Mr Herbert in his wish to make honest labelling part of the law of the land. I heard him talking about this subject on the radio and have to say I was fairly impressed with him. Representing the 'Arundel and South Downs' constituency he should have a feel for the countryside. It looks like a good choice by Cameron to have him in this post.

With all the turmoil in the economy subjects such as the Environment and Farming seem to be of less interest to the government. To me though they are more important than ever.

Waitrose in the dock

Normally I think of 'Waitrose' as being the good guys amongst British supermarkets but they appear to be marketing certain products in a slightly controversial way. Outwardly they seem to be doing the right thing promoting food with labels like 'Gloucester Old Spot' (a traditional variety of pig) and beef from 'Hereford' cattle, historic British breeds. But all is not what it seems. In the small print it is evident that the meat is from cross bred animals so that one parent is indeed 'Gloucester Old Spot' or 'Hereford' for instance. What is raising the ire of some though is that a quick inspection of the product gives the impression that they are using pure bred animals rather than cross bred. It might be that Waitrose aren't doing anything illegal but I think they are being just a little too creative in their labelling.