Organic news archive: July 2005
Swedish retail giant IKEA has unveiled plans to replace its standard food products with organic varieties. IKEA, which is the largest food exporter in Sweden, has begun the project with the launch of organic coffee. Strawberry jam, marmalade and blue cheese. This winter, IKEA is set to launch organic schnapps and an organic certified meat sauce will be served in IKEA restaurants. (Eurofood)
An undercover film taken at a farm in south west England by the animal welfare group Compassion in World Farming shows cows being kept in a 'zero grazing' intensive production system. Sean Poulter in The Daily Mail writes that they are effectively 'udders on legs'. Zero grazing systems make it easier to keep breeds of cattle the CiWF object to, like Holsteins, to maximise milk yields. (The Daily Mail)
Jamie Oliver says that Ruth Kelly has not gone far enough to improve school meals despite all the "headline-grabbing words". He is also infuriated by the reluctance of the Government to ban junk food in schools. On a recent visit to a deprived township in Johannesburg Jamie Oliver claimed the school meals were better than those in Britain. He said, "It completely astounded me that in a place of unbelievable poverty, the love and care put into children's meals was greater than in inner London, and resulted in a more nutritionally balanced lunch." (The Times - 26/7/05, The Daily Mail - 27/7/05)
"Badly informed governments and corrupt members of governments everywhere in the world are the main obstacle to an objective discussion of the true problems of world food supplies." Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, minister of the environment, Ethiopia.
"Hunger and misery will increase if we allow agro-genetic technology to spread. World food supplies can only be secured through seeds adapted to local conditions." Vandana Shiva, Environmental campaigner. (The Guardian - 27/7/05)
The German firm Bayer has withdrawn three applications to grow GM oilseed rape in Britain and Europe. However, it is still trying for approval of the crop as a human and animal feed, so foods containing it can be legally imported from North America. (The Daily Mail, 27/7/05)
"Britain cannot afford to take the risk of spreading genetically modified genes to wild plants and should ban GM crops that have wild relatives in the countryside," the former environment minister Michael Meacher said yesterday. Mr Meacher, who was the minister responsible for introducing the farm-scale trials of GM crops in Britain to test their effect on the environment, said he was shocked at research results revealed in The Guardian on Monday 25 July. (The Guardian, The Daily Mail)
Geoffrey Lean in the Daily Mail: "The time has come to call a halt to this disgracefully dishonest charade. The scandal of the herbicide resistant super-weed should be the last nasty GM surprise ever inflicted on the long-suffering British public." Elliot Morley, the environment minister, said: "The so-called hybrid has not been confirmed by researchers as a cross between oil seed rape and charlock, but it is a finding we can't ignore." (The Daily Telegraph)
The system for approving, regulating and monitoring the use of pesticides is 'deeply flawed', a leaked draft report by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution says. The document, seen by Channel 4 News, also questions the independence of the Pesticides Safety Directorate from the industry it regulates. (The Times)
Following the report in The Sunday Times which stated that at least 80% of chickens sold in supermarkets have spent much of their lives in pain The Daily Telegraph says that the researchers also inspected 25 organic, free range chickens. 62% of the organic chickens had marks and 42% had burns; 12% had medium and large burns. This is compared with the figures found from inspecting 384 Grade A British Farm Standard birds: 80% had marks, 82% had burns with 42% suffering medium or large burns. We at organicfoodee.com recommend our readers who eat animal products choose organic poultry which is certified by the Soil Association or a similarly stringent organic certifier instead of organic certification bodies who allow the minimum legal requirements for organic classification.
Michael Meacher examined recent evidence of the damage caused by chemical pollutants for The Guardian, asking why very little has been done to protect us from exposure to pesticides. He gave three reasons why this may be the case. Firstly, the fees the Pesticide Safety Directorate receive from companies wanting approval for pesticides accounts for the majority of their income. Secondly, the advice on which the Advisory Committee on Pesticides relies on to make decisions about the health impact of pesticides is provided by the Medical and Toxicological panel, whose meetings, discussions and recommendations are not made public. And third, the kind of data needed to establish links between pesticides and health are not being collected. However, in an important step last year the government asked the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution to consider those in the vicinity of sprayed fields, to examine the scientific evidence on which decisions are based, and to look at current policy on access to information. This report is due to published in September. (The Guardian - 20/7/05)
A cluster of BSE, believed to have been found on a dairy farm in England, is being investigated by scientists who fear that contaminated feed is still being given to British cattle, nearly 10 years after it was banned. The cluster involves three young cows born long after the 1996 ban. (The Independent)
The FBI has come up with some useful tips to help US farmers avoid 'agro-terrorists', such as: "For instance, if your neighbour does not like cow's milk or GM food and he/she experiments with explosives in the back yard, you should probably report them." (The Guardian - 20/7/05)
Modified genes from crops in a GM crop trial have transferred into local wild plants, creating a form of herbicide-resistant "superweed". The cross-fertilisation between GM oilseed rape, a brassica, and a distantly related plant, charlock, had been discounted as virtually impossible by scientists with the environment department. It was found during a follow up to the government's three-year trials of GM crops which ended two years ago. The new form of charlock was growing among many others in a field which had been used to grow GM rape. When scientists treated it with lethal herbicide it showed no ill-effects. Unlike the results of the original trials, which were the subject of large-scale press briefings from scientists, the discovery of hybrid plants that could cause a serious problem to farmers has not been announced. The scientists also collected seeds from other weeds in the oilseed rape field and grew them in the laboratory. They found that two - both wild turnips - were herbicide resistant. The five scientists from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the government research station at Winfrith in Dorset, placed their findings on the department's website last week.' (The Guardian and The Daily Mail - 25/7/05)
"Good food and healthy eating are now firmly in the mainstream," writes Craig Sams in an article outlining post-war changes in food policy and consumption. The Soil Association's Food For Life campaign, vegetable box schemes and "the refocus on local, often organic, food production" are cited as evidence that "Britain is on a path to a food culture that combines the best of tradition with a deeper and more widespread understanding of good nutrition." (New Statesman - 'Nutrition Supplement' - 18/7/05)
"New Labour has fallen out of love with farming. Agricultural reform is useless unless Britain and developing countries are encouraged to feed themselves," writes Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University, London. (New Statesman - 'Nutrition Supplement' - 18 July).
At least 80% of chickens sold in supermarkets have spent much of their lives in pain due to untended skin ulcers, broken bones and other injuries, according to a scientific report. The research, based on detailed veterinary examinations of birds taken from supermarket shelves, suggests big retailers have forced farmers to cut prices until they cannot afford to look after the birds properly. Donald Broom, professor of animal welfare at Cambridge University's department of veterinary medicine, said it was 'inevitable' that many were sick or injured. Supermarkets pay farmers about £1 for a 2kg chicken of which 81p goes on buying and rearing the bird, leaving 19p profit. Such a bird can retail for £2. A Tesco spokesman said Broom's study had been carried out in 2003, since when there had been many improvements in welfare. (Sunday Times)
The government is considering a ban on sheep dips because of concerns over their 'devastating' impact on the environment. The main concern is over synthetic pyrethroids (SP) sheep dips, introduced as an alternative to organophosphate (OP) dips because of safety concerns about OPs. Cypermethrin, the main chemical in SPs, is 1,000 times more toxic to aquatic life than diazinin in OP sheep, according to the agency. The central recommendation is phasing out dips, SPs and Ops, while at the same time promoting alternative approaches that �maintain animal welfare and do not affect farming livelihoods'. (Farmers Guardian)
John Vidal examined the possible reasons for southern Europe's worst drought since records began. In Spain these include the explosion of intensive farming which requires massive amounts of water. Over 100,000 hectares are now farmed under plastic, mostly for British and German supermarkets. (The Guardian G2 - 22/7/05)
A new government approved technology in America is being used by produce distributors that employs lasers to tattoo fruits and vegetables with their name, identifying number, country of origin and other information that helps speed up distribution. It is part of the produce industry's latest effort to identify and track everything American's eat. The Produce Marketing Association and the International Federation for Produce Coding have established global standards for the price look-up numbers for all produce. Four digit numbers denote conventionally grown, five digits beginning with 9, organic and five digits beginning with 8, GM. (The New York Times - 21/7/05)
Diversification and the increasing average age of farmers present a challenge to the sustainability of agriculture, the Commission for Rural Communities has warned. 60% of British farmers are now over 55, compared with 49% in 1990 as young people continue to get careers in more stable and better paying jobs. (Farmers Weekly)
The Prince of Wales has backed family farms, co-operation, native livestock breeds and efforts to persuade schools and hospitals to use locally produced food. During a visit to the hill farm owned by Gareth Vaughan, president of the Farmers Union of Wales, he said he had been reminded just how profoundly he believed in the importance of such family run units. (Farmers Weekly)
Food miles are not always a bad thing and are not always a valid test of environmental friendliness according to a report commissioned by DEFRA. Apparently it takes less energy to import tomatoes from Spain, where the climate is warmer and no heating is used, than to grow them out of season in gas-heated environments in Britain. The report also claims that the environmental cost of importing organic wheat is lower than producing wheat by conventional methods at home provided that not too much fuel is used moving it around when it gets here. The mode of transport makes a big difference. Large amounts of food may be imported by sea at a low environmental cost. Whereas air transport produces high amounts of pollution for the low amount of food it brings. It reveals that the bulk of all emissions come from heavy goods vehicles and the highest mileage travelled by food is by car. Consumers now drive an average of nearly 900 miles a year to shop for food. (The Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Independent and Farmers Weekly)
The European Commission has started infraction proceedings against the UK for failing to meet green fuel targets just days after Tony Blair pledged to lead the world in combating climate change. The UK has been asked to explain itself having fallen well short of the EU 2% indicative target for biofuel use for 2005. The Commission is unhappy that the UK had set its own target of just 0.3%. (Farmers' Guardian)
Britain's farmers are being forced to throw away as much as a third of their fruit and vegetables, most of it perfectly edible, as a result of supermarkets imposing ever-tougher rules on cosmetic appearance. Between 25 - 40% of most British-grown crops are being rejected by supermarkets, according to the Soil Association. (The Sunday Times)
The cosmetics giant L'Oréal is marketing a range of skin treatments containing tiny 'nano' particles, despite concerns about their possible long-term effects on the human body. The products, which include anti-wrinkle creams such as Revitalift, are said to be absorbed deeper into the skin than more traditional treatments because of the far smaller size of their particles. However, the cosmetic use of nanotechnology, originally employed in man-made fibres and pharmaceuticals, has led to calls from both the Royal Society and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in America for a comprehensive programme of research. They aim to discover what effect the minute particles may have if they enter cells in the human body or leach into the bloodstream. The Royal Society said: 'We don't know whether these particles are taken down through the skin and what the long-term effects might be in the bloodstream.' (The Sunday Times)
Parents will be able to monitor what their child eats at the school canteen with a smart card that records the details of every meal a pupil selects. Government-funded research into the use of smart cards to encourage healthy eating in schools was published last week. The information could also be used to help food companies more effectively market their products to the lucrative youth market by giving them valuable insights into eating patterns, much in the same way that supermarket loyalty cards help supermarkets sell products. (The Sunday Telegraph)
The environmental and social costs of the impacts of transporting food are estimated at £9 billion a year in a new report by Defra this week. More than half of that cost is due to road congestion but the report also found food transport has a significant and growing impact on road accidents, climate change, noise and air pollution. In response, Lord Bach suggested that 'It is clear that organic and seasonally-available food can reduce environmental impacts.' (Farmers' Guardian)
The Soil Association has met with Lord Bach, the new minister for organic food and farming, about higher organic poultry standards. The Soil Association set out to contrast organic consumer's expectations with the Government's decision last year to allow producers to call their chicken organic even though they can be kept in flocks of as many as 9,000 birds. Shortages of Soil Association eggs have led one of the UK's leading egg producers, Stonegate, (suppliers to Waitrose) to call for more farmers to start producing eggs to Soil Association standards. Sales of Columbian Blacktail organic eggs at Waitrose stores are growing by almost 25 per cent a year. Sainsbury's Yorkshire stores have also seen an unprecedented rise in sales. The Yorkshire branches, which are the only stockists of Soil Association certified eggs within the chain, have seen sales jump by over 50 per cent in the last six months. Sales of Lloyd Maunder organic chicken, available at Sainsbury's, Somerfield and other supermarkets, have grown by up to 75 per cent in the last year. It comes as the Soil Association publishes a new consumer poultry leaflet which aims to inform organic consumers about animal welfare standards. To download a copy visit http://www.soilassociation.org/chickens To request a printed copy contact call 0117 914 2433. (14/7/05)
The European Court has decided to tighten rules on the sale of vitamin and minerals despite widespread public disapproval of restrictions to common health supplements. The proposals will ban around 200 supplements from sale and put restrictions on the upper limits of vitamin doses. (BBC News - 12/7/05)
Sixty per cent of shoppers think organic food is over-priced according to a poll on supermarket shopping in the BBC's Good Food magazine - although 80% say they would be happy to pay more for quality food, and almost 90% want more fair trade products. Up to 89% said supermarket food was over-packaged. (Daily Mirror - 6/7/05)
Meat from cheap supermarket chicken contains as much fat as a Big Mac, claims research by BBC2 programme, Full on Food. Intensive farming techniques means most battery farms are turning out birds which cost as little as £1.99 but are "obese" and dripping with fat. A reporter from the programme went to a poultry farm in the West Country where 45,000 chickens jostle for space in a shed with a floorspace of 27,000 sq ft. They also visited an organic farm and showed the space that the chickens have to roam and forage for food and said that ideally everyone should buy organic. (Evening Standard - 6/7/05. Also in The Sun - 7/7/05)
Livestock farming in the hills of England and Wales is on the brink of a "rapid and unmanaged collapse" according to a study of 60 National Trust tenant farmers. Yesterday's report found that some farmers will be in the red by next year and the worst cases will be making a loss from livestock of more than £10,000 a year by 2012. The problems, not just on Trust farms, are caused by the 'decoupling' of support payments from agricultural production in the latest EU reviews and the fact that small farms will do less well from the introduction of the new single farm payment next year. The authors believe that the outlook for uplands dairy farming will be "a constant struggle in economic terms with few farms remaining in the future." Defra and English Nature differ, saying that CAP reforms will not cause the collapse of hill farming. (Daily Telegraph - 6/7/05)
SA licensee, Bacheldre Watermill, has won the Supreme Champion Award at the Waitrose Small Producers Awards presented at the Royal Show on 5 July. Receiving the award for their strong malted blend flour, they also won the award in their own Grocery Category, netting £10,000 in prize money. Bacheldre were probably the only organic producer among the 18 finalists. The company is also among the 20 finalists, and the only food producer, of the HSBC Start Up Stars, a competition for new companies (less than three-years-old) making an impact in their industry.
Environmental groups have been angered by a decision by the European Commission to shelve its long-term environmental strategy because of concerns that it would constrict Europe's staggering economy. Jose Manuel Barroso, The President of the Commission, ordered the suspension of the air-pollution strategy after he saw an assessment that showed that although it would help to prevent 350,000 premature deaths a year, it would cost businesses and consumers nearly £10 billion a year. Mr Barroso's spokesperson said: "There has to be a balance between the benefits for the environment and the overall costs." (The Times - 5/7/05)
Swedish retail giant IKEA has unveiled plans to replace its standard food products with organic varieties. IKEA, which is the largest food exporter in Sweden, has begun the project with the launch of organic coffee. Strawberry jam, marmalade and blue cheese. This winter, IKEA is set to launch organic schnapps and an organic certified meat sauce will be served in IKEA restaurants. (Eurofood)
An undercover film taken at a farm in south west England by the animal welfare group Compassion in World Farming shows cows being kept in a 'zero grazing' intensive production system. Sean Poulter in The Daily Mail writes that they are effectively 'udders on legs'. Zero grazing systems make it easier to keep breeds of cattle the CiWF object to, like Holsteins, to maximise milk yields. (The Daily Mail)
Jamie Oliver says that Ruth Kelly has not gone far enough to improve school meals despite all the "headline-grabbing words". He is also infuriated by the reluctance of the Government to ban junk food in schools. On a recent visit to a deprived township in Johannesburg Jamie Oliver claimed the school meals were better than those in Britain. He said, "It completely astounded me that in a place of unbelievable poverty, the love and care put into children's meals was greater than in inner London, and resulted in a more nutritionally balanced lunch." (The Times - 26/7/05, The Daily Mail - 27/7/05)
"Badly informed governments and corrupt members of governments everywhere in the world are the main obstacle to an objective discussion of the true problems of world food supplies." Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, minister of the environment, Ethiopia.
"Hunger and misery will increase if we allow agro-genetic technology to spread. World food supplies can only be secured through seeds adapted to local conditions." Vandana Shiva, Environmental campaigner. (The Guardian - 27/7/05)
The German firm Bayer has withdrawn three applications to grow GM oilseed rape in Britain and Europe. However, it is still trying for approval of the crop as a human and animal feed, so foods containing it can be legally imported from North America. (The Daily Mail, 27/7/05)
"Britain cannot afford to take the risk of spreading genetically modified genes to wild plants and should ban GM crops that have wild relatives in the countryside," the former environment minister Michael Meacher said yesterday. Mr Meacher, who was the minister responsible for introducing the farm-scale trials of GM crops in Britain to test their effect on the environment, said he was shocked at research results revealed in The Guardian on Monday 25 July. (The Guardian, The Daily Mail)
Geoffrey Lean in the Daily Mail: "The time has come to call a halt to this disgracefully dishonest charade. The scandal of the herbicide resistant super-weed should be the last nasty GM surprise ever inflicted on the long-suffering British public." Elliot Morley, the environment minister, said: "The so-called hybrid has not been confirmed by researchers as a cross between oil seed rape and charlock, but it is a finding we can't ignore." (The Daily Telegraph)
The system for approving, regulating and monitoring the use of pesticides is 'deeply flawed', a leaked draft report by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution says. The document, seen by Channel 4 News, also questions the independence of the Pesticides Safety Directorate from the industry it regulates. (The Times)
Following the report in The Sunday Times which stated that at least 80% of chickens sold in supermarkets have spent much of their lives in pain The Daily Telegraph says that the researchers also inspected 25 organic, free range chickens. 62% of the organic chickens had marks and 42% had burns; 12% had medium and large burns. This is compared with the figures found from inspecting 384 Grade A British Farm Standard birds: 80% had marks, 82% had burns with 42% suffering medium or large burns. We at organicfoodee.com recommend our readers who eat animal products choose organic poultry which is certified by the Soil Association or a similarly stringent organic certifier instead of organic certification bodies who allow the minimum legal requirements for organic classification.
Michael Meacher examined recent evidence of the damage caused by chemical pollutants for The Guardian, asking why very little has been done to protect us from exposure to pesticides. He gave three reasons why this may be the case. Firstly, the fees the Pesticide Safety Directorate receive from companies wanting approval for pesticides accounts for the majority of their income. Secondly, the advice on which the Advisory Committee on Pesticides relies on to make decisions about the health impact of pesticides is provided by the Medical and Toxicological panel, whose meetings, discussions and recommendations are not made public. And third, the kind of data needed to establish links between pesticides and health are not being collected. However, in an important step last year the government asked the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution to consider those in the vicinity of sprayed fields, to examine the scientific evidence on which decisions are based, and to look at current policy on access to information. This report is due to published in September. (The Guardian - 20/7/05)
A cluster of BSE, believed to have been found on a dairy farm in England, is being investigated by scientists who fear that contaminated feed is still being given to British cattle, nearly 10 years after it was banned. The cluster involves three young cows born long after the 1996 ban. (The Independent)
The FBI has come up with some useful tips to help US farmers avoid 'agro-terrorists', such as: "For instance, if your neighbour does not like cow's milk or GM food and he/she experiments with explosives in the back yard, you should probably report them." (The Guardian - 20/7/05)
Modified genes from crops in a GM crop trial have transferred into local wild plants, creating a form of herbicide-resistant "superweed". The cross-fertilisation between GM oilseed rape, a brassica, and a distantly related plant, charlock, had been discounted as virtually impossible by scientists with the environment department. It was found during a follow up to the government's three-year trials of GM crops which ended two years ago. The new form of charlock was growing among many others in a field which had been used to grow GM rape. When scientists treated it with lethal herbicide it showed no ill-effects. Unlike the results of the original trials, which were the subject of large-scale press briefings from scientists, the discovery of hybrid plants that could cause a serious problem to farmers has not been announced. The scientists also collected seeds from other weeds in the oilseed rape field and grew them in the laboratory. They found that two - both wild turnips - were herbicide resistant. The five scientists from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the government research station at Winfrith in Dorset, placed their findings on the department's website last week.' (The Guardian and The Daily Mail - 25/7/05)
"Good food and healthy eating are now firmly in the mainstream," writes Craig Sams in an article outlining post-war changes in food policy and consumption. The Soil Association's Food For Life campaign, vegetable box schemes and "the refocus on local, often organic, food production" are cited as evidence that "Britain is on a path to a food culture that combines the best of tradition with a deeper and more widespread understanding of good nutrition." (New Statesman - 'Nutrition Supplement' - 18/7/05)
"New Labour has fallen out of love with farming. Agricultural reform is useless unless Britain and developing countries are encouraged to feed themselves," writes Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University, London. (New Statesman - 'Nutrition Supplement' - 18 July).
At least 80% of chickens sold in supermarkets have spent much of their lives in pain due to untended skin ulcers, broken bones and other injuries, according to a scientific report. The research, based on detailed veterinary examinations of birds taken from supermarket shelves, suggests big retailers have forced farmers to cut prices until they cannot afford to look after the birds properly. Donald Broom, professor of animal welfare at Cambridge University's department of veterinary medicine, said it was 'inevitable' that many were sick or injured. Supermarkets pay farmers about £1 for a 2kg chicken of which 81p goes on buying and rearing the bird, leaving 19p profit. Such a bird can retail for £2. A Tesco spokesman said Broom's study had been carried out in 2003, since when there had been many improvements in welfare. (Sunday Times)
The government is considering a ban on sheep dips because of concerns over their 'devastating' impact on the environment. The main concern is over synthetic pyrethroids (SP) sheep dips, introduced as an alternative to organophosphate (OP) dips because of safety concerns about OPs. Cypermethrin, the main chemical in SPs, is 1,000 times more toxic to aquatic life than diazinin in OP sheep, according to the agency. The central recommendation is phasing out dips, SPs and Ops, while at the same time promoting alternative approaches that �maintain animal welfare and do not affect farming livelihoods'. (Farmers Guardian)
John Vidal examined the possible reasons for southern Europe's worst drought since records began. In Spain these include the explosion of intensive farming which requires massive amounts of water. Over 100,000 hectares are now farmed under plastic, mostly for British and German supermarkets. (The Guardian G2 - 22/7/05)
A new government approved technology in America is being used by produce distributors that employs lasers to tattoo fruits and vegetables with their name, identifying number, country of origin and other information that helps speed up distribution. It is part of the produce industry's latest effort to identify and track everything American's eat. The Produce Marketing Association and the International Federation for Produce Coding have established global standards for the price look-up numbers for all produce. Four digit numbers denote conventionally grown, five digits beginning with 9, organic and five digits beginning with 8, GM. (The New York Times - 21/7/05)
Diversification and the increasing average age of farmers present a challenge to the sustainability of agriculture, the Commission for Rural Communities has warned. 60% of British farmers are now over 55, compared with 49% in 1990 as young people continue to get careers in more stable and better paying jobs. (Farmers Weekly)
The Prince of Wales has backed family farms, co-operation, native livestock breeds and efforts to persuade schools and hospitals to use locally produced food. During a visit to the hill farm owned by Gareth Vaughan, president of the Farmers Union of Wales, he said he had been reminded just how profoundly he believed in the importance of such family run units. (Farmers Weekly)
Food miles are not always a bad thing and are not always a valid test of environmental friendliness according to a report commissioned by DEFRA. Apparently it takes less energy to import tomatoes from Spain, where the climate is warmer and no heating is used, than to grow them out of season in gas-heated environments in Britain. The report also claims that the environmental cost of importing organic wheat is lower than producing wheat by conventional methods at home provided that not too much fuel is used moving it around when it gets here. The mode of transport makes a big difference. Large amounts of food may be imported by sea at a low environmental cost. Whereas air transport produces high amounts of pollution for the low amount of food it brings. It reveals that the bulk of all emissions come from heavy goods vehicles and the highest mileage travelled by food is by car. Consumers now drive an average of nearly 900 miles a year to shop for food. (The Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Independent and Farmers Weekly)
The European Commission has started infraction proceedings against the UK for failing to meet green fuel targets just days after Tony Blair pledged to lead the world in combating climate change. The UK has been asked to explain itself having fallen well short of the EU 2% indicative target for biofuel use for 2005. The Commission is unhappy that the UK had set its own target of just 0.3%. (Farmers' Guardian)
Britain's farmers are being forced to throw away as much as a third of their fruit and vegetables, most of it perfectly edible, as a result of supermarkets imposing ever-tougher rules on cosmetic appearance. Between 25 - 40% of most British-grown crops are being rejected by supermarkets, according to the Soil Association. (The Sunday Times)
The cosmetics giant L'Oréal is marketing a range of skin treatments containing tiny 'nano' particles, despite concerns about their possible long-term effects on the human body. The products, which include anti-wrinkle creams such as Revitalift, are said to be absorbed deeper into the skin than more traditional treatments because of the far smaller size of their particles. However, the cosmetic use of nanotechnology, originally employed in man-made fibres and pharmaceuticals, has led to calls from both the Royal Society and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in America for a comprehensive programme of research. They aim to discover what effect the minute particles may have if they enter cells in the human body or leach into the bloodstream. The Royal Society said: 'We don't know whether these particles are taken down through the skin and what the long-term effects might be in the bloodstream.' (The Sunday Times)
Parents will be able to monitor what their child eats at the school canteen with a smart card that records the details of every meal a pupil selects. Government-funded research into the use of smart cards to encourage healthy eating in schools was published last week. The information could also be used to help food companies more effectively market their products to the lucrative youth market by giving them valuable insights into eating patterns, much in the same way that supermarket loyalty cards help supermarkets sell products. (The Sunday Telegraph)
The environmental and social costs of the impacts of transporting food are estimated at £9 billion a year in a new report by Defra this week. More than half of that cost is due to road congestion but the report also found food transport has a significant and growing impact on road accidents, climate change, noise and air pollution. In response, Lord Bach suggested that 'It is clear that organic and seasonally-available food can reduce environmental impacts.' (Farmers' Guardian)
The Soil Association has met with Lord Bach, the new minister for organic food and farming, about higher organic poultry standards. The Soil Association set out to contrast organic consumer's expectations with the Government's decision last year to allow producers to call their chicken organic even though they can be kept in flocks of as many as 9,000 birds. Shortages of Soil Association eggs have led one of the UK's leading egg producers, Stonegate, (suppliers to Waitrose) to call for more farmers to start producing eggs to Soil Association standards. Sales of Columbian Blacktail organic eggs at Waitrose stores are growing by almost 25 per cent a year. Sainsbury's Yorkshire stores have also seen an unprecedented rise in sales. The Yorkshire branches, which are the only stockists of Soil Association certified eggs within the chain, have seen sales jump by over 50 per cent in the last six months. Sales of Lloyd Maunder organic chicken, available at Sainsbury's, Somerfield and other supermarkets, have grown by up to 75 per cent in the last year. It comes as the Soil Association publishes a new consumer poultry leaflet which aims to inform organic consumers about animal welfare standards. To download a copy visit http://www.soilassociation.org/chickens To request a printed copy contact call 0117 914 2433. (14/7/05)
The European Court has decided to tighten rules on the sale of vitamin and minerals despite widespread public disapproval of restrictions to common health supplements. The proposals will ban around 200 supplements from sale and put restrictions on the upper limits of vitamin doses. (BBC News - 12/7/05)
Sixty per cent of shoppers think organic food is over-priced according to a poll on supermarket shopping in the BBC's Good Food magazine - although 80% say they would be happy to pay more for quality food, and almost 90% want more fair trade products. Up to 89% said supermarket food was over-packaged. (Daily Mirror - 6/7/05)
Meat from cheap supermarket chicken contains as much fat as a Big Mac, claims research by BBC2 programme, Full on Food. Intensive farming techniques means most battery farms are turning out birds which cost as little as £1.99 but are "obese" and dripping with fat. A reporter from the programme went to a poultry farm in the West Country where 45,000 chickens jostle for space in a shed with a floorspace of 27,000 sq ft. They also visited an organic farm and showed the space that the chickens have to roam and forage for food and said that ideally everyone should buy organic. (Evening Standard - 6/7/05. Also in The Sun - 7/7/05)
Livestock farming in the hills of England and Wales is on the brink of a "rapid and unmanaged collapse" according to a study of 60 National Trust tenant farmers. Yesterday's report found that some farmers will be in the red by next year and the worst cases will be making a loss from livestock of more than £10,000 a year by 2012. The problems, not just on Trust farms, are caused by the 'decoupling' of support payments from agricultural production in the latest EU reviews and the fact that small farms will do less well from the introduction of the new single farm payment next year. The authors believe that the outlook for uplands dairy farming will be "a constant struggle in economic terms with few farms remaining in the future." Defra and English Nature differ, saying that CAP reforms will not cause the collapse of hill farming. (Daily Telegraph - 6/7/05)
SA licensee, Bacheldre Watermill, has won the Supreme Champion Award at the Waitrose Small Producers Awards presented at the Royal Show on 5 July. Receiving the award for their strong malted blend flour, they also won the award in their own Grocery Category, netting £10,000 in prize money. Bacheldre were probably the only organic producer among the 18 finalists. The company is also among the 20 finalists, and the only food producer, of the HSBC Start Up Stars, a competition for new companies (less than three-years-old) making an impact in their industry.
Environmental groups have been angered by a decision by the European Commission to shelve its long-term environmental strategy because of concerns that it would constrict Europe's staggering economy. Jose Manuel Barroso, The President of the Commission, ordered the suspension of the air-pollution strategy after he saw an assessment that showed that although it would help to prevent 350,000 premature deaths a year, it would cost businesses and consumers nearly £10 billion a year. Mr Barroso's spokesperson said: "There has to be a balance between the benefits for the environment and the overall costs." (The Times - 5/7/05)
Like this page? Please link to us and let the world know!
RSS Feed for news
Bookmark this page