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MINISTER PRESSED TO HELP SHOPPERS AND BRITISH FARMERS IN BACKING HONEST FOOD LABELLING CAMPAIGN
14 December 2009
South West Bedfordshire MP Andrew Selous called on the Government to back the “Honest Food” campaign launched by Shadow Environment Minister Nick Herbert in the Commons last week. At present many imported foreign food, particularly meat products, are labelled as produced in Britain. This is concerning for British shoppers and farmers as many other countries have lower animal welfare standards than Britain does. Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Mark and Spencer and Waitrose all support the Honest Food Campaign and will be changing 1,000 food labels to provide clearer information.
Andrew Selous said, “Many people want to buy British food to back our farmers and support the UK’s higher welfare standards and the Government should support this. I am disappointed that the Government voted against mandatory country of origin food labelling at a recent EU vote when 11 countries including the French and Italians voted in support”.
The exchange in Hansard reads:
Andrew Selous: Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer and Waitrose are all backing our honest food campaign to stop imported food, which is often produced under lower welfare standards than our own, from being passed off as British food. Why cannot the Government do more to help British consumers and farmers in that regard?
Jim Fitzpatrick [Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs]: The Government have been working on this for some time. We welcome the Opposition's honest food campaign-it would be churlish not to say that it is a good initiative. The Food Standards Agency issued new guidance in 2008. My predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Jane Kennedy), started a campaign in October last year with, I believe, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. We are working in Europe to try to ensure that food information regulations are as tight as possible, although they will not come in for perhaps another two or three years. We are supporting supermarkets that are labelling food more clearly, so that consumers can buy with greater confidence.
