Supermarkets

 

The school dinner wars
How does attacking the efforts of Jamie Oliver square with the Tories' talk of the Big Society?

The health secretary Andrew Lansley, speaking to a conference of medical professionals earlier this week, signalled an alarming retreat by government from effective action to curb heart disease, cancer and obesity. Attacking Jamie Oliver's efforts to improve school food, Lansley revealed a concerning lack of knowledge about the transformation that is underway in Britain's schools to improve children's knowledge, appreciation and consumption of good food.


Oliver has good reason to feel insulted. He has been a great champion of improving school food standards since his 2005 television show brought to public and political attention the dire state of school dinners. With Oliver's leadership, and with the support of more than 300 organisations working together in the Children's Food Campaign, legislation was introduced to mandate good food for schoolchildren.

It took a Channel 4 series and a 300,000-signature petition before Tony Blair agreed to set new standards, and commit £280m towards decent ingredients, equipment and training. Yet this week, we glimpse the real danger of Lansley and the Department of Health swinging attention away from standards and government responsibility squarely back to the idea that the quality of children's food – and hence their prospects of lifelong health – is down to individual choice. What "choice" did children have when the majority of their school food was routinely high in salt and saturated fat, and deep-fried straight from the packet?

All over the country, hundreds of schools are overhauling the quality and environmental credentials of the food they serve, to make it both healthy and ethical, and are installing garden plots in school grounds to introduce children to food growing. They love it. Children are beginning to re-learn the culture of good food that was lost to their parents. But change takes time. It needs consistent, dedicated and national support. It certainly doesn't need the government pulling the rug out at a time when better school food is beginning to show such positive results.

Not only should Oliver feel insulted. So should the small army of wonderful individuals and catering teams who have been working so hard to improve standards on behalf of the people they serve – whether in schools, hospitals, care homes or the army. Their sector institutions recognise their duty to take responsibility for the people in their care. Many people are taking direct action to improve food at a local level. These people's excellent work has largely been ignored by government, or treated simply as case studies of what could – in theory – be achieved nationally, while failing to provide the support, standards or policy framework to make this possible.

In attacking standards for school food, Lansley is also attacking the leadership of Oliver himself, and of these local leaders already taking action. What price the Big Society? Isn't Oliver's initiative exactly the sort of entrepreneurial spirit that this government professes to want to cultivate? We hear constantly that more services should be provided by the third sector, to cut red tape, decrease costs and devolve responsibility to local areas. Speaking on behalf of more than 100 food and farming organisations in the third sector, who will no doubt be called on to help achieve these aims, we say to Lansley that yes, we are keen to take action at a local level. But we need national government leadership too. Give us clear, enforceable national standards to uphold the values of good nutrition as well as ethical and environmental food.


sourced from The Guardian

Recipe Archive


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This section of my blog all things about food - this section supports my other site all about grub
As the new British government plans to add VAT onto food how is this going to effect us and the supermarkets.

Cheaper food slows Sainsbury's sales growth

Sainsbury's has seen its smallest rise in quarterly sales for five years, due to low food price inflation and higher fuel costs limiting consumer spending.


Like-for-like sales at Sainsbury's - which pulls out new store openings - grew by 1.1% in the 12 weeks to 12 June, excluding petrol.

But when the return of VAT to 17.5% after its temporary cut was factored in, growth was just 0.3%.

Sainsbury's added that total sales grew by 4.4% excluding fuel.

The update comes a day after Tesco said its latest quarterly like-for-like UK sales had also increased by 1.1%, though when the VAT change was taken into account, it grew only 0.1%.

Tesco had said its sales growth was also limited by lower food price inflation, and high petrol and diesel prices meaning customers had less money to spend on other things.

'Budget strain'
Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King told the BBC that the government spending cuts due to be announced in next week's Budget would further limit consumer spending this year.

"It is going to be flat across the market, and that is the key reason why," he said.


"Customers' budgets are going to be under strain."

Mr King added that while it was "early days yet", the World Cup had started to give it a sales boost.

Specifically, he said Sainsbury's had been selling lots of vuvuzelas, the plastic horns that are popular with South African football supporters.

He said Sainsbury's had already sold 50,000 of its order of 70,000.

Lower food prices hit Tesco UK growth

Tesco said UK sales growth was almost flat in the last three months, as it battled with falling food prices.


Like-for-like sales, which pull out new store openings, rose 1.1% in the three months to 30 May, excluding petrol.

But when the return of VAT to 17.5% after its temporary cut was factored in, growth was just 0.1%.

The firm said higher fuel prices - up about 30% from a year ago - meant shoppers had less to spend on other things.

The trading update comes a week after Tesco's chief executive Sir Terry Leahy announced that he will be retiring in March of next year.

Impending government austerity measures would make life even more difficult for Tesco customers said Richard Hunter of stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown.

"Tesco is struggling to make the kind of headway to which the market has become accustomed," he said, adding that Sir Terry's looming retirement "added further uncertainty whilst Tesco's rivals continue to make their presence felt and threaten slowly to erode its dominant position".

'Good shape'

Outside the UK, Tesco said the long-term global economic recovery was "well underway" after it reported a 6.9% rise in total group-wide sales, excluding petrol.

The supermarket group's sales across Asia advanced 15.4%, while they added 7.3% in mainland Europe.

Lifted by new store openings, its sales growth for the three months to 30 May was strongest in the US, where it expanded by 37.8%.

"We're in good shape and well-positioned to deliver further growth as the economic environment continues to improve," said Sir Terry.

Tesco said its evidence of increased UK consumer spending came from a rise in sales of its more expensive "Finest" range of products.

In addition, it said sales of televisions were up "strongly as a result of our successful World Cup marketing campaign".

Emerging economies 'to enjoy food production boom'

The emerging economies of Brazil, India, China and Russia will enjoy an agricultural boom over the next decade as production stalls in Western Europe, a report says.


Agricultural output in the Bric nations will grow three times as fast as in the major developed countries, the joint United Nations-OECD study said.

Livestock and crop prices will stay above long-term averages, it added.

And rising incomes and urbanisation in developing states will drive growth.

"Developing countries will provide the main source of growth for world agricultural production, consumption and trade," the report said.

"As incomes rise, diets are expected to slowly diversify away from staple foods towards increased meats and processed foods that will favour livestock and dairy products.

"For virtually all commodities, the projected growth in imports and exports of developing economies [over the next decade] exceeds that of the OECD area," said the report.

While overall world net production of commodities is forecast to grow 22%, production among the 30 members of the OECD is estimated at 10%. Production in western Europe alone will stagnate.


This OECD growth rate is almost three times slower than the growth rate of Bric countries, which is forecast to expand 27%. The report also identifies Ukraine as likely to see rapid agricultural growth over the next few years.

Crop prices, in real terms, will rise between 16% to 40% "above their average for the decade".

And average dairy prices are expected to be 16% to 45% higher, with butter prices showing most gains.

Brazil is forecast to see by far the fastest growth in agriculture, with a expansion of more than 40% through to 2019.

China and India are expected to see growth of 26% and 21% respectively to 2019. Projections for Russia and Ukraine were 26% and 29%.

Protests

Food prices in 2007-08 soared, sparking protests and riots, as demand for biofuels diverted commodities into energy production.

The UN-OECD's annual Agricultural Outlook said it did not expect to see a similar food price shock in the coming years.

However, the report warned that a sharp rise in energy prices could again impact on the food industry.

"A further increase in oil prices could be expected to increase input and production costs, having an impact on crop supplies, prices and trade flows, and reinforce feedstock demand for biofuels."

Looking beyond the next decade, the report forecasts global food production to expand by 70% by 2050.