Marks and Spencer’s Boston Beans – spot the difference
Like many of the most abundant foods, the apple has depths obscured by its familiarity. In 1965, Elspeth Huxley wrote: “You cannot sell a blemished apple in the supermarket, but you can sell a tasteless one as long as it is shiny, smooth, even, uniform and bright.” The modern food industry demands uniformity, but thousands of varieties of apple still exist beyond the cosmetically perfect supermarket shelves. Our climate can’t compete to produce the large, sweet apples that dominate the global market, but our brisk winters and long summers produce apples of subtle complexity. The apples of East Anglia – and elsewhere – deserve rediscovery, recognition and preservation.
Is the EU agriculture directorate proposing compulsory “place of farming” labelling for agricultural products? It sounds too good to be true, and it is. All that’s proposed is an indication of EU or non-EU origin. Even that’s almost unanimously opposed by food processors.
Supermarkets are mixing cheaper imported beef with British, says the National Beef Association. Taking advantage of reduced prices for beef from the Republic of Ireland, several retailers are now mixing imported beef with British beef to avoid increasing prices for home-produced beef.
Only Morrisons, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Co-op, Budgens sell 100% British. Tesco’s sales of British beef have dropped from 98% to 90% since 2007, while just 60% of ASDA’s beef is British. Anyone wishing to buy British beef should certainly avoid Netto, which imports all its beef. Despite these varied sourcing policies, surprising results emerge from price comparisons.
The Conservative Party launches a campaign for honest food, demanding that food labelled “British” should be born and bred in Britain. It’s hard to argue with but sadly often not the case in Britain today.
Faced with a jar of chutney or jam, labelled rustically but professionally with the name of the farm shop on whose shelves it sits, one might fondly imagine that it was prepared in the farmhouse kitchen with the best farm and garden produce. The chutney would have made good use of the surplus courgettes, green [...]
FSA publishes complete list of meat processors and companies affected by Irish pork contamination alert. FSAI and FSA confirm contamination of beef but offer reassurance of lower risk.
The contamination of some Irish pork with carcinogenic dioxins has led to the recall and withdrawal of almost all pork products from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Both the UK Food Standards Agency and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland are advising the public not to consume any raw or cooked pork [...]
Britain exports more oranges than apples. Defra’s figures for the import and export of food reveal some surprising British exports, not just of oranges but also tea, coffee, lemons etc.
The welfare of chickens has received long overdue attention this year. Most prominent has been Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Chicken Out! campaign, which may not have succeeded in changing Tesco’s welfare policy (for now) but has evidently shifted some demand from conventional to the higher welfare Freedom Food, free range and organic chicken. Rising demand, rising prices [...]
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