Of all the things people look to government to provide, guidance on how to do the weekly food shop probably comes pretty close to the bottom of the list.

 

It is one of those activities in which the average voter is almost certainly better qualified than the average cabinet minister.

 

So the Prime Minister's exhortation to shoppers to cut the amount of food they buy and waste (while warning supermarkets to stop offering quite such good value for money) will rightly cause resentment - particularly as Downing Street itself, according to a parliamentary answer last month, "does not monitor how much food waste it generates". The nanny state is alive and well and now wants to snoop behind your fridge door. The fact that this advice was delivered by the Prime Minister en route to the G8 in Japan, where the traditional summit fare of a five-course lunch and eight-course dinner were waiting, made it all the more ill-advised.

There is a serious debate to be had about food policy, but this kind of headline-grabbing fatuity is not the way to conduct it.

 

Nor is yesterday's publication of the results of a Cabinet Office review of food policy commissioned by Gordon Brown, which has delivered a series of windy generalities that manage to avoid the key issues entirely.

 

The study talks of Britain "taking a leadership role" on global food security, but omits to say how; calls for "a public engagement about a more joined-up approach" to food policy; and says the Government has a duty "to help consumers to access healthier choices" when eating out. Such vacuous sloganeering advances the debate not one jot.

 

Any serious approach to the price and availability of food must focus on three areas. The first is free trade.

 

The Government should be speaking out forcefully against resurgent protectionism, both in Europe and America.

 

In particular, Mr Brown should be giving public backing to the EU Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, who is under attack from France's President Sarkozy for daring to challenge the feather-bedding of French farmers. Second, as Sir David King, the former chief scientist, said yesterday, GM crops are the key to securing the higher crop yields that can feed the world in the decades ahead.

 

Only new plant technologies, he said, can deliver "more crop per drop [of water]". Yet they just do not figure in this review.

 

Third, the rush to bio-fuel crops has to be halted. Subsidising such crops has had the unintended consequence of cutting food production.

 

These are serious long-term issues that require mature reflection and debate, not a quick-fix initiative that may secure a day's headlines on a slow news day, but will quickly be forgotten.

 

The future of food is far too important for that.

 

source: Daily Telegraph

 

 

I cannot believe the hypocrisy of Brown, sitting down to a 5 course lunch, and an 8 course dinner at the G8 summit. Large parts of the world are starving, and he lectures us of food waste. I read somewhere that Government departments throw out massive amounts of food every day.

its bollox... as soon as i heard this nonsense i thought it was just a ploy. if we save money on food then maybe we could stomach the huge rises in tax, inflation and fuel

It's all very well for Broon to lecture the average family on food wastege, but he said absolutely NOTHING about the fact that Supermarkets are wasting BILLIONS of food every year through poor stock control and over-ordering (which is probably why you see so many "2 for 1" deals anyway)... When I was a student, I worked in a supermarket, believe me, THOUSANDS of pounds of Date Expired Food was being thrown out every day, multiply this by 364 days in the year, multiply that again by the tens of thousands of supermarkets and stores you have in this country, and you will have an absolutely STAGGERING figure; yet Broon says very little about this absolute scandal and instead chooses to target families..... Prick... <_<

 

It is our Consumerist, Capitalist Society in general, NOT families in particular, which is responsible for this disgusting wasteage and not to mention the increases in prices in essentials.. When you see that every day dozens and dozens of loaves of bread and cartons of milk, eggs, etc (and this is only the one store where I worked..) are being thrown away you have to come to the conclusion that something is seriously wrong with the way we do things.... A third of the world starves and our supermarkets throw away tons of food every day..... This is so far BEYOND fukked up..... :wacko:

It's all very well for Broon to lecture the average family on food wastege, but he said absolutely NOTHING about the fact that Supermarkets are wasting BILLIONS of food every year through poor stock control and over-ordering (which is probably why you see so many "2 for 1" deals anyway)... When I was a student, I worked in a supermarket, believe me, THOUSANDS of pounds of Date Expired Food was being thrown out every day, multiply this by 364 days in the year, multiply that again by the tens of thousands of supermarkets and stores you have in this country, and you will have an absolutely STAGGERING figure; yet Broon says very little about this absolute scandal and instead chooses to target families..... Prick... <_<

 

It is our Consumerist, Capitalist Society in general, NOT families in particular, which is responsible for this disgusting wasteage and not to mention the increases in prices in essentials.. When you see that every day dozens and dozens of loaves of bread and cartons of milk, eggs, etc (and this is only the one store where I worked..) are being thrown away you have to come to the conclusion that something is seriously wrong with the way we do things.... A third of the world starves and our supermarkets throw away tons of food every day..... This is so far BEYOND fukked up..... :wacko:

 

there was an article on tv about people who live out of food thrown away from supermarkets... they raid the bins daily.

there was an article on tv about people who live out of food thrown away from supermarkets... they raid the bins daily.

 

Good for them... We all got the propaganda bullsh!t about how people who took expired stuff were criminals or thieves or whatever, but fukk it man, it's WASTE that's gonna end up on some bloody landfill and will only feed the sodding seagulls or rats, it aint the same thing as nicking stuff off the shelves, the stuff on the shelves AINT BEING THROWN OUT is it (well, not yet anyway....)...?

 

This sort of wasteage just DID NOT HAPPEN in the days before Tesco, Asda, et al...... I absolutely blame the Supermarkets for most of this... Gordon Broon has picked the entirely wrong target to shoot at if you ask me.... Oh, but of course, he aint gonna say jack all to the likes of Sainsbury or Tesco is he....? Naaaah, they probably contribute too much to Nu Labor coffers... <_<

This sort of wasteage just DID NOT HAPPEN in the days before Tesco, Asda, et al...... I absolutely blame the Supermarkets for most of this... Gordon Broon has picked the entirely wrong target to shoot at if you ask me.... Oh, but of course, he aint gonna say jack all to the likes of Sainsbury or Tesco is he....? Naaaah, they probably contribute too much to Nu Labor coffers... <_<

 

maybe.... but there was shortages of food in them days m8. ever gone without basics like bread because the local shop had sold out? or you cant wash your hair? or theres no bog roll?..

 

plus the buggers only opend 9-5 and had half day closing on wednesday in return for opening saturday mornings.

 

supermarkets and asians changed our outdated attitudes, as they were 'open all hours' ... ironically just like ronnies barkers corner shop in real life WASNT.

maybe.... but there was shortages of food in them days m8. ever gone without basics like bread because the local shop had sold out? or you cant wash your hair? or theres no bog roll?..

 

plus the buggers only opend 9-5 and had half day closing on wednesday in return for opening saturday mornings.

 

supermarkets and asians changed our outdated attitudes, as they were 'open all hours' ... ironically just like ronnies barkers corner shop in real life WASNT.

 

There were only shortages during the war and the immediate Post-War period Rob, and I reckon you could call that a mitigating circumstance....LOL. Even when the supermarkets started up, there was better stock management, nowadays, they just dont seem to give a flying fukk if about a tenth of their stock goes into the bin every day.. The little corner Asian-owned shops have very little wasteage, they order only what they can actually sell....

 

There has to be some sort of balance that can be struck here... Obviously no one wants to see a return to the days of food shortages, but it should be equally unacceptable for these levels of wasteage to happen, and I reckon it IS avoidable through better management of stock and ordering.....

 

Oh, and by the way, I saw a newspaper headline yesterday - "Food Bills Soar By 7%...."

 

There were only shortages during the war and the immediate Post-War period Rob, and I reckon you could call that a mitigating circumstance....LOL. Even when the supermarkets started up, there was better stock management, nowadays, they just dont seem to give a flying fukk if about a tenth of their stock goes into the bin every day.. The little corner Asian-owned shops have very little wasteage, they order only what they can actually sell....

 

There has to be some sort of balance that can be struck here... Obviously no one wants to see a return to the days of food shortages, but it should be equally unacceptable for these levels of wasteage to happen, and I reckon it IS avoidable through better management of stock and ordering.....

 

Oh, and by the way, I saw a newspaper headline yesterday - "Food Bills Soar By 7%...."

 

oh i do agree... theres no excuse for mass wasteage.

Why don't the supermarkets just half the price of special offers, instead of offering 2 for 1 deals. Especially on perishable goods. Makes more sense to me. They still make the same profit, but we only buy less, and if we want 2, then its the same price as BOGOF. Doh!

Why don't the supermarkets just half the price of special offers, instead of offering 2 for 1 deals. Especially on perishable goods. Makes more sense to me. They still make the same profit, but we only buy less, and if we want 2, then its the same price as BOGOF. Doh!

You're right Brian, that would make more sense, especially to people living on their own or pensioners.