Good food on the public plate
Using public money to improve public food
The two year pilot project, run in partnership with the Soil Association, began in January 2004 to work with four London hospitals to increase the proportion of local and/or organic food in routine catering.
- After two years the Royal Brompton hospital was obtaining more than 15% of its catering supplies from sustainable sources. Products include locally grown fruit and vegetables, free range eggs, organic milk, beef and oatmeal, and some fruit juices and dried fruit.
- Independent health and economic evaluations showed that business improved for local farmers and other suppliers, and patients and others in the hospital knew more about, and appreciated the benefits of sustainable food.
- The project officer, Emma Hockridge, was awarded a prestigious Nuffield Farming Scholarship to study how UK grown “exotic” produce could provide economic opportunities for ethnic communities.
Based on this success, the project has obtained funding for two more years. With a second member of staff the project will expand beyond hospitals to include other public sector caterers such as schools and care homes, and beyond London to include the South East.
For details of Sustain's current work on healthy and sustainable public sector food procurement, click here.
Children’s Food Campaign
Protecting children from junk food marketing
Sustain
has created an alliance of over 170 national organisations, around
12,000 individuals and more than 280 MPs from all parties, supporting
our call for legal protection for children from junk food marketing,
and better food, and food education and skills in schools. We have:
- contributed, along with Jamie Oliver’s Feed Me Better TV
programme, to the pressure that has led to new legal standards for food
in schools in 2006;
- ensured that the broadcast regulator, Ofcom,
could not get away with sidelining calls to remove junk food ads from
TV before the 9pm watershed;
- continued to demonstrate that children are deliberately targeted by marketing for junk food through a variety of media – including the internet – and that voluntary controls are ineffective.
This initiative builds on work in this area spanning more than a
decade and we have become internationally renowned on this topic.
For details of Sustain's continuing work to improve children's food, click here.
Food in cities
Encouraging urban food systems for sustainability
London
Food Link is pioneering a sustainable approach to food production and
consumption in the capital. Established in 2002 the project has:
- contributed to setting up a new mayoral food policy board,
London Food, the first official strategic approach to the capital’s
food for almost 20 years, and helped develop the mayoral Food Strategy
for London, launched in May 2006. The original project officer was
given a certificate by the Mayor, thanking him for his "outstanding
contribution to London";
- won praise from a grant making trust, who noted
"It was work like yours that helped push us to take a much broader look
at environmental issues";
- established the project working with four London hospitals, to improve the sustainability of hospital food;
- successfully lobbied the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) to develop a sustainable food strategy for the 2012 Games;
- run a small grants programme in 2003/04 and 2008, the latter fund distributing £70,000 between 44 projects to run events celebrating and promoting sustainable food in the capital;
- established and expanded our magazine The Jellied Eel, London’s leading magazine for ethical eating, which now has a 20,000 circulation. The quarterly magazine highlights the many dimensions of a vibrant food system in London;
- run
a number of events, including on the role of social housing in
improving access to good food, the first ever meeting for London’s
farming community, a highly popular conference on Growing Food for
London in 2008, and a celebration of London’s diverse food culture
through a photographic exhibition on bread;
- produced an accompanying report Bread Street, plus Capital Eats, a report on London’s food economy;
- received press coverage for our work across major media organisations including the BBC, the Guardian and the Financial Times (to see this coverage click here).
At present, Sustain's work on urban food systems is rapidly
developing. To find out more about current work on London's food system
in particular, see: http://www.sustainweb.org/londonfoodlink/
Organic farming and food
Helping the market for organic food to grow
In 1999 Sustain became the secretariat for the Organic Targets Campaign. In only three years we:
- succeeded in persuading government to establish an Organic Action Plan to increase the market share of British organic produce from 30% to 70% of the market, by 2010;
- created a supporting coalition of over 100 national organisations, plus hundreds more local groups and individuals;
- produced Myth and reality: Organic vs non-organic – the facts, a thorough analysis of the benefits of organic food and farming, and why these are sometimes challenged.
Sustain is now represented on the government's Advisory Committee on Organic Standards, and on the group monitoring progress with its Organic Action Plan (OAP). The OAP group has noted that less organic food is imported and organic farmers are getting better support for the public goods they provide.
Food and mental health
Forging new links between sustainable food and healthy lives
Sustain
has developed a network of organisations working to promote the
links between diet and a range of behavioural problems and mental
illnesses. We have:
- Undertaken two years of painstaking research to produce the
report Changing diets, changing minds: How food affects mental health
and behaviour, in January 2006. With a companion volume from the
Mental Health Foundation, this report received extraordinarily
widespread and positive media coverage, not only in the UK but
internationally.
- Raised awareness of the evidence showing that the same diet that is good for our physical health – high in vitamins and minerals, with the right balance of essential oils, and low in fat, sugar and salt – is also good for our mental health and well-being. Depression, schizophrenia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Alzheimer’s Disease have all been associated with poor quality diets, as has some anti-social behaviour.
- Run a successful series
of workshops with the Foyer Federation to help young people take more
control over improving their mental and physical well-being by eating
better food.
The challenge now is to incorporate this recognition of the links between diet and mental health into government policy and practice. To see further information about the food and mental health project, click here.
Food Miles
Promoting sustainable development through local food
The current burgeoning market for local food owes some debt to our long-term work on exposing the damage to our environment and our health from food miles – the long-distance transport of food that should be locally produced and consumed. We have:
- published, in 1994, the first report on the subject: The Food Miles Report: The dangers of long distance food transport, which stimulated widespread debate;
- produced ground-breaking practical guidance in 2003 with Good Food on the Public Plate: A manual for sustainability in public sector food and catering. For details of Sustain's current work on healthy and sustainable public sector food procurement, click here;
- published, in association with Elm Farm Research Centre, Eating Oil: Food supply in a changing climate, which won the 2002 Guild of Food Writers Award for Investigate Journalism;
- created a “food facts” series of short reports on over a dozen different products, showing how people’s shopping choices – as well as government policy – can protect the environment, enhance social justice and improve health. For links to our free-to-download Food Facts publications, click here.
Sustain was represented on the Food Industry Sustainability strategy of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and continues to engage in a range of public- and private-sector initiatives in this area.
The Grab 5! project
Promoting fruit and vegetables to primary school children
Grab 5! was a very successful and popular approach to helping primary school children in low income areas eat more fruit and vegetables. Funded from 2000 to 2003, the project:
- contributed to an average 30% increase in consumption (from 1.7 to 2.2 items) of fruit and veg among the 7-11 year olds in the schools where we worked in Lambeth, Leeds and Plymouth;
- developed a programme that ran in at least 1,000 schools in every region of the country reaching children, siblings, parents, teachers and others through schools and local networks, encouraging them to eat more fruit and veg;
- produced a best-selling Grab 5! Pack (available free on the website) full of practical information on how to include fruit and vegetables throughout the curriculum and in a wide range of in and out of school activities;
- ran a series of very well-received training courses, hosted a sell-out national conference, organised a national cookery competition, and brought together a national working party of over 50 public, private and voluntary sector groups.
The project has now ended, but we continue to encourage people to use the materials and approaches it developed. See the project archive, including free-to-download educational materials, by clicking here.
Food Access Network
Supporting communities to improve access to good food
Established in 1996, the Food Access Network (formerly known as the Food Poverty Project) developed a range of mechanisms for supporting community projects that aim to help people on low incomes eat better food. We:
- helped people to learn from each other through a database of around 400 projects across the country, a membership network of over 300 linked by a quarterly newsletter, and a series of local and national events;
- developed a unique Community Mapping approach, (used in several towns and cities) which empowers local communities to learn about their local food system and develop ways that they, and others, can improve it;
- created a catalogue of publications including practical toolkits, guides to government poverty programmes, and critiques of public and private policies that often exacerbate food poverty;
- devised a report and website on how community food projects might use social enterprise methods to generate funds.
Our work on food access and sustainable local food systems is currently in re-development, and information on new materials and activities will be available in autumn 2008. Currently:
- Food Access Network materials can be accessed by clicking here.
- Details of the Food Access Forum for London can be seen by clicking here.
Common Agricultural Policy and global trade reform
Sustain and the UK Food Group continue to collaborate on setting out the environmental, health and development implications of CAP reform, in the context of global trade. We have:
- produced a series of briefings over several years, both for specialists and for the general reader, on CAP reform developments, and what they mean for small farmers, the environment, public health, social justice and animal welfare;
- facilitated a debate on two key commodities, sugar and dairy products, to develop better understanding between Northern and Southern stakeholders, particularly farmers, and to develop policies that work for sustainable agriculture worldwide;
- published Cracking the Codex in 1993, one of the first analyses of the powerful role played by global corporations in the Codex Alimentarius, the UN system for setting world food trade rules.
We continue to engage in CAP reform discussions to ensure that the CAP works for, rather than against social, health and environmental benefits.
Healthy schools and fair trade
In 2006, Sustain helped the Young Co-operatives organisation to assess the implications of the new nutrition standards in schools, on food and drink products sold in Fairtrade tuckshops. We:
- published advice to schools on how to continue to promote Fairtrade certified products in line with the new healthy eating rules;
- worked with Fairtrade certified food suppliers to help them understand the new rules and plan new products;
- helped children devise new ways to promote food that would communicate both health and Faitrade messages, whilst emphasising the importance of working co-operatively.
The advice and project information is available free to download on the archived project pages.
Food information and skills
Accurate, comprehensive and comprehensible information about food, along with adaptable skills, are necessary – though not sufficient – to allow citizens to choose food that contributes to sustainable development. We have:
- produced the Ethical Hijack, report in 2008, explaining why the terms “local”, “seasonal” and “farmers market” should be protected from abuse by the food industry;
- supported the Food Standards Agency’s “traffic light” labelling scheme and, through the Children’s Food Campaign work for better food education and skills in schools;
- produced the Get Cooking! pack in 1993, which promoted cooking
skills for children, highlighted the importance of cooking skills more
generally, and encouraged a myriad other cooking initiatives around the
country;
- helped establish the Joint Health Claims Initiative, a tripartite initiative involving the food industry, food law enforcement officers and consumers, which has developed a robust system for developing health claims that withstand independent scientific scrutiny.
We continue to monitor developments in this field, including giving evidence to Parliamentary committee inquiries into food information and labelling.
The future of food and farming
In the aftermath of BSE and Foot & Mouth Disease, Sustain was among those calling for an independent commission to ensure a more sustainable farm and food system. The Curry Commission was duly set up in 2001 by the Prime Minister and made far-reaching recommendations to change the current food and farming system.
- The Sustainable Development Commission, commenting on Sustain’s submission to the Curry Commission, praised it as as one of “the most innovative and integrated submissions” of 16 they analysed (download 240Kb pdf);
- Sustain’s Co-ordinator served on the Royal Society’s 2002 Inquiry into Infectious Diseases in Livestock.
Sustain continues to be represented on a number of government committees established to pursue Curry’s recommendations.
Food policy governance
Government structures underpinning farming and food policy continue to evolve, and Sustain and its membership play a key role in promoting progressive changes.
- Sustain commented on both the Green Paper and the White Paper, leading to the creation of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in 2000. Sustain was represented on the FSA’s (now defunct) Consumer Committee and our 2003 AGM was addressed by the FSA Chair, Professor Sir John Krebs;
- Following the abolition of the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food, Sustain participates in a number of regular meetings hosted by its successor, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs;
- Through the consultations by the Department of Health, the FSA, and other government bodies, we continue to argue for an integrated approach to food policy that includes improving food safety, nutritional quality, environmental sustainability and social justice.
We were among those that contributed to the Cabinet Office Strategy Unit's report Food Matters , in 2008, and will contribute to implementing its recommendations.
Forging strong links
Sustain was formed from a merger between the National Food Alliance and the Sustainable Agriculture Food and Environment Alliance that was formalised in April 1999, and it has been a tremendous success.
- Digest, our quarterly newsletter, reports developments with all Sustain’s work. Uniquely, it also summarises food and agriculture related policy developments by the membership, and by several government departments and agencies, and outlines major initiatives in parliament and by the agri-food industry. The "browsable" format of Digest has been widely praised.
- Sustain’s website is well used (between 500 and 800 unique visits on weekdays - equivalent to between 130,000 and over 200,000 every year) and receives many unsolicited plaudits for its design and content. As well as providing an efficient way to deal with enquiries, it is also an invaluable method of publicising our work, our publications and our membership, including to an international audience.
Sustain’s links with its membership remain robust and vibrant, even though many face great pressure on their staff time and budgets. In recognition of our 20 years' work with our members, Sustain was the winner of the Judge's Special Award at the November 2005 BBC Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards. Details of other awards gained by our staff and projects can be seen by clicking here.
Independence
Sustain’s policy is to seek funding only from sources that would not compromise, or appear to compromise our independence. Thus we do not seek core funds from the private sector whose business is wholly or mainly agriculture or food-related. In addition, we do not usually seek financial support from the public, since this could bring us into conflict with many of our member organisations that rely on funds from this source. This means that budgets are always tight, but our efficient financial and administrative systems mean that running costs are minimised without compromising quality and accountability. For a list of current funders, please see our annual report and accounts.
