Campaigners expect government greenwash in response to top notch Parliamentary report.

Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming [1] today applauded the publication of Sustainable Food, the report of the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee [2], but cautioned that the Coalition Government is unlikely to act on its recommendations.

The Committee’s recommendations include protecting children from junk food marketing, improving Government Buying Standards and extending them to hospitals, and protecting food growing land.  All of these policies have been backed by large and growing volumes of evidence, and hundreds of organisations have been campaigning for them to be introduced [3].  Unfortunately, government has been blind to the evidence and deaf to these calls.

Sustain’s Co-ordinator, Jeanette Longfield [4] said: “It’s a terrific boost for Sustain and all its members and supporters for this cross-party expert group to endorse many of the policies we’ve been arguing for, for years.  I would love to be proved wrong, but this government’s track record is to quietly shelve reports that produce the “wrong” results.”[5]

Charlie Powell, Sustain’s Campaigns Director, added: “Just as the public’s eyes have been opened to government’s close links with giant media corporations, we predict that government’s reaction to this report will show, yet again, how cosy they are with giant food and farming corporations.” [6]

For more information or interviews, contact Jeanette Longfield or Charlie Powell on 020 7837 1228 during office hours or 020 8566 1761 (Jeanette) / 07817 746786 (Charlie) out of hours.

ENDS

Notes for editors

1. Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity. We represent around 100 national public interest organisations working at international, national, regional and local level. http://www.sustainweb.org/

2. The Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee Inquiry into Sustainable Food are publishing their report on Sunday 13 May. Details are available here http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/environmental-audit-committee/

3. See, for example: Children’s Food Campaign http://www.sustainweb.org/childrensfoodcampaign/
Good Food for Our Money Campaign http://www.sustainweb.org/goodfoodforourmoney/
Good Planning for Good Food report http://www.sustainweb.org/localactiononfood/

4. Sustain provided written evidence to the Committee http://www.sustainweb.org/resources/files/responses/EAC_Inquiry_Sust_Food_Sustain_final.pdf and Jeanette Longfield was called to give oral evidence on 19th October 2011.

5. For example, the recommendations of the Food Growing in Schools Task Force report have been ignored http://www.sustainweb.org/news/mar12_2012_food_growing_report/
Government has also sidelined the largest (some 400 scientists from 110 countries), peer-reviewed global study of the scientific evidence produced to date: the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (in 2008 http://www.agassessment.org/). 

6. The Children’s Food Campaign has been closely monitoring government’s so-called Responsibility Deal, which includes major multinational junk food companies and has yet to make significant progress in improving the nation’s illness-inducing diets. http://www.sustainweb.org/news/mar12_responsiblity_deal/