- Growing food together
- Calling for hospital food standards
- Campaigning for bees, forage and a pesticide free city
- 2,012 new food growing spaces by the end of 2012
- For better school food, and food skills, and protecting children from junk food marketing
- An informal network of London restaurants and catering businesses that care about sustainability
- Evidence of the contribution of food and farming to climate change
- Find or set up a Food Co-op in your area
- Helping producers, consumers, retailers and caterers provide healthy and sustainable food
- Inspired by the London 2012 Food Vision, the campaign for healthy and sustainable food in catering
- Sustainable food news in London
- Working for sustainable food at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
- For bread made with natural ingredients
- Challenging businesses and citizens to make London the world's first Sustainable Fish City
- Practical advice for anyone interested in buying and using more sustainable food
Today campaigners have attacked the Government for failing to lead by example after research [1] reveals that new compulsory environmental and ethical standards for food served in public institutions are weaker than McDonald’s fast food standards.
The research, carried out by the Good Food for Our Money campaign [2], compared new compulsory ‘Government Buying Standards’ for food bought by government departments, prisons and parts of the military to the standards of meals served by McDonald’s. It found that the environmental and ethical standard of food served at McDonald’s is either higher than or equivalent to ‘Government Buying Standards’.
Some comparisons include:
- Eggs bought by the Government must be laid by hens living in “enriched” cages as a minimum, but McDonald’s serve only British free-range eggs [3]
- 50% of coffee bought by the Government has to be fairly traded (e.g. Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance certification), but McDonald’s requires 100% of its coffee to meet this standard [3]
- Milk bought by government has to have been produced to UK legal minimum standards of production, but McDonald’s serve only organic milk [3]
The Good Food for Our Money campaign represents a coalition of more than 60 organisations including Compassion in World Farming, Friends of the Earth, RSPCA, the Soil Association and WWF UK.
Alex Jackson, Co-ordinator of the campaign, said: “These new standards are feeble. If Government cannot even match McDonald’s food standards, how can anyone take seriously their claim to be the greenest government ever?”
ENDS
For enquiries, please contact Alex Jackson on 0207 837 1228.
Notes to Editor
[1] Click here to download the report "Dishing out failing food standards".
[2] The Good Food for Our Money campaign is calling on the Government to introduce high, and rising compulsory nutritional, environmental and ethical standards for all public sector food http://www.sustainweb.org/goodfoodforourmoney/
[3] Government Buying Standards guidance notes, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs http://sd.defra.gov.uk/documents/GBS-guidance-food.pdf
All McDonald’s food standards are available at http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ourfood/index.shtml
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