Government fails to put our money where its mouth is

Campaigners have criticised the Government for failing to prioritise health, environmental and ethical concerns when buying food, having analysed how money is spent on food in hospitals, schools, prisons, the army and government departments.

The research was carried out by the 'Good Food for our Money' campaign, a coalition of organisations calling for mandatory health, environmental and ethical standards for food bought with taxpayers' money. The analysis comes one year on from The Cabinet Office Food Matters report [1], which set out ambitious plans for public sector food to be “leading by example” with “more nutritious, environmentally sustainable food”.

The researchers examined government data on food purchases over the past two years, and quizzed a leading organisation that supplies the NHS. They found that the way that the Government buys undermines its own policies to promote health, protect the environment and support local farmers and food growers. Buying records1 show that:

Public sector food is not helping farmers

Institutions in agricultural counties often failed to buy produce from local farmers – for example no public sector prisons purchased any fruit from the UK in the previous 12 months. This includes the Isle of Sheppey Prisons, responsible for the daily catering of approximately 1,000 inmates and located in Kent – a county known for its fruit orchards.

Public sector food has weak nutritional standards

A cluster of NHS Trusts in the south of England spent £50,000 on nutritional supplements the year 2007/2008 – many of which would probably be unnecessary if the food served was of higher nutritional quality, and if staff were trained to help vulnerable and elderly patients eat their food

Public sector food has weak environmental standards

NHS Supply Chain, the private company responsible for managing food contracts for the NHS and the school fruit and vegetable scheme, is not integrating sustainable development criteria into the current tender process for the scheme. If this does not change, £48 million of taxpayers' money will be spent in a way that is contrary to UK Government and EU policy on sustainable procurement.

The research was carried out by Alex Jackson, coordinator of the Good Food for our Money campaign. He said: “Every year, the Government spends over £2 billion pounds of our money on food.  At the moment most of this money is spent on food which is often presented in unattractive and unhealthy meals, damages the environment and fails to give much needed support to British farmers. The Government is failing to put our money where its mouth is on food policy.”

He added: “We need to change the procurement of food for publicly-funded organisations so that it supports local producers, invests in food production that protects the environment and improves the health and well-being of those eating the food. School children, hospital patients and our armed forces deserve the very best.”

Nottinghamshire farmer David Rose, who has tried to supply to public sector said, “The government is simply not doing enough to ensure that public sector business is going to British farmers, many of whom are trying to do the right thing for wildlife and the environment. The £2 billion food budget could provide a vital shot in the arm for British farming but is currently being used to support unsustainable and unethical practices.”  David has now been employed by Sustain to help develop links between farmers and the public sector.

Jonathan Gawthrop, Managing Director of Pabulum Ltd, an independent catering contractor which supplies to the public sector, said, “Caterers would welcome clarity from the government about what it wants from public sector food in terms of health and environmental benefits. By introducing mandatory rules for public procurement the Government will save money through economies of scale, which can be re-invested in buying high quality, sustainable food.”

The Government's Food Matters report, published a year ago in July 2008, acknowledged that the food system is responsible both for significant damage to the environment and to many people's health through diet-related disease. At the same time, many farmers and growers who are working to produce healthy and sustainable food are struggling to stay in business. Both Food Matters and Defra's Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative argued that public procurement could be used to address these problems, but so far the voluntary nature of these initiatives means that they are widely ignored and have had limited impact.

ENDS

For more information please contact Alex Jackson on 0203 5596 777 / 07734 902909 (mob) or, if unavailable, Richard Watts on 0203 5596 777 / 07710 782719 (mob).

 

Notes to editors:

1. Food Matters: Towards a strategy for the 21st century was published by the Cabinet Office in July 2009, and featured a policy proposal for a Healthier Food Mark to improve the health and sustainability of public sector food, see; http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/cabinetoffice/strategy/assets/food/food_matters1.pdf

2. The Good Food for Our Money campaign aims to achieve primary legislation that will introduce mandatory standards for 100% procurement of healthy and sustainable food in the public sector.

The Good Food for Our Money campaign believes that the public sector has a responsibility to purchase healthy and sustainable produce, not least because this food is bought with tax payer's money. This money must be spent on food which supports the environment and the health and well being of public sector consumers. Only by introducing mandatory procurement standards can government achieve the necessary change, economies of scale and investment which is required to achieve healthy and sustainable public sector food.

The campaign is run by Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming. Sustain 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. It represents around 100 national public interest organisations working at international, national, regional and local level. Details of our work are at: www.sustainweb.org.

3. The food system is directly responsible for hugely damaging environmental problems which must be urgently addressed. More details about the extent of these problems can be found at https://www.sustainweb.org/sustainablefood. Below is a summary of three environmental problems linked to the food system:

Climate change 
According to figures from the United Nations, animal farming globally causes more greenhouse gas emissions than all of the cars, lorries and planes in the world put together, and the effect is increasing. In Britain, food is responsible for around one fifth of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions. Public food procurement therefore clearly has a significant role to play in reducing the UK's carbon emissions: “Around 18% of UK greenhouse gas emissions are related to food production and consumption” (Food Matters Report, 2008).

Fish
Our appetite for fish has increased rapidly over the past fifty years and, matched by the increasing industrialisation of the fishing industry, we are seriously at risk of losing some species from our seas for ever. Around 80% of the world's fish stocks are currently either fully or over exploited (figures from the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization) and some scientists estimate that, at the current rates of depletion, most of the world's fish stocks will collapse by 2048 (information from Science journal). As millions of people depend on fish for food and for their livelihood, this would have dire social as well as ecological consequences. The public sector has a responsibility to procure fish which is sustainable and does not contribute to this potential disaster.

Health
Around a quarter of adults are already not just overweight, but obese and a Government-sponsored Foresight report (Trends and Drivers of Obesity: A literature review for the Foresight project on obesity, 2007) noted that, if nothing is done, the proportion of obese people will rise shockingly to more than half of all adults by 2050, with all the associated individual ill-health and social costs (currently estimated to rise to £45 billion). Public sector food has a responsibility to procure food that supports the health and well-being of public sector food consumers.