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Food- The Production of Cream

Updated: 21 May 2013

The Production of Cream

“Cream” can only be used in reference to a milk product

“milk product means products derived exclusively form milk on the understanding that substances necessary

for their production may be added provided that those substances are not used for the purpose of replacing ,in

whole or in part any milk constituent”

In turn milk is defined “… the normal mammary secretion obtained from one or more milkings without either

addition thereto or extraction there from”

In short you can’t label anything on the market “cream unless it comes from milk from a mammal.

Clotted Cream 55% milk fat

Double Cream 48% milk fat

Whipping or Whipped Cream 35% milk fat

Sterilised Cream 23% milk fat

Cream or Single Cream 18% milk fat

Half Cream 12% milk fat

Whole Milk 3.5% milk fat

Semi – skimmed 1.5 -1.8% milk fat

Skimmed Milk 0.5% milk fat

So use of the following “cream” is illegal if it does not contain a milk product.

Vanishing Cream

Sun Cream

Cream Cracker

Custard Cream

Cream cake

Cream Cheese

Cold Cream

Hand Cream

Barrier Cream

The Cat that got the Cream

Food-"The Poor must have cheap meat"-Lord Haskins -So the rich can have the best steaks ?

Updated: 24 Apr 2013

The poor have been sold horse dressed as beef –

and they should be compensated

9 Comments Rod Liddle 16 February 2013

Well at least — so far — no middle-class food has been found to contain large chunks of horsey.

It’s all been in the junk they feed the chavs.

It’s true that Waitrose withdrew some beefburgers for sale a week or two back, but this was only a ‘precautionary

measure’ and later the burgers were found to contain ‘100 per cent beef’, from privately educated cows, according

to the supermarket.

Thank the lord, etc. Instead, it’s all in the Findus beef lasagne and some unspeakable frozen product from Tesco

which masquerades as spaghetti bolognese.

Or spaghetti bologneigghhhhhhhhhs, as I daresay the red tops will call it henceforth.

It seems highly likely that more supermarket chavproducts will be revealed to be equine-based over the next few

days, bought by obese women in shellsuits who you will hear at the checkout screaming to one of her awful

children: ‘Just shut it Jayden, you little slag,’ as she heaves the multipack of crisps and the pizzas and the dead-

horse pasta onto the counter.

Did you know, by the way, that the beef flavouring for crisps is made from Chinese people’s hair?

It is, I think. I read it somewhere, ages ago.

Anyway, Tesco ‘Everyday Value’ spag bol costs just 80p and is, according to the website, made only from

‘ingredients you’d find in your kitchen cupboard’.

Bloody big cupboards these chavs must have, then.

As this scandal howls around and the government gets itself involved, the usual suspects are being lined up and

named.

First, it’s all the fault of foreigners, of course, as most things usually are.

A processing factory in south-west France was fingered and then the Irish, with their superfluity of horses, were

invoked.

Better still, eventually the newspapers were able to identify the true culprit — Romania.

This is the country du jour for every bad thing visited upon the UK, not least Romanians themselves, who are due

to arrive at our immigration desks, munching horse-filled baps, next January.

So government ministers and the UK food industry immediately distanced themselves one stage from blame: it’s

not Britain, with its rigorous food hygiene standards, democracy and proper drains — it’s the wogs, of course,

beginning at Calais.

And then they distanced themselves a second time by suggesting that not only was it foreigners, but ‘criminal’

foreigners.

Gangs, mafioso and the like, some massive organised crime being perpetrated against the British people.

‘He died within budget.’

Swathed in this newfound righteousness, the food companies forgot the apologies they had made and began to

announce that they would be seeking redress.

Findus, for example, said it would be seeking to sue the French suppliers.

And so suddenly the victim was not Mrs Morbidly Obese Chav and her offspring Jayden from Chatham, but the

companies themselves.

This is pushing it, frankly.

Findus and Aldi and Tesco bought their meat from these companies because it was dirt cheap, the cheapest they

could find — and while they may not have been aware that it was stuffed full of fetlock, they did not give a tinker’s

cuss until they’d been rumbled.

They packaged up whatever crap came their way and flogged it to the poor.

If anyone is allowed to look for legal redress, it should be, first and foremost, the consumer.

When a fingernail, or a whole finger, is found in food sold by supermarkets, the customer is usually richly

compensated — even when it takes a court to adjudicate on the matter.

The business with the horsemeat is in principle no different at all; the supermarkets, and Findus, should be held

primarily responsible for passing horsemeat off as beef, and the customers should be entitled to a bit of good hard

cash.

Take your till receipts back to the store and demand satisfaction.

Picket their superstores.

Abduct one of the halfwits who repositions the trolleys and don’t let him go until you have been given redress.

We could do without the assurances from the in-house experts that actually, you know, horsemeat is no worse for

you than beef. It may be true that the bits of horse in a Findus lasagne are actually healthier than anything else in it,

but that is not the point, is it?

Their labels lied.

The supermarket labels lied.

And it was a lie rather than an unlucky misapprehension, because they took no steps at all to ensure that what they

were telling us all was true. Instead of getting himself worked up about shadowy unnamed foreign criminals, the

environment secretary Owen Paterson should be pointing the finger at the supermarkets and the food companies

here.

Otherwise we might begin to think that the government has not entirely got our interests at heart and is concerned

only with saving the reputations, and thus future income, of the likes of Tesco.

In the same week as the horses-for-all-courses saga unfolded, the government was petitioning the European

Union for an opt-out to allow British supermarkets to continue to sell utter crap to the public.

This is the ‘desinewed beef’ scandal, about which you may not have read terribly much.

In short, our government wishes to allow the supermarkets to continue labelling an amalgam of collagen and

ligament and connective tissue ‘minced beef’, when the rest of the European Union thinks it disgusting to do so

and insists we label it with a greater nod to honesty.

You can tell, from this, exactly whose interests the government has at heart.

This article first appeared in the print edition of The Spectator magazine, dated 16 February 2013

Food- Cheaper Cuts of Meat

Updated: 22 Apr 2013

Forgotten cheaper cuts of meat

Good, inexpensive meat

There’s something very romantic and rather beautiful about those old-fashioned cuts of meat you braise slowly

and lovingly.

I ate them all the time as a boy.

Everyone did.

But when did I last see oxtail or brisket at the butcher’s?

However, they’re slowly coming back.

These overlooked cuts of meat are, in my opinion, the finest, most delicious cuts when cooked properly.

I think back to the braised beef brisket with dumplings and oxtail and kidney pudding I had as a child…

Here are some of my favourites:

Beef Cheeks

We use cheeks for the daube de boeuf a l’ancienne in my restaurant. T

hese are enormous, thick pieces of beef – superb when braised for four hours.

Pigs’ cheeks are similarly delicious.

Some supermarkets even stock them now.

Beef Shin

The cheaper cuts come from the animal’s most hard-working muscles.

The fat content and bone put some people off, but the rich bone marrow enriches your sauce beautifully.

Beef Skirt

This lean cut has a lot of flavour, but it is also very tough, so it is usually cooked gently for a long time.

It’s ideal in a classic Steak and Kidney Pudding or Steak and Kidney Pie or can be finely sliced and marinated to

use in Mexican-style fajitas.

Brisket

I would always recommend using brisket in slow-cooked dishes such as my Beef and Guinness Stew or my Boeuf

Bourguignon as it’s both tasty and tender.

I like to cut it into large chunks, so you have substantial pieces of meat on the plate.

Oxtail 

Oxtail and kidney pudding is one of the regulars’ favourites at my pub, The Yew Tree.

It’s hearty and comforting on a cold day. I serve it with my Quick Swede Puree.

The secret to cooking oxtail is long, slow cooking, so allow a good three hours of gentle simmering.

Lamb Shank

This good, inexpensive meat has become very fashionable, but if only more restaurants cooked it properly!

It should be gently braised for hours until the meat falls off the bone.

Why not try my Lamb Shanks Stockpot Casserole? Delicious.

Pork Belly

Many years ago belly pork was very cheap.

Although it’s gone up in price, it still represents good value–it’s one of the best. Look out for lamb belly too –I don’t

know why more people don’t use it.

I know you'll love my Braised Pork Belly with Butter Beans.

Ham Hock

Ham hock is sometimes on as a special at the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse and Grill.

You’ll often see it in a terrine with piccalilli, but it’s also excellent when braised, with a sharp garnish of capers or

mustard to balance its natural richness.

Food- Cooking Beef- Done to a turn ?

Updated: 22 Apr 2013

How to tell when meat is perfectly cooked

Perfectly cooked, all the way through

As far as I’m concerned, timing is everything in the kitchen.

Knowing when your meat is safely cooked and equally not over-cooking it are both key to cooking meat

successfully.

When it comes to cooking beef, remember that as long as it’s handled hygienically, it’s perfectly safe to serve beef

rare, indeed even raw.

The classic French dish, steak tartare, for example is made from very good quality raw beef steak, minced and

served.

Steak carpaccio, invented by Harry’s Bar in Venice, consists of very finely sliced beef steak, simply served raw

with a dressing sprinkled over.

While some people enjoy their steaks “blue” (that is quickly seared on the outside but still raw and indeed barely

warm, on the inside), others prefer it well done.

That’s fine; it’s up to you.

Remember, a good restaurant will always ask you how you like your steak done –they know it’s a personal choice.

I’m often asked how to tell when a steak is cooked.

It’s tricky to come up with a hard and fast answer, as each steak

will cook differently depending on a number of factors, including how thick it is, its water content and how hot the

pan is.

One useful guide, though, is what’s called the “thumb test” in which you judge the steak by feeling it.

The rarer the steak is, the softer it feels when pressed; the firmer it feels, the more cooked it is.

As a guide, use your hand as to how the steak should feel:

Rare: With a relaxed hand, bring the tips of your index finger and thumb together.

The muscle at the ball of your hand will feel soft and spongy.

This is what a rare steak feels like.

The meat inside will be bright red.

Medium: With a relaxed hand, bring the tips of your thumb and third finger together.

The muscle at the ball of your hand will offer more resistance, which is the feel of a medium steak.

The meat will have a pinkish centre.

Well done: With a relaxed hand, bring the tips of your little finger and your thumb together.

The muscle at the ball of your hand will feel resistant and very firm, this is how a well done steak feels.

The meat should not be pink inside at all.

With regard to roasts, a useful gadget to test how a joint of meat or bird is cooked is a meat probe thermometer,

which you can pick up at the supermarket.

A meat probe thermometer tells you the internal temperature of the piece of meat.

Stick it deep into the middle of the joint (but not at the bone) and wait while the temperature reading stabilises.

Using a meat probe thermometer takes the guesswork out of the process, as you’ll be able to accurately tell

whether your meat is cooked to the right extent.

Both chicken and pork must be cooked through properly, with the safe internal temperature for chicken being 180°

F (80°C) and pork 165°F (75°C). Beef and lamb can be served at various stages of rareness, with recommended

internal temperatures being 113°F (56°C) for very rare, 131°F (55°C) for rare, 150°F (65°C) medium and 170°F (75°C)

for well done.

Cooking is something you learn to do.

I spent many long, hot hours in professional kitchens working hard to learn the skills I needed.

Don’t be disheartened if at first you don’t get a dish quite right. Learn from your mistakes and try again.

When I cook I always pay attention to the dish I’m cooking – how it looks, smells and feels.

I don’t cook by the book.

I cook using my senses

Food - Beef Cuts the Mustard

Updated: 22 Apr 2013

Know Your Roast Beef Cuts

These four fantastic cuts of beef are perfect for your Sunday roast, and often leave leftovers for midweek meals.

This is our guide to topside, silverside, rib and sirloin.

Topside

Lean: topside is a lean cut from the back leg, found next to the silverside.

Well-hung with only a thin layer of fat, this tender cut makes for a great roast.

If you're looking for thick, lean slices of beef, topside is perfect.

Roast it slowly with a little stock or water.

Silverside

Economical: silverside is an affordable cut with minimal marbling of fat, ideal for slow-cooked pot-roasts, braising

or casseroles.

The staff at the butcher's counter can cut your joint to just the size you'd like.

It is part of the large lean muscle at the back of the hind leg.

Meat from the hindquarter typically has less fat running

through it and is relatively lean.

Silverside is often sold 'barded', which is where thin sheets of beef fat are laid over the top of the joint to keep it

juicy during roasting.

Rib of beef

Special occasions: rib of beef or forerib roasted on the bone is an impressive roasting joint.

A four bone in forerib will easily serve ten people in a sitting.

It has a good layer of fat to baste the meat while it cooks.

Look for beef with marbling of fat through the eye of the meat as a sign of quality.

If you're buying from the counter, ask your butcher to semi-detach the backbone from the ribs to make

it easier to carve.

Sirloin

Tender: boned and rolled sirloin carries less fat than rib of beef but is just as tender.

Beef sirloin comes from the lower middle part of the back.

Try roasting with some onions tucked into the tray to add extra colour and richness to your gravy.

Sirloin is ideal roasted hotter and faster than other cuts.

Serve as you prefer, but it's delicious nice and pink.

Food Its British Beef Week

Updated: 22 Apr 2013

Great British Beef Week will help boost industry confidence

21 April 2013 | By Olivia Midgley

Farmers Guardian

THE beef industry is urging the public to get behind British producers and support a week-long event to boost sales while at the same time build consumer confidence.

Sector heads have said ‘there has never been a better time’ to back Britain’s beef farmers, after many faced a

challenging start to the year.

The NFU said Great British Beef Week (April 21-27), organised by Ladies in Beef, would be a key event in the wake

of the horse meat scandal.

NFU head of food chain Deborah Cawood said: “The issue of horse meat has renewed interested in buying British

and consumers are increasingly looking for reassurances in the meat they buy.

“The increased point of sale materials, advertising and promotional activity which retailers and food service

companies are running throughout the week will help consumers to easily identify British beef.”

This year’s campaign aims to give shoppers complete confidence in the quality, traceability and health benefits of

the beef they buy, and raise awareness of the work of farming’s welfare charity, the Royal Agricultural Benevolent

Institution (RABI).

Campaign co-founder Jilly Greed, from Devon, added: “Consumer confidence has been shaken recently, but we

hope shoppers will realise the best way to ensure the beef they buy is born, raised, processed and packed in

Britain to the highest quality standards is to look for the Red Tractor logo on the label. You can’t buy, or taste,

better.”

Families are also being urged to show their support by ‘hosting a roast’ with Red Tractor-assured British beef and

make a donation to RABI.

Asda, Tesco, Waitrose and Morrisons have pledged to support the Campaign, butchers, farm shops, pubs, hotels

and restaurants, across Britain

Food- Horse Meat on a Lincolnshire Pub Menu

Updated: 19 Apr 2013

Horse meat on the menu at Lincolnshire pub, The Village Limits

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Lincolnshire Echo

After the scandal of horse meat being found in the food chain, probably it would be a brave move for a

restaurant to put it onto its menu – but one Lincolnshire gastro-pub has done exactly that.

The Village Limits in Stixwould Road, Woodhall Spa , is currently serving horse steak cooked with Béarnaise

sauce, watercress and twice-cooked chips.

Owners Billy and Sonia Gemmell said they thought long and hard before they before making the decision to

sell horse meat and have promised that their specials board will soon feature revert to a traditional beef option

again if the alternative doesn’t sell as well as its rivals.

Owners Billy and Sonia Gemmell They thought long and hard before making the decision to see if their

customers would eat Irish horse steak. sourced from a reliable supplier. in the Emerald Isle.

“We’ve been given Tastes of Lincolnshire rating by Select Lincolnshire for the seventh year running and last

year we won the Visit Britain four star silver accommodation with breakfast award,” said 35-year-old Mrs

Gemmell.

“So “We’ve got a really good reputation and didn’t want to risk that after all the hard work by our team of 19

staff,” said 35-year-old Mrs Gemmell, whose enterprise has been given the Tastes of Lincolnshire rating by

Select Lincolnshire for seven years consecutively.

“But after all the bad press (about horsemeat) we thought about how we’d tried venison and pigeon on our

menu – and they were both popular.

“Many other countries serve it and we have a really good supplier, where the animals are bred purely for meat.

“It’s a lovely piece of steak, but if it doesn’t go well enough then we’ll replace it with something else.”

But just a dozen portions of the £13.50 main course have been ordered at the popular country pub, restaurant

and motel since it was introduced on Saturday, April 6.

However, there is also no chance of the meat being tainted with veterinary drug Bute, as all the steaks have

been sourced from a reliable supplier in Ireland.

Diner Ali Stringer, 33, from Woodhall Spa, chose another dish, but still asked for a horse steak “taster”.

“Wow. It’s really good, tender, tasty and much more juicy than fillet,” said the logistics manager.

Village Limits chef Graham Holland, 29, believes the steak is best served medium-rare.

“I’d never cooked it before and when I tasted it myself I really enjoyed it – it’s very similar to venison,” he said.

His partner, duty manager Lisa Stansall, 26, said: “Horse steak is very sweet, like a really nice piece of fillet.

“Lots of people also compare it to lamb because of the flavour.”

Head waitress Laura Bonner, 22, and her colleague Jessica Foster, 18, both tried the horse meat for the first time.

“If I didn’t know this wasn’t a normal beef steak I probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference,” said Miss Foster.

“It’s much richer than any other steak. I’d definitely have it again,” said Laura

Food- Horse Drug found in Asda Corned Beef Product

Updated: 11 Apr 2013

Horse drug bute found in Asda corned beef product

9 April 2013 | By Alistair Driver

ASDA has recalled a corned beef product after traces of the horse veterinary medicine phenylbutazone was

detected in it.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) announced on Tuesday that it had been informed by the Leeds-based retailer

that ‘very low levels’ of the drug, known as bute, had been found in 340g tins of its Smart Price Corned Beef.

It is the first meat product where bute has been found and the agency is advising that the product should not be

eaten. Asda is recalling the product.

The FSA said: “Animals treated with bute should not enter the food chain as the drug may pose a risk to human

health, however, even if people have eaten products which contain contaminated horse meat, the risk of damage

to health is very low.”

The product was tested by Asda as part of the industry testing programme and found to be positive for horse

DNA above 1 per cent.

It was withdrawn from Asda’s shelves on March 8. As with all products that have tested positive for horse DNA

over the 1 per cent threshold it was then tested for bute, which was detcted at a level of four parts per billion –

4ppb.

While this is the first finding in a meat product, bute has previously been found in horse carcasses at much

higher levels - 1900ppb in one instance.

Asda confirmed the positive test in a blog on its website but did not expand on how the horsemeat or the bute

got into the product. It has since revealed that the product was supplied by Toupnot, a canned meat factory,

located in Lourdes, in South West France.

The company produces up to 15,000 tonnes per year in manufacturing 15 products, insisting it ‘complies with all

requests in a rigorous respect of deadlines’. Around 80 per cent of its production is exported to more than 60

countries.

In its statement, Asda said the FSA had assured it that ‘the quantities we’ve found pose a low risk to human health’.

“Although there is a very low health risk, we are recalling this product. This simply means that we ask anyone

who has tinned Smart Price Corned Beef (340g) in their cupboards at home to bring it back into store for a full

refund,” the statement said.

The retailer stressed it had taken ‘an extremely cautious approach’ since the scandal emerged in January,

carrying out more than 700 tests and ‘moving swiftly to remove any products from our shelves whenever we’ve

had the smallest concerns’.

Bute is a commonly used medicine in horses and is also prescribed to some patients who are suffering from a severe form of arthritis.

The Government’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies has said previously that horse meat

containing bute ‘presents a very low risk to human health’.

“The levels of bute that have previously been found in horse carcasses mean that a person would have to eat

500 - 600 one hundred per cent horsemeat burgers a day to get close to consuming a human’s daily dose. And it

passes through the system fairly quickly, so it is unlikely to build up in our bodies,” she said.

“In patients who have been taking phenylbutazone as a medicine there can be serious side effects but these are

rare. It is extremely unlikely that anyone who has eaten horse meat containing bute will experience one of these

side effects.”

Food-Another Red Meat scare- "I'll steak my life on it" says retired farmer,everything in moderation

Updated: 10 Apr 2013

The BBC brings us the news that a chemical found in red meat ‘damages the heart’, according to US scientists.

A study in the journal Nature found that cartinine in red meat was broken down by bacteria in the gut, kicking off

a chain of events which resulted in higher levels of cholesterol and an increased risk of heart disease.

Experiments on mice and people showed that bacteria in the gut could eat cartinine. It was broken into a gas,

which was converted in the liver to a chemical called TMAO. In the study, TMAO was strongly linked with the

build up of fatty deposits in blood vessels, which can lead to heart disease and death.

The news adds to the raft of research suggesting regularly eating red meat may be unhealthy.

The Radical says he has high most things but a low cholesterol blood level after eating red meat all his life.

He even got an extra ration of liver during the war because he was anaemic.

Now he says he is dying slowly and keeps a side of beef in the freezer.

If his friends declined his offer of a steak he says "there will be all the more for him" !

279

Food Transparency and Traceability -So I can make a considered decision whether or not to boycott it

Updated: 10 Apr 2013

Food Transparency and Traceability

We have all been shocked by the horse met scandal but I now ask why I need a magnifying glass to read on a

supermarket label, the origin of a product ?

And why I need a Magnifying glass to read the price per 100gms or per kilo

And why I need a Magnifying glass to read the contents list, including crucial ingredients such as the % of salt

and sugar ?

Well I will tell you why – Because its not profitable to do so !

Another con trick ?

Yes and all retailers should be required to label produce so that I don’t need a magnifying glass to read it stating

the Country of Origin , the Price per Kilo and Processed foods contents.

All in the interests of the consumer, of course.

The Radical

Food- Being "Organic" doesn't make it safe or taste better but more expensive and unsustainable

Updated: 24 Mar 2013

Organic food sales continue decline

23 March 2013 | By Olivia Midgley

THE organic sector has seen a drop in sales for the fourth year running, a new report has revealed.

The market dipped by 1.5 per cent in 2013, according to the Soil Association’s annual market update.

It continues the gloomy downward trend from decreases of 3.7 per cent last year, 5.9 per cent in 2010, and a

decline of almost 13 per cent in 2009.

In July 2012, the UK’s organic land area was reported to be 656,000ha (1.6 million acres) – an 8.7 per cent drop

from the previous year. The number of organic producers and processors also fell by 4.9 per cent to 6,929.

But the organic body remains optimistic about the future of the sector and in the last month has seen a

resurgence of trade in the wake of the horse meat scandal.

Reassurance

Business development director at the Soil Association, Jim Twine, said: “Whenever there is a food scare

customers look for reassurance. I believe that is why there was a significant spike in sales in February 2013.”

The association’s policy director Peter Melchett said: “That has tended in the past to lead to a fairly permanent

shift rather than just a temporary one.”

Lord Melchett said the horse meat debacle highlighted the need for shorter supply chains and showed the benefit

of organic producers cutting out the middle man.

Mr Twine added unless retailers did not work more closely with UK organic farmers and growers, the market

could become restricted due to supply shortages.

“The report shows when retailers have invested in their organic range their share of the market grows,” said Mr

Twine.

Another key trend is the ‘Jamie Generation’ of ethically aware consumers.

Under 35s significantly increased their average spending on organic products in 2012

Food - Was it something the Queen ate ?

Updated: 15 Mar 2013

Queen aide drawn into horsemeat scandal

Lord Vestey, the master of the horse and the British Queen (from L)

Lord Vestey, the master of the horse and the British Queen (from L)

Thu Mar 14, 2013 7:28PM GMT

A food company owned by the family of a senior member of the royal household is found to have supplied

horsemeat to one of the UK’s biggest catering firms.

Sodexo, which provides food for public services, said Vestey Foods Group has shipped minced beef and

minced halal beef, containing more than 1 percent horsemeat, to the food catering company.

Vestey business is chaired by Lord Vestey, the senior officer responsible for the royal mews and the Queen’s

carriages and horses since 1999.

The horsemeat scandal emerged in mid-January, when Irish food inspectors announced they had found horse

DNA in some frozen beef burgers stocked by supermarket chains including Tesco, Aldi, Iceland and Lidl.

Earlier this week, a survey by the consumer group Which? revealed that public confidence in Britain’s food

industry has seriously dented by the horsemeat scandal.

According to the research, the scandal has hit British consumers so hard that 30 percent now buying less

processed meat than before

Food - GM protestor comes down to earth with a bump

Updated: 11 Mar 2013

Mark Lynas: truth, treachery and GM food

Mark Lynas spent years destroying genetically modified crops in the name of the environment.

Now he's told the world – and his fellow activists – that he was wrong.

So why did he change his mind? And does he have any friends left?

Will Storr
The Observer, Saturday 9 March 2013 22.00 GMT

Crop circles:

Mark Lynas, who spent the 1990s tearing up fields of GM crops, was the first to point an accusatory finger at Monsanto.

What was that line in Lord of the Flies?

When Roger decides to kill Piggy?

He makes that irreversible transgression with something like "a sense of delirious abandonment". Mark Lynas

couldn't quite remember, but that's exactly how he felt as he walked on to the stage, in the mid-morning of 3

January, to make his dramatic speech.

The night before he'd paced among the farmers and agriculture experts who would be his audience, thinking:

"These people have no idea what I'm going to say."

They were probably expecting to be bored and annoyed by the appearance of this raving eco-warrior.

They didn't know that he'd taken the decision to stand in front of the people who were once his enemy – and confess.

Back in the mid-90s he'd belonged to a "radical cell" of the anarchist, anti-capitalist environmental movement.

He was influential – a co-founder of the magazine Corporate Watch who'd written the first article about the evils of

Genetically Modified Organisms [GMOs] and Monsanto, the multinational biotech company whose work with

GMOs was to become notorious. He was a law breaker.

He'd pile into vans with gangs of up to 30 people and spend nights slashing GM crops with machetes.

He was angry.

He believed that the kind of people who'd attend the Oxford Farming Conference were ruining the world with

greed.

And now he was preparing to stand under spotlights and bow his head before them.

He'd been nervous about it for days.

He was scared that by the time his speech was over he wouldn't have any friends left at all.

Once the crowd's mannered applause had died down, he began.

"My lords, ladies and gentlemen.

I want to start with some apologies, which I believe are most appropriate to this audience.

For the record, here and upfront, I apologise for having spent several years ripping up GM crops. I'm also sorry

that I helped to start the anti-GM movement back in the mid-1990s and that I thereby assisted in demonising an

important technological option which can be used to benefit the environment.

As an environmentalist, and someone who believes that everyone in this world has a right to a healthy and

nutritious diet of their choosing, I could not have chosen a more counter-productive path.

I now regret it completely."

Fifty minutes later, the audience reacted with what he describes as "shocked applause".

His website, on which he'd posted the text of his speech, crashed, unable to cope with the demand.

He watched, on Twitter, as reaction spread around the world: Portugal, Spain, Chile, Argentina… Millions, he

thinks, have now seen it.

"It was a complete demolition, not just of anti-GMO but of the whole organic thing," he says.

"For a lot of people, it was an 'Oh fuck' moment.

They realised they'd been lied to, at a very profound level, by the very people they'd trusted."

And what of his worst fear, that he wouldn't have any friends left at all?

"Well," he smiles sadly. "That's probably what happened."

Lynas, 39, lives in a modern terrace in a suburb of Oxford with his wife Maria, his puppy Scout and his children Tom, eight, and Rosa, six.

He's handsome and fashionably presented, but in a strangely featureless way, like one of those members of

Coldplay whose name nobody can remember.

He gives me a cup of tea and leads me down towards his shed, with its sunken sofa, dusty curtains and shelves

of sun-bleached books.

He's worried about the interview and peppered me with questions beforehand: who was my editor?

How many words would it be?

Who was the photographer?

Why did I want to write it?

His anxiety is not surprising.

Lynas's speech made the news internationally and, along with it, "all the hate started coming through".

He found himself accused of being in the pay of Monsanto which, he says, "shows that people think I have no

integrity and look at me with complete contempt".

In the days when his anger came from the opposite direction, Lynas was a member of an organisation that was

"loosely called" Earth First! It told a dramatic story about the world, in which the forces of industrialism were

conspiring to bring about "environmental apocalypse.

Big corporations and capitalism in general were destroying the earth."

Theirs was a plucky struggle against the monstrous machines of profit.

"We were the protectors of the land and the inheritors of the natural forces," he says.

"We were the pixies."

Lynas first heard about the notion of genetically modifying crops in a Brighton squat in early 1996, at a meeting of

about six activists that was lead by Jim Thomas, a campaigns director for Greenpeace.

"He really opened my eyes to the awfulness of what Monsanto seemed to be doing," he says.

"Something unnatural was being done to our food supply.

Big corporations were using more chemicals so that they could take over the food chain."

It inspired him to write his Corporate Watch story that was "the first on Monsanto, as far as I know".

By the time of Earth First!'s next gathering, GMOs had "become the next big thing".

Lynas lead the early workshops that spread the message further.

"The people who consider themselves leaders in the anti-GM movement today, I trained them."

By 1997 his anger had turned to action, and the first "decontamination actions" to destroy experimental GM crops

took place.

"We'd head out in a van with gardening tools, dark clothes, some cash and no ID."

Arriving at around 2am, between 20 and 30 of them would work until dawn, "just going along the line", destroying the plants.

It wasn't always this straightforward.

One night while he was slashing through maize with a machete somewhere in the east of England, Lynas saw

flashing lights and heard the barking of dogs.

He dropped into the dirt and held still. "For some reason the police went right past me," he says.

"I got out of there.

I found my way through some woods to the train station.

A lot of the others were attacked by dogs and arrested.

It was quite scary.

In an odd way, I'm quite law abiding.

You know, I wear glasses.

I don't want to get hit in the face with a truncheon.

I'm not really into confrontational situations at all."

Lynas played a crucial role at a sit-in, on 29 April 1998, at Monsanto's offices in High Wycombe.

"I cased the joint, printed the leaflets and hired the buses," he says.

Seeds of destruction: an environmental campaigner takes his message to the field near Rothwell where Monsanto

grew GM oil seed rape and broke government regulations for which they faced charges in Caistor Magistrates

Court.

It was around this time, however, that Lynas began to experience the first mild cramps of rebellion.

He'd begun to notice a widespread denial in the people around him.

The more he recognised it, the more it felt like hypocrisy.

"Everyone thought of themselves as being tolerant and open-minded," he says.

"But if you said something critical about them, you'd be in quite serious trouble."

Trouble?

"I don't think anyone would've attacked you physically.

But you'd go back to your worst days at school, just feeling like the child that everyone hated.

I don't really thrive in that sort of bully-boy atmosphere."

The movement deluded itself about its non-hierarchical nature.

It didn't have leaders or elections because, to them, democracy was a lie.

"But there were leaders – of which I definitely wasn't one – and everyone else was the sheep, the cannon fodder.

The people who could rabble-rouse and were the most radical would rise to the top."

The irony of all this was that Earth First! became acutely hierarchical, and in the worst possible way, "because the

hierarchy is nontransparent".

A critical fracture between Lynas and his movement occurred after London's 2000 May Day riots, which he helped

organise.

A branch of McDonald's was attacked, a statue of Winston Churchill was given a grass Mohican, and the

Cenotaph was graffitied.

At a meeting of key individuals in a north London pub that followed "everyone was saying:

'This is great'," he remembers.

"'We've shown the corporate media!'" Lynas, however, didn't agree.

"I thought it was a disaster. Everything we'd been trying to achieve was undermined by all the violence and window smashing. It just alienated people. I thought I'd be honest about it. Everyone looked at me in complete horror, shock and contempt."

How did that feel?

"Deeply hostile, and deeply limiting, actually. Tolerance and open-mindedness were qualities that people paid lip service to but were not really valued. That was one of the last meetings I went to."

Lynas had an unusual childhood, being born in Fiji and schooled for three years in Peru.

His father was a scientist – a geologist who did mapping for the government – and yet was politically assertive

enough to emigrate to Spain in the mid-1980s because of Margaret Thatcher. Lynas remembers Nicaraguan folk

bands staying as house guests.

Today, his parents live in North Wales.

"They have a little organic farm. Post-organic, really.

My dad's with me in arguing the need for biological solutions, like GM, to reduce chemical use."

Lynas's metamorphosis gathered real pace when he started work on his 2004 book High Tide. It concerned the

consequences of manmade climate change and involved him touring the continents seeking out its effects.

This was a cause he was happy to be swept into: climate change made a perfect subplot for his grand narrative

about the world of evil capitalism ruining nature.

But this new episode introduced a curious character – a nerdy stranger who would go on to corrupt the plot of his

life entirely.

"I didn't want my book to be just a series of anecdotes," he explains, "so I began researching the science.

And I fell in love with it. I realised that science offers a window into truth that nothing else can."

His embrace of evidence-based knowledge caused a problem.

Many of his beliefs about GMOs were predicated on an extravagant dismissal of the scientific consensus.

"The whole GM thing had been about criticising scientists, saying they were corrupt, corporate shills," he says.

"And we definitely believed all those things.

But I realised everything we were doing was deeply reductionist, basically saying: 'Scientists should shut down

their labs and go and work in Tesco.'

It was a kind of counter-enlightenment. People against a process."

Lynas lived the next few years in a state of weird, gigantic dissonance.

A 2005 column for the New Statesman, which expressed doubt about traditional anti-nuclear arguments,

prompted activists that he knew to "write in, saying I'd ruined their lives".

His next book, Six Degrees: Our Future in a Hotter Planet, won 2008's prestigious Royal Society prize for science

writing. And yet he was still existing between narratives in a way that, inevitably, became excruciating.

The last piece of "GM crap" he wrote was for theGuardian, the year of his award.

"I knew at the time I didn't believe it," he says. "I wrote it in an internet café. I thought: 'God, I really need to have

some sources for these things.'

Then I thought: 'Fuck it.' I'd just had this stamp of approval from the scientific community.

And then I'm writing this completely unscientific and hopelessly unintellectual thing.

How embarrassing can you get?"

In November 2010 he appeared on a Channel 4 documentary, What the Green Movement Got Wrong, and a live

debate that followed. In the shows he defended GMOs and nuclear power.

Afterwards, he says, a member of Greenpeace "was that close to me, shouting in my face.

I literally left the studio with a bag over my head." Close friends felt betrayed. "George Monbiot sent me a really

devastating email."

He also fell out with the person who'd been best man at his wedding.

"We'd been friends for 10 years. We still have no relationship."

Lynas also experienced a more subtle realignment in his worldview.

He'd been used to seeing the Green movement as the brave, scrappy underdogs.

But the more he looked, the more little David began to resemble Goliath.

"Just take the numbers," he says. "Greenpeace, the whole international group, is a $150m outfit [in fact, figures

provided by Greenpeace show global income in 2011 as $313.4m].

Bigger than the World Trade Organisation, and much more influential in terms of determining how people think."

For Lynas, the modern Green movement is one of undeniable force.

It's changed the world "sometimes for the better", but not always.

"The anti-nuclear movement is partly responsible for global warming," he says.

"Everywhere, pretty much, where a nuclear plant was cancelled, a coal plant was built instead, and that's because

of the anti-nuclear movement. The environmental movement has been very successful in regulating GM out of

existence in some parts of the world."

Smashing time: anti-capitalist protesters attack McDonald's in Whitehall. central London, 1 May 2000. Lynas

helped organise the protests.

Lynas has been very critical of Greenpeace's policy towards a GM crop that's become totemic among

campaigners.

Golden rice is a crop that's been modified, by the insertion of the genes for the chemical beta-carotene, in an

attempt to make it provide more vitamin A.

"Vitamin-A deficiency is one of the leading causes of death in southeast Asia," says Lynas.

"It's led to blindness and the death of about a quarter of a million people a year."

Yet campaigners, including Greenpeace, lobbied against it.

Greenpeace insists golden rice is a "waste of money" and an "ineffective tool… [that] is also environmentally

irresponsible, poses risks to human health and compromises food security".

For Lynas, its stance is "just superstition. There are tens of thousands of kids who are dead who wouldn't be

dead otherwise. I don't see how you could put this any other way.

Imagine if Monsanto had been culpable in the deaths of tens of thousands of children!

It would be all over the Guardian." (Lynas later made the partial concession that "there have been technical hold-

ups in the golden rice project, and you can't solely blame Greenpeace for the overregulation that is applied to GMOs".)

Since his OxfordFarming Conference speech, some have launched attacks on Lynas's interpretation of the science.

But the rebellion against his rebellion has also been personal. Some former associates have questioned his claim to have been an influential figure.

Jim Thomas, the former Greenpeace activist who first told Lynas about GMOs and lived with him for a few months, says: "Lynas was a player, but not a very important player, and for a very short period of time.

Maybe in his mind he was important, but I don't think anybody else saw him that way." Ultimately, says Thomas, "I feel saddened by the whole thing.

He's built a very successful career on the back of portraying people who were his friends as unthinking."

Lynas counters that he's unable to defend himself from charges he's exaggerated his role due the illegality of the acts he and his associates were complicit in.

"People don't want their names mentioned," he says.

But the attacks hurt. "I've been complaining to my wife, but she said: 'Don't feel sorry for yourself.

You've insulted people at the deepest level of their values.

You've done something completely wounding to their very sense of self.'

This was a life's work for people I was close to, and as far as they're concerned I've tried to destroy it."

As for Lynas's life's mission, the change has been everything and nothing. He might not be battling against

corporations any more, but he still feels "as if I'm changing the world for the better in my own small way".

Nevertheless, he speaks of the betrayal and subsequent loss of his friends as a tragedy – "but tragic in the

Shakespearean sense that you could see it coming".

Indeed, how much of his metamorphosis was inevitable?

Can his mutiny really constitute a moral treachery when so much of it seemed to happen to him?

He was, after all, born into a family of independent spirit, to a scientist father, who was also a political radical who

deified the environment.

Emotional rebellion became empirical rebellion, when a book project forced him from the "echo chamber" of Earth First!.

And then, what should he do?

Try to live with it all, hounded by the dissonance of his contradictions?

Or speak up and brave whatever damage might be caused?

His opponents, who mutter about his "successful career", despite his modest circumstances, deny the

complexity of human motivation.

Nobody is pure.

But few do as he has done, and have the courage to doubt themselves with as much vigour as they've previously

doubted others

Food- Stands to reason - If you don't know what your eating then expect the worst from the "pigs"

Updated: 08 Mar 2013

Sausages and bacon for breakfast?

Prepare for an early grave.

The BBC reports on a study which found sausages, ham, bacon, and other processed meats appear to increase the risk of dying young.

A study of half a million people, published in the BMC Medicine journal, found that diets high in processed meats

were linked to cardiovascular disease, cancer and early deaths.

The salt and chemicals used to preserve the meat may also damage health, it found.

Meat eaters were also more likely to smoke, be obese and have other health-damaging behaviours, it added.

But researchers found that even with those risks accounted for, processed meat still damaged health.

The study followed participants from 10 European countries for nearly 13 years.

Those eating more than 160g of processed meat a day- roughly two sausages and a slice of bacon- were 44%

more likely to die in that period than those eating about 20g.

Prof Sabine Rohrmann, from the University of Zurich, told the BBC:

‘High meat consumption, especially processed meat, is associated with a less healthy lifestyle.’

Food- A Shaggy Sheep Story -Supermarket Hot Dogs will no longer contain Horse meat

Updated: 28 Feb 2013

27 February 2013

Last updated at 10:19

Tesco's Philip Clarke says the company is bringing meat production "closer to home"

The head of Tesco has pledged to bring meat production "closer to home" and work more closely with British

farmers in response to the horsemeat scandal.

Philip Clarke said Tesco had also introduced a new testing process and that from July all chicken sold in its

UK stores would be from British farms.

Mr Clarke and Environment Secretary Owen Paterson are to address the National Farmer Union's conference.

A NFU poll found 78% of people want more British food in supermarkets.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Clarke said he could not guarantee "right now today" that all of Tesco's products

contained exactly what was on the label, but "that is our objective", he added.

"I'm sure that we will be able to say that in the future, once the testing regime is completely in place."

He said on the 300 tests that they had completed " most of them are fine" but that "three is too many".

Farmers' anger at the horsemeat scandal will be reflected at the national conference, NFU leaders have said -

which is being held in Birmingham.

Many farmers believe the crisis over mis-labelled food has damaged consumer confidence in the supply chain.

NFU president Peter Kendall said: "Farmers have been furious about what has happened."

Gate to plate

"Farmers have spent many years working to ensure the British supply chain is fully traceable from farm to

pack, and have upheld strong principles which are embodied in assurance schemes like Red Tractor.

"For me this is fundamental for consumer confidence."

But there is also a growing sense that this may be a moment of opportunity for British farmers.

They believe that tight regulations, including those introduced in response to the BSE crisis, mean their part of

the food industry now sets the standard for others to follow.

Farmers have long called for the food supply chain, which can involve many traders and processors between

farm gate and consumer plate, to be overhauled and simplified.

BBC rural affairs correspondent Jeremy Cooke said they hoped the horsemeat scandal could mean the rest of

the industry - and the government - was ready to listen.

'Signal change'

Meanwhile, a poll for the NFU suggested that more than three-quarters of people wanted supermarkets to

stock more food from British farms.

Also, some 43% of the 1,000 people surveyed said they were more likely to buy food traceable from UK farms

in the wake of the horsemeat scandal.

Mr Kendall said: "Our research also demonstrates the strong demand for British-farmed products, and so

retailers, processors and food service companies have a responsibility to ensure there is clear country of

origin labelling on the products that consumers purchase."

Mr Clarke said his supermarket would work more closely with British farmers in response to the horsemeat scandal.

"The testing regime is intended to ensure that if it is not on the label it is not in the packet, if it is beef, it is beef, and nothing else.

"And that is the most comprehensive testing regime I have ever seen, and it's happening right now.

"The second thing is we're going to bring meat production a bit closer to home. We do buy some, particularly

for our frozen products, out of Europe, and as we can we'll bring it closer to home.

"And the third thing is we're going to have more partnerships, more collaboration with farmers."

He added: "I hope that it doesn't mean price increases, but I can't stand here today and tell you that it won't.

"I hope it doesn't, I'll work to make sure it doesn't."

Chief executive of Sainsbury's, Justin King, said Tesco's announcement "highlighted how important a detailed

knowledge of and involvement in your supply chain is".

He said his supermarket was committed to doubling the amount of British food it sold by 2020.

The director of the International Meat Trade Association, Liz Murphy, said passing off horsemeat as beef was

criminal behaviour that had to be stamped out, as imported meat should be of equal standard to that produced

in the UK.

"The public health and animal health conditions have to be the same," she said.

"So when we supply meat from outside the EU, that has to comply with the same conditions that our farmers

do and our manufacturers and factories do in the UK."

Food - Supermarkets don't know what they meat they are selling !

Updated: 25 Feb 2013

Horsemeat scandal: supermarkets have failed to check meat suppliers, MPs told

Inspections of supermarket meat suppliers are a “disgrace” and in need of “total review” to stop more scandals such as the horse meat crisis, a whistleblower has told MPs.

Retailers have blamed their suppliers for giving them adulterated beef with misleading labelling. Photo: ALAMY

By Rowena Mason, Political Correspondent

10:47PM GMT 24 Feb 2013

Paul Smith, a retired auditor of food safety standards, has given evidence to Parliament that there is a “massive

failure” of retailers to monitor their suppliers and have their meat inspected at “appropriate intervals”.

Yet another meat supplier, Sodexo, admitted on Friday that there may have been horse meat in products sold

to schools, hospitals and the Armed Forces.

Numerous supermarkets have had to withdraw processed beef from their shelves after discovering it

contained horse in a scandal that has stretched across Europe.

Retailers have blamed their suppliers for giving them adulterated beef with misleading labelling. But in a

statement to the Commons environment committee, Mr Smith, a meat auditor of 40 years’ experience, cast

doubt on the system used by supermarkets.

Mr Smith accused supermarkets of having an “incestuous and inappropriate” relationship with food auditors,

who are responsible for issuing a Global Standard for Food Safety to meat suppliers.

He said the meat industry was effectively allowed to pick its own “policemen”, who then had incentives to give

top marks to retain their business. The current auditing of meat sold by supermarkets “has never worked and

cannot work”, Mr Smith added.

“The whole system is a disgrace and in need of total review,” he told the cross-party group of MPs.

Mr Smith said he spoke out to help bring about “appropriate changes so as to ensure the horse meat incident

and related incidents do not reoccur”.

The Government is under growing pressure to get the horse meat scandal under control since it was first

discovered in Ireland in January. The news that an unknown number of schools, hospitals and care homes

may have been supplied with horse meat is a fresh blow for Owen Paterson, the Environment Secretary.

The Telegraph reported on Saturday that even Britain’s food watchdog, the Food Standards Agency, has yet to

be given details about the potential scale of the contamination of meat handled by Sodexo.

Last week, the agency released a second batch of test results submitted by the food industry. To date, one in

80 beef products tested has been found to contain horse meat.

Mary Creagh, the shadow environment secretary, will today ask an urgent question in the Commons about the

crisis. Last night, she said it was “outrageous” that officials on Friday did not appear to have been told which

Sodexo products were potentially affected.

Food- Farms in Crisis- - More Imports are Unsafe- Increases National Debt

Updated: 24 Feb 2013

British farming in crisis

as crop losses from 'relentless' floods pile up woes

Many farmers are quitting an industry hit by rain, disease and cheap imports – just as food security becomes a worldwide issue

Jamie Doward
The Observer, Saturday 23 February 2013 19.22 GMT

Farmer Steve Watkins on his farm near Worcester where floods have wrecked crops. Photograph: Andrew Fox

Stephen Watkins farms in Elgar country.

He has 400 hectares, or nearly 1,000 acres, in the Worcestershire countryside that boast sprawling views of the

Malverns, the brooding hills that inspired the composer to capture the essence of rural England in music.

With a picture-perfect Victorian farmhouse replete with Aga and two black Labradors, Watkins seems to be living the good life.

He farms sheep, winter wheat, spring barley, mint, coriander, parsley, spinach, peas, which are hand picked,

onions, lettuce and swede; he also runs a riding school and a fishery that supplies local pet shops.

But Elgar's bucolic idyll is not looking very idyllic at the moment. Huge amounts of rubbish are strewn across

Watkins's land after the Severn broke its banks, drowning much of Worcestershire. Plastic bags, tin cans and

even telegraph poles have been left scattered over Watkins's fields like dead fish on a beach after the tide has departed.

"You couldn't see the hedges," Watkins said of the recent floods. "You were wellington boot-deep at the local pub

and church. The worst affected parts of the farm were more than six feet under water."

The flooding shorted his electric fence. One morning Watkins received a phone call telling him his sheep had

escaped. "Some were on the A38."

Watkins is stoical. Bad weather happens and farmers shoulder the burden, but the past 12 months has seen his

mettle tested to new limits. His fields have flooded four times in the past four months. "Absolutely unheard of," he

said. In 2011 his land had 17 inches of rain. Last year 39 inches fell. Even this was potentially surmountable as

some of his crops can survive the odd short flood. "But not the constant flooding," Watkins said. "The land has

never really been allowed to drain properly."

Watkins, 56, has to pay for the cleanup. There is no insurance for his ruined crops and no compensation. It will

take months for the land to return to normal. A normal flood would cost him £25,000, he estimates, but this time he

thinks the bill will be more like £60,000. In his fields rows of swedes are turning to mulch.

Although Watkins, who has been farming since the early 80s, will weather the latest storm, others have not been

so lucky. Many are locked into contracts to supply the supermarkets with produce that has been destroyed. They

are having to source food abroad, broccoli in particular, to fulfil their obligations to the retail giants.

It is only now becoming apparent just how terrible sodden 2012 has been for farmers, particularly those in the

north-west and south-west. Wheat yields were at their lowest level since the 1980s, the potato crop at its lowest

since 1976. The oilseed rape harvest and barley yields also suffered. Livestock farmers suffered too. The wet

weather conditions sent the price of animal feed soaring as farmers were forced to keep their animals indoors.

For some, the consequences threaten to be devastating. Recent figures from the Department for Environment,

Food and Rural Affairs paint a bleak picture of a year many would prefer to forget. Dairy farmers saw their income

plunge by 42%. Livestock and pig farmers have seen their incomes as much as halved. There were double-digit

decreases for cereal and crop farmers, too.

Many have seen their profits completely wiped out. The only way they can survive is by borrowing from the banks.

"We are seeing increased levels of indebtedness," said Charles Smith, chief executive of Farm Crisis Network.

"For some it's becoming unsustainable."

In a normal year one type of farming might be affected by poor conditions. "It might be fruit or arable or sheep,"

Smith said. "But in the last year every aspect of farming was affected. It has been relentless."

Farmers' confidence, measured in surveys by the National Farmers Union (NFU), has fallen after a couple of years

when things were looking up. "Farmers are incredibly optimistic people, but they are juggling variables, most of

which are outside their control," Smith said.

Such gloom is damaging for any industry, but especially for farming. "It's not just a job, it's a way of life," Smith

said. "If you live on a farm everything is linked to its fortunes. If it goes wrong it has a big impact on family life.

Many farmers are working long hours on their own and problems build up."

Not surprisingly, some are calling it a day. The dairy industry has seen a huge decline in its ranks. There were

36,000 dairy producers in 1995, compared with fewer than 15,000 now. Concern is shifting to sheep farmers, who

are losing as much as £29 for each lamb they sell, owing to the rising costs of feed, wet weather and increased

competition from New Zealand farmers who can undercut them.

The sector is also braced for the spread of the fatal Schmallenberg virus as the lambing season gets under way.

The threat is so potent the government is considering licensing a vaccine. "It's having a devastating effect on

some farmers," Smith said. "Some have lost between 30% and 50% of their lambs." Losing even a few of their

lambs will see many of the smaller sheep farmers plunge into the red.

The pork and poultry sectors face a different threat. Both have increased welfare conditions in line with EU

directives. But other countries have refused to invest in new pens and coops, allowing their farmers to undercut t

heir British rivals because they are not shouldering the costs of expensive equipment. Once Britain produced

70% of the pork it consumed. Today, that stands at just 50%.

The long-held feeling among UK farmers that they are not competing on a level playing field is exacerbated by

their experience of the common agricultural policy [CAP]. In January, the government agreed a series of EU

budget cuts, including a 10% reduction in the CAP.

The details are still working their way through the system but it is estimated that UK farmers will receive around

€200 (£174) per hectare they farm under the reformed CAP. In contrast, their Irish counterparts can expect to

receive €250 per hectare and their Dutch rivals €350.

"The UK is still going to get below the EU average per hectare," said Phil Bicknell, chief economist at the NFU.

"This will create challenges around our long term-competitiveness."

This, in turn, has consequences for the British economy and the control of its food chain. For every £1 that

farming contributes, food manufacturers and wholesalers contribute a further £5. In 1989, the UK was 75% self-

sufficient, compared with 63% in 2010.

Watkins draws comparisons with energy. "We need to ask ourselves: where will our food come from in the

future? We've got to have food security."

It is an issue that can become only ever more pressing: it is estimated that by 2050 there will be 9 billion people in

the world. How to feed them will become one of the most urgent concerns facing national governments. "There's

going to be increased global competition, so having strong domestic supply will help insulate us," the NFU's

Bicknell said.

After a disastrous 2012, farmers now sense the wind may be changing. The horsemeat scandal has underlined the

problems that come when squeezed margins and complex, international food chains collide.

A backlash could be on the cards. Watkins says the butchers of Elgar country are reporting brisk trade as more

consumers reappraise the way they value food. Such a trend has been building for years, but maybe 2013 is set to

become a tipping point.

"We know that people are now saying that they are more concerned about where their food comes from," Bicknell

said. "The question is: will that stimulate long-term demand for British food?"

TROUBLED HARVEST

Finance

An increasing number of farmers are borrowing to survive but banks are increasingly reluctant to lend.

Foreign competition

Farmers complain that EU bureaucracy means they cannot compete on price against rivals from other countries.

Disease

Schmallenberg virus is a considerable threat to sheep. A disease such as foot and mouth can be devastating.

The Common Agricultural Policy

British farmers complain they receive considerably less help than other EU farmers.

The food chain

The power of the supermarkets has been a perennial gripe of farmers.

Succession

Farmers fear the long hours and uncertain future will put off the next generation from working on the land.

Food- Irish Meat Company "sold mislabelled horse meat"

Updated: 23 Feb 2013

Irish company 'sold mislabelled horse meat to Czech Republic'

22 February 2013 | By Alistair Driver

Farmers Guardian

AN IRISH meat company has been selling horse meat to the Czech Republic labelled as beef, Ireland’s Agriculture

Simon Coveney has revealed.

Mr Coveney said he was ‘seriously concerned’ about the development and stressed that the Gardai, the Irish

police, have been ‘fully appraised’ of the situation.

The company in question, B&F Meats, a small scale plant located in Thomastown, County Kilkenny, is approved

to debone beef and horsemeat.

But it has been discovered in the course of the investigation by the Irish Department of Agriculture’s Special

Investigations Unit (SIU) and the Gardai that the company was despatching some horsemeat to a single customer

in the Czech Republic via a UK based trader. The meat was carrying a label in the Czech language which, when

translated, ‘refers to beef’, Mr Coveney said.

The Department has suspended all operations at the plant with immediate effect abnd Government officers have

entered the plant to carry out a full investigation.

Mr Coveney said: “I am seriously concerned about this development and the Gardai have been fully appraised of

this development and are working closely with my Department. The issue here is one of mislabelling and that will

be the focus of the investigation”.

The Government-Gardai investigation involves forensic examination of electronic data and records associated

with consignments of beef products. A number of food business operators including traders, transporters,

processers and exporters have been subjected to detailed inspections.

Irish investigators are also liaising with counterparts in other Member States and Europol in relation to what is a

pan European investigation.

B&F Meats, which says it has a history of nearly 80 years in the meat trade says its focus is on ‘supplying the Irish

and European markets with the finest grass fed Irish Beef and Lamb’.

“Ovine, Bovine, or Equine we only supply the finest meats sourced from independent family owned farms,” the

company says on its website.

The development will spark further speculation about the extent to which, if any, horses from Ireland are entering

the food chain labelled as beef.

A spokesman for the Irish Department of Agriculture has told Farmers Guardian this is part of the investigation by

the Department’s SIU.

Official figures from the Department show more than 57,000 horses were slaughtered in the Republic of Ireland

between 2008 and 2012. The official numbers increased from just over 2,000 in 2008 to more than 24,000 in 2012.

The Irish Government was not able to say, however, where the horse meat ended up, including what proportion

was exported. The spokesman said this was part of the investigation.

Ever since the scandal broke in Jnauary, the potential flaws in the horse passport systems in Ireland and the UK

have come under the spotlight.

The Ulster Society For Prevention of Cruelty To Animals (USPCA) claimed ‘in recent times thousands of unwanted

and abandoned horses have been gathered up and corralled across the country awaiting slaughter’.

“Unscrupulous criminal elements have been profiting from these unfortunate animals by exploiting a hopelessly

flawed horse passport scheme, lax animal export controls at ports and slaughter houses/processors willing to

compromise animal welfare and public safety for a quick profit,” USPCA spokesman David Wilson said.

The Irish Agriculture Department said: “Where forged or tampered passports accompanying horses to slaughter

are detected, it is the policy that such animals are destroyed and removed from the food chain.”

He said the requirements were designed to ensure that meat produced in approved slaughter plants is suitable for

human consumption, including information on veterinary medicines administered to equines like bute, which is

banned from the human food chain.

“All equines issued with a passport after July 1 2009 must have a corresponding microchip implanted by a

veterinarian which is recorded in the passport and creates a link between the passport and the animal,” he said.

He said the Department is also developing a central database and horse traceability system.

The NFU has raised similar concerns this week about flaws in the UK horse passport system. Commenting on an

NFU survey on the problem of ‘flygrazing’, NFU vice president Adam Quinney said it was ‘certainly possible’ a lot

of horses being dumped on farmland ‘are being moved across borders and into abattoirs using forged passports’.

“The passport system has been described as shambolic, and clearly it is not effective,” he said.

A former manager at the Meat Hygiene Service, John Young, told the Sunday Times this week that the UK horse

passport system was a ‘complete mess’ with 80 organisations granted authority to issue them.

A Defra spokesperson said 9,405 horses were slaughtered in five abattoirs licensed to slaughter horses in the UK

in 2012. All 2,101 tonnes of horse meat produced between January and November 2012 was exported, she said.

Defra insists it and the FSA have ‘taken action on the issue of potential falsifying of horse passports, including

individual enforcement action when information has been passed to us’. A spokesperson insisted the issues

surrounding falsified horse passports were ‘unrelated to the fact that horse meat has been fraudulently passed off

as beef in a number of products’.

The EU-wide investigation into the horse meat fraud has focussed on potential fraudulent activity in the

mislabelling of horse meat as beef by a number of companies, including abattoirs, meat traders and

manufacturers across Europe.

This includes companies and plants in the UK, Ireland, France, Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, Cyprus,

Poland and Romania.

The French authorities have estimated that one company, Spanghero, passed off 750 tonnes of horsemeat as

beef. The horsemeat has been traced to Romania via trading companies in the Netherlands and Cyprus.

Spanghero, which supplied Comigel, which in turn supplied companies like Findus and Tesco with manufactured

beef products, has insisted it was not responsible for the mislabelling.

The authorities in Poland, which was linked to the contamination of burgers supplied to ABP and then Tesco, and

Romania have insisted there is no evidence horses are being slaughtered and wrongly labelled as been in their

countries.

Food - Human Sewage Farms ?

Updated: 23 Feb 2013

Flushed with success: Human manure's fertile future

21 February 2013 by Fred Pearce
New Scientist

We shouldn’t pooh-pooh the idea of fertilising crops with our urine and faeces –

it's safer than it sounds and the benefits would be huge

See more in our photo gallery: "Sewage solutions: Six alternative toilet technologies"

LOCALS call them honey-suckers, but don't be fooled by the name. They cruise through the high-tech streets of

India's newest megacity, sucking up its lowest-tech problem: sewage. These trucks empty Bangalore's million

septic tanks and pit latrines, where the majority of its 10 million inhabitants relieve themselves.

In most places, sewage trucks discharge their cargo into streams and lakes, adding to local pollution. But in

Bangalore, the honey-suckers head for farms outside the city, where their stinking loads are in demand to fertilise

vegetables and coconut and banana trees. The farmers pay good money for human waste; it produces bumper

crops. For them, it is sweet.

The honey-suckers of Bangalore are evidence that the world of excreta is being turned upside down. Realisation

is growing that our faeces and urine are not simply waste to be disposed of as fast as possible, but a valuable

resource. Flushing sewage into rivers is not just an environmental catastrophe, it is also a ludicrous waste of

nutrients that could be helping to feed the world.

Consider what you excrete. You produce some 500 litres of urine and 50 kilograms of faeces a year. Besides the

water and organic carbon, your annual output contains around 10 kilograms of nitrogen, phosphorus and

potassium compounds, the three main nutrients plants need to grow - helpfully in roughly the correct proportions.

This is sufficient to fertilise plants that would produce more than 200 kilograms of cereals, says Christine Werner

of the German development agency GIZ.

Scale that up and the world's population excretes 70 million tonnes of nutrients annually. Applied to fields, this

could replace almost 40 per cent of the 176 million tonnes of nutrients in chemical fertilisers used by the world's farmers in 2011.

Spreading human sewage on fields that grow crops doesn't sound appealing, but it is safer than you might think.

Urine is normally free from the pathogens that cause diseases, while soils help to filter and clean bacteria found in

faeces. Processed and handled correctly, the organic carbon and nutrients in urine and faeces makes soils more

fertile and better able to hold moisture. The benefits would be huge. Recycling our waste onto fields would

increase food output and make life a lot easier for poor farmers, who often cannot afford fertiliser. For example, a

typical family in Niger, one of the world's poorest countries, annually excretes nutrients equivalent to 100

kilograms of chemical fertiliser, worth a quarter of a typical rural income, according to a study by Linus Dagerskog

of the Stockholm Environment Institute in Sweden.

Replacing chemical fertilisers would also conserve supplies of phosphate minerals, which are running low. And

while nitrogen in the atmosphere may be practically inexhaustible, converting it into fertiliser is a major user of the

world's energy. Just as the world has to find ways to reuse scarce metals, so we need to find ways to recycle nutrients.

Thanks to public health campaigns, most people in urban areas - an estimated 2 billion people - have access to

private or communal toilets. Unless they are connected to a sewer, these toilets empty either into pit latrines,

usually little more than a hole in the ground that allows liquids to seep away while solids accumulate, or into

septic tanks, where bacteria and an anaerobic environment encourage the solid waste to decompose.

These repositories need periodic emptying or they overflow into the streets. Few municipal authorities step up to

the task, so private enterprise has stepped in to fill the gap. Latrine and septic-tank emptying is a vast industry,

little discussed and little regulated.

In India, despite laws banning the practice, an estimated 1 million people from lower castes, mostly women and

girls, are still paid to scrape the shit from the nation's 100 million or more tanks and latrines, usually with nothing

more than a shovel and bucket. They dump the contents in nearby drains or on waste ground. Such places are

notorious. In the Ghanian capital Accra, most of the contents of the city's septic tanks end up on the city's

mockingly named Lavender Hill.

The fast-growing cities of the developing world are trying to deal with their waste in the way most industrialised

countries do, by connecting every building to sewer networks. These take sewage to distant treatment plants that

remove solids and other dangerous contaminants before discharging the effluent into rivers. But the

infrastructure needed is vast and expensive, says Stanley Grant of the University of California at Irvine, and the

treatment is energy-intensive. It also leaves behind solids, which contain most of the valuable nutrients, that end

up as landfill.

Sewer networks also rely on huge amounts of water to flush toilets - water that in many places could be better

used for drinking or irrigation. Dealing with the contents of flushing toilets typically requires more than a third of a

city's water supplies, with growing cities taking water from farmers who need it to irrigate crops and feed growing

populations.

Pull down your pants

As a result, few of the world's megacities - and even fewer of the thousands of medium-sized urban areas - have

fully functioning sewer networks. And of those, only around a tenth deliver their contents to functioning sewage

treatment works. Most discharge raw waste into rivers, where it turns thousands of kilometres of waterways into

lifeless open sewers. Further downstream, raw sewage helps create dead zones that now cover 250,000 square

kilometres of ocean. "We need to take the waste out of waste water," says Grant.

He and others are urging governments to take a fresh look at what we are trying to achieve with our sanitation

systems (see diagram). They should be based not on flushing our problem away but on "closing the loop" in our

nutrient cycle, says Pay Drechsel of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Drechsel thinks it's a good thing that farmers in some parts of the world are recycling sewage onto their fields -

though they are doing it unofficially, usually clandestinely and often outside the law.

They are reviving an old tradition. Before the invention a century ago of the chemical process for converting

nitrogen from the air into the nitrates plants can use, sewage was widely spread onto urban "sewage farms".

Traditionally, it was collected in the dead of night to avoid offending people's sensibilities - hence the term night

soil - and used to grow vegetables and other crops.

Campaigns to improve public health and the introduction of flush toilets meant that the practice grew obsolete in

most places. Even so, where sewer systems developed, farmers still sometimes competed for the network's

outpourings. In a few places, this has persisted. Since the 1890s, most of the sewage from Mexico City has been

piped untreated to the fields of Tula valley to the north. Today, the megacity's 21 million people continue to fertilise

more than 100,000 hectares with their faeces. The remains of the city's digested beans, tortillas and chilli peppers

double yields of corn and almost triple the rentable value of farms, says Blanca Jimenez of the Mexican Academy

of Sciences. Shit has made Tula valley farmers wealthy.

The practice is going through a purple patch in many urban areas in the developing world (see diagram) -

especially in dry regions where farmers value the guaranteed year-round irrigation as much as the nutrient supply.

In Pakistan, sewage grows a quarter of the country's vegetables. In the Indian state of Gujarat, farmers compete

for the sewage at annual auctions, preferring it to freshwater irrigation.

Now, the honey-sucker trucks are offering farmers another option - the sewage from millions of septic tanks and

pit latrines. Increasingly, the drivers of these trucks have found that they do not have to run the gauntlet of public

opprobrium by dumping their loads onto wasteland or into drainage canals. Farmers within and around cities will

gladly take their "honey".

"Sometimes the drivers charge the farmers, and sometimes they pay them. It depends on the season and the

market," says Vishwanath Srikantaiah of Biome Systems, a Bangalore-based consultancy that has investigated

the practice in the city. Typically, farmers put the sewage into drying pits to kill pathogens and to concentrate the

nutrients so that they can be dug into the soil more easily. During the dry season, though, they pour still-liquid

sewage into dug channels, like regular irrigation.

The economics are good. Like the outflows of sewers, latrine slops increase the income of some farmers by

thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, a single truck driver can service a population of 20,000 people, and generate an

income of $50,000 a year, twice the price of a new truck.

Vishwanath says that septic tanks emptied by honey-suckers offer not only a cheap alternative to the

construction of sewers, but a superior solution - saving water while delivering fertiliser to farmers, improving soils

and boosting food production. Their services should be scaled up not shut down.

Not everyone agrees. The biggest argument against agricultural recycling of sewage - whether from sewers or

latrines and septic tanks - is that it carries disease. While urine is largely pathogen free, faeces are rich in viruses,

bacteria and worms. There are more than 2 million deaths a year worldwide from diarrhoea and other diseases

associated with human waste. Most of these are down to poor hygiene, such as a lack of hand washing, and in

areas where people still defecate in the open. Farming or eating the crops fertilised by sewage is thought to play a minor role.

The trouble is there are few reliable studies. A rare investigation of farmers, by Indian researchers, looked at 22

villages near the Musi river, which is little more than a sewer for the city of Hyderabad. It found that almost half of

households irrigating their fields with the sewage flow reported fever, headaches and skin and stomach problems

during the previous year - twice the rate in a control village that used clean water for irrigation. The highest

disease rates were among women who weeded the fields.

Another study looked at what happened to the crops grown by sewage farmers in the cities of Ghana. Most of

them grow salad vegetables such as lettuces that are sold in street food and eaten by some 700,000 people, says

Drechsel. He calculates this could cause up to half a million cases of mild diarrhoea a year, nearly one per

consumer.

The instant reaction is to ban the practice. But a more practical approach would be to improve hygiene. To

maximise the benefits of recycling sewage onto land without creating health problems, safe practices for handling

faeces are vital, says Drechsel. The parasitic protozoa and viruses present in faeces cannot multiply outside the

human body so simply storing the waste in ponds before applying it to the fields kills many dangerous pathogens

as the sewage dries out. But this requires months rather than weeks to be fully effective. Things can be speeded

up by sprinkling wood ash or rice husks over the faeces, or by adding other alkaline materials such as lime. In

combination with washing salad vegetables before sale, this can eliminate more than 90 per cent of the health

risks, says Dennis Wichelns, principal economist at IWMI. Incinerating the waste destroys all pathogens and

parasites, but it reduces the nutrient content. The problem, Wichelns admits, will be finding ways to encourage

farmers and food sellers to adopt such practices.

An end to flush and forget

The best way to grab most of the advantages of nutrient and water recycling without imposing health hazards is

to treat sewage before giving it to farmers. A typical sewage works will remove obvious solids like sanitary towels,

and leave the rest to settle to the bottom of ponds, before using bacteria to eat some of the organic material. These

processes can remove most pathogens while leaving behind most of the nutrients.

Irrigating with treated sewage effluent is increasingly popular in developed countries short of water too. For

example, Israel uses around 70 per cent of the treated effluent from its sewage treatment works for irrigation.

With more intense chemical treatment, sewage effluent can be reused for drinking. In Singapore, for example, they

have branded their treated effluent NEWater. "It is cleaner than regular tap water," says Yap Kheng Guan, senior

director of Singapore's water utility. While most of the NEWater goes to industries that need very pure water, such

as microchip manufacturing and pharmaceuticals, some is added to the city's drinking water reservoirs. Orange

County in California filters treated sewage through rocks beneath the county, before pumping it up to fill the taps

of more than 2 million residents. And London's drinking water has typically been drunk several times by people

living in towns upstream of the river Thames, each time being cleaned up and returned to the river before being

extracted again.

The truth is the days of "flush and forget" must come to an end, even in the developed world. We should be

recycling our faeces and urine in the same way we recycle scarce metals. In some places, that will involve

advanced technology. But in much of the world that is a long way off. And where water is in short supply, even

flushed sewer systems may be an unaffordable luxury. For billions of people in developing countries the best

option, both economically and ecologically, may be septic tanks, the honey-suckers and the return of the sewage

farm.

This article appeared in print under the headline "Flushed with success"

Fred Pearce is a consultant for New Scientist based in London

162

Food-Supermarket preference depends mostly on convenience as transport & fuel increase costs

Updated: 21 Feb 2013

Tesco: Supermarket Bottom Of Which? Survey

Sky News – Wed, Feb 20, 2013 …

Tesco is the UK's least popular supermarket - and Waitrose is the most liked - according to a new survey.

Waitrose received an overall satisfaction score of 82%, including five-star ratings for its customer service and the

quality of its fresh produce.

Meanwhile Tesco scored just 45% - placing it at the bottom of the poll of 11,492 people by consumer watchdog Which?

It also received poor marks for its pricing, store environment, quality of fresh produce and customer service.

Discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl came second and third best with scores of 74% and 69% respectively,

beating some of their bigger rivals such as Morrisons (59%), Sainsbury 's (58%) and Asda (53%).

Aldi and Lidl were the only supermarkets to get four-star ratings for their pricing, with 97% of those surveyed

saying they both offer good value.

Fourth place went to Marks & Spencer with 68%, while the Co-operative scored just above Tesco with 48%.

Ocado took top spot in the online ranking with 81%, followed by Waitrose (74%), Sainsbury's (71%), Tesco (63%)

and Asda (61%).

The poll revealed that consumers' biggest irritation when shopping is not being able to easily compare prices

because of different unit measurements, with 37% reporting that this annoyed them.

They also wanted supermarkets to keep special offers simple, with 55% preferring straight discounts ahead of

other offers such as petrol vouchers (16%) or buy-one-get-one-free deals (11%).

A Tesco spokeswoman said: "Millions of customers shop regularly with Tesco and we are always looking at ways

to improve their shopping experience.

"We have made a £1bn commitment to make Tesco better for our UK customers and since this survey in October

2012, we have had an encouraging Christmas and New Year and are delivering further improvements this year.

The survey was conducted before horsemeat was discovered in products sold as beef, triggering a probe by the

Food Standards Agency which has embroiled British supermarkets.

Food-George Galloway makes mince-meat of Britain today

Updated: 19 Feb 2013

15th Feb 2013

Galloway on Question Time gave a memorable doom painting of Britain today -

which I might embroider further, as follows:

You go to the supermarket because that’s all you can afford; to buy horse meat because THAT's all you

can afford (& because the government has sacked 700 food inspectors) - to be served by the forced labour of

unemployed food nutritionists on government work schemes, before heading home to your horse-drawn caravan

to avoid the bedroom tax and take your daily shot of sensory depriving Bute

Stephen Fry

Food- Paterson's Food Safety Standard ? This Lunatic has been handed the keys to the Asylum

Updated: 19 Feb 2013

Comments for: "Owen Paterson turns up the heat on supermarkets"

pickaxe

February 18, 2013 09:44

“So it trusts that the pallet conforms to the piece of paper.

No-one checks what is on the pallet often enough, no-one checks what is in production often enough, no-one

checks the finished product often enough."

That's the kind of activity he normally sneers at as being "Brussells Red Tape."

The Original Jake

February 18, 2013 09:53

Those retailers have hundreds of years of combined buying experience between them. At what point during

routine supplier negotiations did they stop and think "these prices are too good to be true. What's the catch?"

The Merch

February 18, 2013 10:40

Blame games in full swing then. Perhaps sacking 800 food inspectors out of 1,700 wasn't the governments

cleverest moment. But then again perhaps this is all part of the plan, like the NHS.

Dismantle from the inside, not as obvious.

Ken Adams

February 18, 2013 13:15

Since the food scares of the late 1980s and '90s, Food safety and food standards have become exclusive EU

competences. Following this transfer of power to the EU we have seen a sea-change in regulation, both in

scale and type, “organoleptic evaluation" was dropped from the control regime with the introduction of

predictive control system, known as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and paperwork

auditing. EU Council regulation 178/2002 confirms that food operators have primary responsibility for food

safety and quality.

Food operators not governments not Ministers.

Please try to understand the basics, our government no longer control the quality or safety of the food we eat.

The Merch

February 18, 2013 14:24

Oh great...the lunatics have been handed the keys to the asylum then

Food -Minister meets Supermarket bosses - Oh to be a Horse-Fly on the Wall

Updated: 18 Feb 2013

Horsemeat: Minister To Meet Supermarket Bosses

Sky News – 32 minutes ago

The Environment Secretary is meeting supermarkets and food retail bodies to press for details on how they will restore the confidence of shoppers.

Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons are among those confirmed to be attending the meeting with Owen Paterson in Westminster.

They will be joined by the Institute of Grocery Distribution and the Food and Drink Federation.

It comes as a leading charity claims the Government was made aware that illegal horsemeat was in the food chain more than a year ago.

World Horse Welfare says it had a sit-down meeting with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in 2011, to flag up the problem of horse passports being faked to allow the animals to be slaughtered.

Roly Owers, the charity's chief executive, told Sky News that problems had been reported ever since the passport system was set up in 2005.

"We know that in November 2011 we attended a meeting where the issue of the passport system ... was discussed with Defra and local authorities," he said.

John Young, a former manager at the Meat Hygiene Service, now part of the Food Standards Agency (FSA), told The Sunday Times he helped draft a letter to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in April that year.

But he told the paper the letter to former minister Sir Jim Paice on behalf of Britain's largest horse meat exporter, High Peak Meat Exports, which warned that flesh with possible drug residue getting into food could blow up into a scandal, was ignored.

The FSA revealed on Friday that 2,501 tests were conducted on beef products, with 29 results positive for undeclared horsemeat at or above 1%.

The 29 results related to seven different products, which have already been reported and withdrawn from sale - Aldi's special frozen beef lasagne and special frozen spaghetti bolognese, Co-op frozen quarter pounder burgers, Findus beef lasagne, Rangeland's catering burger products, and Tesco value frozen burgers and value spaghetti bolognese.

Pub and hotel group Whitbread became the latest company to admit horse DNA had been found in its food, saying its meat lasagnes and beefburgers had been affected and removed from menus.

Horsemeat was also discovered in school dinners, with cottage pies testing positive for horse DNA sent to 47 Lancashire schools before being withdrawn.

The results of tests on further products are not expected to be available until later in the week.

Food- THE GREAT LEAN MINCE SCANDAL -What the Eye don't see the Heart don't grieve over

Updated: 18 Feb 2013

The great 'lean' mince swindle:

There's LESS fat in standard meat, says study

By Sean Poulter
UPDATED: 00:01, 24 July 2010

Not so lean: Amounts of fat can vary greatly from what it says on the pack

‘Lean’ or ‘extra lean’ minced beef may sound like a healthy option.

But shoppers who buy these products could be eating more fat than is found in standard mince.

For the fat content labels used on the meat can be hopelessly inaccurate, a study shows.

One pack of so-called lean mince contained 25.9 per cent fat, while another described as extra lean had 23.1 per cent fat.

The survey, conducted by councils, found conventional mince can be as little as 2 per cent fat, which would be a far healthier option.

Shoppers are charged far more for the supposedly healthy low fat versions to be used in pies, bolognese and

burgers, yet many are getting a poorer quality option.

Lean mince can be 80 per cent more expensive at £7.18 a kilo versus £4 for the standard product.

Discount supermarkets are the biggest culprits for misleading shoppers, while small independent butchers

generally offer lower fat products.

The worst quality mince was found in frozen packs, which was not only high in fat but more likely to contain ‘

connective material’ – the gristle scraped from bones.

Researchers found that mince from Asda contained an average of 27 per cent more fat than claimed on the label.

The figure was an average of 23 per cent more for Aldi, 19 per cent higher at Netto, 18 per cent at Morrisons and 13 per cent at Lidl.

Tesco scored relatively well, with an average of just 2 per cent more fat than claimed.

And Sainsbury’s had 4 per cent less fat than stated on the label.

Perhaps surprisingly, the average fat content found in ten samples of mince bought from budget store Iceland

was 10 per cent less than stated.

The study analysed 513 samples - and found the overall fat content varied massively, from 1.8 per cent to 33.6 per cent.

There was significant variation within product categories.

While some packets of ‘lean minced beef’ contained just 2.5 per cent fat, others had ten times that amount.

Minced beef from supermarkets contained 67 per cent more fat than the equivalent from butchers’ shops.

However, 29 per cent of minced beef samples from the butchers’ had traces of other meat in them – mainly pork.

This is probably because more than one type of meat was put through the mincer.

Cheap frozen minced beef contained 41 per cent more fat and 24 per cent more connective tissue than fresh minced beef.

While buying is something of a lottery, the study found that minced steak generally had lower fat.

However, even some packs of lean or extra lean minced steak contained more fat than the standard product.

LG Regulation, which speaks for councils, is calling for consistency in the naming of beef products, as well as

help and advice for shoppers to understand what they are buying.

The group’s chairman, Paul Bettison, said: ‘When it comes to labelling minced beef, confusion reigns supreme.

‘For a consumer to try to purchase a product with a specific fat content, the chances of them getting what they

want are a bit of a lottery.

Minced meat is one of the country’s most popular food products.

Yet the millions of people who eat it every week would be shocked to learn that a packet of lean steak mince

may contain more fat than steak mince.’

The British Retail Consortium, which represents supermarkets, complained the study was misleading and that

the councils were unfairly focussing on major stores.

Its food director, Andrew Opie, said: ‘The fat content of mince varies depending on factors such as the cuts of

meat used, the season and the animal’s feed.

‘The average fat figures the survey found for standard, lean and extra lean mince were all within industry

guidelines and within the tolerances recommended by local council bodies.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1297262/The-great-lean-mince-swindle-Theres-LESS-fat-standard-meat-says-study.html#ixzz2LDzs64yV
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Food-Horse Meat Scandal - Supermarkets lose out to local Butchers

Updated: 18 Feb 2013

Industry rallies as horse meat scandal continues

16 February 2013 | By Olivia Midgley

Farmers Guardian

THE farming industry came out fighting this week as it launched a concerted PR drive to limit the damage of the horse meat scandal.

Farm chiefs went into overdrive to reinforce the ‘buy local’ message, with the National Beef Association saying

supermarkets should step up and show their support to the industry before British beef production becomes a

‘European museum display of best practice’.

Tomorrow (Saturday), adverts will be displayed in 11 national newspapers as part of a drive by the NFU, Eblex

and Bpex to reconnect with the consumer and encourage shoppers to look out for the Red Tractor logo.

Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board chairman John Godfrey said the horse meat incident showed

the industry had faltered in its efforts to communicate the benefits of whole chain assurance schemes such as

Red Tractor and its own Quality Standard marque.

Mr Godfrey said: “I believe we have singly failed to get the message across to consumers and the media that if

they buy products with quality marques or even from their local butchers, they should be more confident their food is as labelled.”

Retail PR expert Zara Weller, who advises food businesses, said it was a ‘tragedy’ those who supplied

supermarkets with good quality meat products were being tainted by the scandal.

Ms Weller said: “The plan moving forwards needs to be reassurance.

“More farmers need to speak to the media and give a clear message that this is an isolated incident which

involves a portion of the industry. With a low level of understanding of meat manufacturing in the UK, it’s easy

for the public to be whipped up into a panic.”

Speaking at this week’s NFUS AGM, McDonald’s head of agriculture and sourcing, Howard Gray, said the public

demanded premium ingredients and provenance at prices they can afford.

He said: “Delivering good food is a daily challenge and requires a different relationship with suppliers.”

Mr Gray said the fast food chain, which sources all its beef from British and Irish farms, was ‘not smug’ about

not being involved in the scandal, but admitted it did have far reaching implications for the industry.

Butchery boost in wake of scandal

SOME of the winners of the horse meat scandal are local butchers who have seen trade boom in recent days.

In Scotland, Elgin butcher Michael Dawson said his sales were up 20 per cent and West Yorkshire butcher and

chairman of the Butchers Q Guild, Brindon Addy, noticed a 30 per cent increase in sales of fresh burgers, since news of the scandal broke.

The NFU said demand for quality, Cumbrian beef has ‘never been higher’ and proved shoppers were trading up

or opting for British meat over imported processed products.

Current impacts on farmers have been minimal. The average farmgate deadweight beef price has moved by less

than 3p/kg between last week and the week prior to the issue breaking. Slaughtering volumes have increased over this period

Food- The World's Biggest Industry-Climate Change,GM,Food Waste,Water and World Demand

Updated: 17 Feb 2013

Food waste a driver in the need for production increases

15 February 2013

Farmers Guardian

CLIMATE change will place the biggest constraint on future production increases and it cannot be ignored, the

2013 Sentry Conference heard.

Professor Tim Benton, UK champion for global food security and professor of population ecology at the

University of Leeds, told delegates: “It (climate change) is happening, it is with us and we have to adapt.”

However, there were many ‘win:win solutions’ which would help build in resilience in production, he said.

These include managing soils for better fertility, reducing erosion, reducing waste, using new technology such

as precision farming and chemical innovations, making better use of natural enemies and use of new crops and

varieties.

There was also a role for genetic modification, said Prof Benton.

Growing demand

The food sector was the world’s biggest industry, the biggest land and water user - and polluter too, he said.

Demand for food is growing fast and, as demand grows, the type of food demanded is changing also.

But as the urban population grows, so does food waste, as people are less connected with food production and

appreciate it less.

“About 25 per cent of food is thrown away, but even if we reduce waste and over-consumption it is difficult to

imagine behaviour changes sufficient enough so we don’t need significant increases in production.”

There was a limited opportunity to increase the amount of land devoted to food production, and other

constraints on production, including regulation and competition for water, would continue to increase, Prof

Benton told the conference

Food- Its about Fraudulent Profits and less about eating Horsemeat

Updated: 16 Feb 2013

Profits trump public health

Friday 15 February 2013

Adulteration of meat destined for the food-processing market in Britain and in other European states is fast assuming a scale little short of the scandal that surrounded the banking industry.

In each case, government deliberately weakened the regulatory regime, trusting private companies to monitor themselves and accepting that "light-touch" regulation would assist profitability and pose minimum risk to the public.

Similarly, when the banking and "horseburger" scandals broke, there was little immediate realisation of how extensive was the wrongdoing involved.

As long as banks were racking up record profits every year, courtesy of rampant speculation and the buying and selling of worthless subprime mortgage bundles, governments were happy to stand back in amazement, glorifying the bold genius of those amassing profits, dividends and bonuses.

Food processing has not attracted similar excesses, but it has developed exponentially in recent decades, especially in supermarkets.

So-called ready meals have come a long way from the TV dinners portrayed as convenience meals when the concept was imported from north America to coincide with the introduction of microwave ovens.

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They were not cheap then but have become increasingly so, partly in response to competition between supermarkets for a growing market, especially among low-paid and busy households, and partly as a result of ever-wider sourcing of cheaper ingredients.

Food campaigners and celebrity TV chefs regularly advocate locally sourced and verifiable meat, fish, seafood, vegetables and dairy products, which is a principle worthy of support.

However, establishment of a reduced number of large, modern, hygienic, centralised slaughterhouses makes more sense to European Union bureaucrats and to supermarket bosses for whom centralisation equals economies of scale, but it also means long, uncomfortable and stressful journeys to slaughter for livestock.

The supermarkets justify these practices on the basis that this enables them to hold down prices, even though most producers complain about being paid only a tiny fraction of the prices charged to the consumer.

As bad as practices are for these producers and consumers, the situation is worse still at the cheaper or "bargain" end of the market.

Where corporate profits are concerned, public health, public interest and public accountability usually come a poor second.

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Such is the constant pressure to increase profitability that supermarkets and their agents are constantly on the lookout for cheaper "meat," which may not always be immediately recognisable as such.

Where there are lucrative contracts to be won there will be unscrupulous dealers prepared to pass off unpalatable parts of an animal as meat or, as we have seen in recent days, one species as an other.

Eating horsemeat is not viewed as untoward in France or other European countries, but it is sold for about a fifth of the price paid for beef.

So the major preoccupation at present is not health, although the presence of the painkiller phenylbutazone in some samples of horsemeat indicates grounds for concern.

It is self-evident that adulteration of meat forms part of a widespread criminal operation across the EU and possibly further afield.

More stringent regulation in all countries involved in provision or consumption of processed food could have prevented this scandal, but neoliberal orthodoxy has stood in the way of this necessity.

The ever-growing number of products removed from supermarket shelves indicates that governments need to show greater urgency in investigating and laying bare these crimes and prosecuting those responsible.

Food-Supermarket Meat Labelled British Beef with EU Horsemeat in is fraud. Jail these Offenders !

Updated: 16 Feb 2013

'Buy British' campaign launched as horse meat test results due

15 February 2013 | By Alistair Driver

A NEW campaign urging consumers to back British meat has been launched as new revelations are expected in the horse meat scandal.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is due to publish the results of tests on a range of meat products sold in the UK this afternoon. The tests were ordered following the discovery of horse meat in Findus frozen lasagne products last week.

Despite concerns laboratories have been overwhelmed by the scale of the tests, the results that are available are likely to shed more light on the scale of the problem.

The crisis has engulfed companies involved in the production and retail of meat products across the EU and shows little signs of abating.

In the latest high profile revelation, Asda has withdrawn its fresh beef bolognese sauce after it tested positive for horse meat.

On Friday, the NFU, in association with meat levy bodies EBLEX and BPEX, responded to the furore, blamed on mislabelled imported ingredients and products, by launching a ‘Buy British’ campaign. Adverts encouraging the public to buy British are running across 10 national newspapers, highlighting the message that ‘Great British Farmers produce Great British food’.

The adverts also remind consumers to look out for the Red Tractor, which the NFU says stands for ‘traceable and independently inspected food, from farm to pack’.

Using the twitter hashtag #buybritish the NFU will also be championing British produce on social media and encouraging consumers to show their support and buy the high quality food produced on British farms.

NFU President Peter Kendall said: “British farmers are very proud of what they produce and are, quite rightly, furious about this current situation. They feel let down by what looks like a criminal element in an isolated part of the food chain.

He stressed that the UK meat industry was highly regulated and said it was ‘imperative that we remind consumers that British farmers work to some extremely stringent standards’.

“This gives me confidence that fresh, British meat should remain top of the shopping list. And I’m not alone. Anecdotal evidence from Eblex suggests that demand for assured quality beef remains robust and that consumers are increasingly looking for assurance marks when they are buying food,” Mr Kendall said.

Mr Kendall also urged supermarkets to ‘throw their weight behind independent assurance schemes like Red Tractor, which will help to reassure consumers and Great British farmers’.

“Consumers should have the confidence that the products they buy are what they say they are. Our message to them is that British farms produce high quality produce and we want the public to continue to show them support,” he said.

UK supermarkets have hit back after criticism by Prime Minister David Cameron that they have been too secretive during the scandal. On Thursday, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said it was ‘not acceptable for retailers to remain silent while their customers have been misled’.

He said: “The supermarkets need to justify their action and reassure the public.”

In a joint, open letter, senior executives from a number of leading food companies, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons, say they ‘understand and share’ their consumers’ ‘anger and outrage’.

“The food industry is determined to restore consumer confidence in the food we sell as quickly as possible,” the letter says.

“We can’t accept a situation where the trust customers place in us is being compromised by fraudulent activity or even as alleged, an international criminal conspiracy.”

The criminal investigation into the source of the contamination has covered companies, plants and individuals in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Poland, France, Belgium, Romania, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Food- Potatoes- The Humble Spud -is Nutritious !

Updated: 15 Feb 2013

Potatoes The Humble Spud

Potatoes are Nutritious

Devil's food? The surprising health benefits of the humble spud

By Anastasia Stephens

A new survey has revealed that after sugar, carbohydrates such as potatoes are one of the first things that those

keeping an eye on their weight cut out.

Yet far from being the devil's food, a cooked new potato has only 26

calories and is packed with nutrients.

Here we reveal the surprising health benefits of the humble spud.

A key to lasting weight loss is eating foods that make you feel full for longer, says Dr Jacquie Lavin, a weight-loss

doctor for Slimming World.

'You should eat complex carbohydrates such as potatoes, rather than simple carbohydrates like sugar or biscuits

which give a short energy boost followed by hunger pangs,' she says.

'In this way, potatoes can help you reduce binge-eating.'

Nutritious: Potatoes provide the body with an essential source of fuel and energy, which you need even when dieting

According to a study in the British Journal of Nutrition, potatoes are wrongly classified as high on the Glycemic

Index, which ranks carbohydrates from one to 100 according to how quickly they are broken down during

digestion into basic glucose. Pure glucose scores 100.

The lower the rank, the longer it takes for the food to be absorbed, and the longer we feel satiated after eating it.

This is why a diet of low GI foods is recommended to those wanting to lose weight.

However, the research revealed that the GI of potatoes varies depending on the type, where it is grown and the preparation methods.

For example, the GI may be medium to low when potatoes are eaten cooled, rather than hot, and when boiled and

consumed whole, rather than mashed.

Potatoes provide the body with an essential source of fuel and energy, which you need even when dieting.

As a rich carbohydrate source, they help to fuel all reactions in the body which you need for movement, thinking,

digestion and cellular renewal.

VITAMIN BOOSTER

Potatoes were eaten by 19th Century English and Spanish sailors to fend off scurvy. Surprisingly rich in immune-

boosting Vitamin C, a medium potato (150g) with the skin provides 27mg, almost half of the recommended daily intake.

Potatoes are also a rich source of Vitamin B, folate and minerals such as potassium, magnesium and iron.

Potatoes are underground tubers, meaning that they store all the vitamins and minerals needed for growing new potato plants in spring.

Rather than being bland and starchy, they're actually full of nutrients.

Super food: One new potato contains just 26 calories

BLOOD PRESSURE

Researchers at the Institute for Food Research in Norwich have found blood-pressure lowering molecules in potatoes called kukoamines.

Traditional Chinese Medicine uses a plant, Lycium chinense - which also contains kukoamines - as a tea to lower blood pressure.

While the precise quantity of potatoes you'd need to eat for a therapeutic effect has still to be measured, it is

thought that a few good servings of potatoes a day would have some blood-pressure lowering activity.

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

The Agricultural Research Service in Navarre, America, has identified 60 different kinds of phytochemicals and

vitamins in potato skins.

Many of these were flavonoids, which help protect against cardiovascular-disease by lowering levels of bad LDL-

cholesterol and keeping arteries fat-free.

The B vitamins in potatoes also protect arteries. Vitamin B6, found in potatoes, reduces levels of a molecule

called homocysteine which is involved in inflammation and the furring up of arteries. High homocysteine levels

are associated with a significantly increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

GUT HEALTH

A single baked potato will provide nearly 12 per cent of the daily recommended amount of fibre, giving similar

levels to whole grain breads, pastas and cereals.

High levels of dietary fibre and 'bulking agents' support healthy digestion and regular bowel movements, while

giving a protective effect from colon cancer.

While most potato fibre is found in the skin, some of the starch in potatoes is indigestible.

Instead it passes through the gut intact, adding bulk. If you suffer from sluggish bowel movements, eat cooked

potatoes that have been cooled. The cooling process increases the amount of indigestible starch from seven per cent to 13 per cent.

STRESS

Potatoes are exceedingly rich in Vitamin B6, a substance needed for cellular renewal, a healthy nervous system

and a balanced mood. Just 100g of baked potato contains 21 per cent of the daily value of the vitamin.

It is used to make neurotransmitters --substances that deliver messages from one cell to the next.

Neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine are needed for the regulation of mood and Vitamin B6 is needed to make them.

It is also used to make adrenaline, hormones that help us respond to stress, and GABA, a substance linked to relaxation and a feeling of wellbeing.

Healthy: A single baked potato will provide nearly 12 per cent of the daily recommended amount of fibre

PICK YOUR POTATOES WISELY

Earlier this year, a new breed of potato - Vivaldi - was developed in Lincolnshire by the company Naturally Best

and is now sold in Sainsbury's. The white and salad potatoes contain at least 26 per cent less carbohydrate and

33 per cent fewer calories than other varieties.

The health benefits do not impair the taste. Vivaldi has been dubbed the 'butterless baker' for its creamy texture

and flavour, making it less likely you'll want to smother it in butter.

Floury potatoes can become light and fluffy when cooked and are high in starch.

They tend to have a high GI therefore, as starch has a profound effect on blood glucose levels. This can be

lowered to a medium GI by mashing them and adding olive oil-based spread or skimmed milk.

Waxy potatoes, such as new potatoes like Charlotte and Nicola, are medium GI foods. They are high in moisture

and sugar, but low in starch, hence they will have a more minor effect on blood sugar levels.

You can further combine new potatoes with salad oil or protein to balance out sugar levels as opposed to raising them.

DON'T PASS ON THE POTATOES

Potatoes are typically loaded with calorie-laden fats such as butter, sour cream and melted cheese.

Cut out the extra fat and deep frying, and a typical baked potato suddenly becomes a healthy high-fibre food.

Packed with vitamins: Potato skins contain fibre and flavonoids and other nutrients, so keeping them on if you

boil or mash potatoes will give extra nutrition

'Use fillings such as coleslaw, tuna or hummus, or an olive oil spread that contains less saturated fat,' says

Amanda Jennings of Bristol's Vitality Centre.

'Adding protein such as tuna or hummus, made from chickpeas, will mean the carbohydrate in the potato is

broken down more slowly, making you feel fuller and energised for a longer period of time.'

Potato skins contain fibre and flavonoids and other nutrients, so keeping them on if you boil or mash potatoes

will give extra nutrition. As Vitamin C leaches into water, bake your potatoes if you want to get the most of this vitamin.

Chips that have been cooked in deep-fried oil will be soaked in artery-clogging fat and packed full of unhealthy

calories. Instead, eat oven-baked chips, which are virtually fat free

Food- Potatoes- The Humble Spud- Growing guidellines- A highly productive but greedy crop

Updated: 15 Feb 2013

Fertiliser Requirements

Potatoes are an extremely productive crop and so a greedy crop. Their requirements and an exact feeding regime

will depend on the variety grown as well as the amount of nutrients already in the ground for them.

Assumptions Regarding Nutrients Available

The assumption made here is that the soil is in good heart and that a reasonable level of NPK is there to start. If

breaking new ground, or exhausted ground then an additional 10% to 20% of fertiliser would be beneficial.

Fertiliser Programme

Adding manure the previous autumn at a rate of a barrow load of 20Kg per square metre will provide the starting

point for the calculation. The manure is around 0.7% nitrogen so you have added 140g of nitrogen. However,

nitrogen washes out of the soil and only around 10% of the amount you added is going to be available to the

crop. So we've actually added 14g /M2 of nitrogen to get the crop going.

As well as nitrogen to form the haulm (foliage) potatoes need a high level of potash for the tubers. A good source

of this is to lay wilted comfrey leaves in the base of the trench, covered with a little soil under the seed potatoes.

First Early Potatoes

For first early potatoes the addition of extra fertiliser is probably unnecessary, assuming you manured in the

autumn. If you have not manured previously, adding 200g/M2 of Growmore or fish, blood and bone will provide

enough to get a decent crop.

Second Early & Maincrop Fertilisers

Second early and maincrop potatoes will certainly benefit from additional feeding prior to planting even if

previously manured and again at the point where the tubers begin to form. This is effectively when the foliage

canopy between the plants begins to touch.

The reason we are adding nitrogen through the growing season is that nitrogen is the element that has the lowest

life in the soil. Heavy rain or irrigation washes it out but phosphates and potash remain to be available for the crop.

A good source of additional potash is wood ashes - if you've burnt some wood pruning then don't waste this valuable resource.

Calcium nitrate applied at 70g/M2 will provide (at 15.5% nitrogen) an additional 11g/M2 of nitrogen plus effectively

lime, thereby reducing soil acidification and this will improve total yield, improve the skin finish and improve keeping quality.

Organic gardeners with a lot of comfrey liquid feed available could water weekly or fortnightly around 5 litres per

metre of row or add around 100g/M2 of dried blood.

The late maincrop varieties are in the ground longest and these need the most feeding. Adding additional

nitrogen around ten to twelve weeks after planting should carry them through.

Food- Potatoes - The Humble Spud

Updated: 14 Feb 2013

Potatoes - The Humble Spud –

Potatoes are for eating

Potatoes have flavour

Potatoes are for growing

Whatever they are, Potatoes are not boring !

They are the staple diet of the West

Just as Rice is the staple diet of the East.

There are specialist Potatoes for Boiling, Chipping,or Crisping, Baking, Mashing, Roasting and Salads

There are First Earlies , Second Earlies and Main Crop

There are hundreds of varieties which cross match the lists above

What Varieties to Grow For Flavour

What potato to grow?

There are around 500 varieties of potatoes available to the gardener to grow. Yes, that’s right 500 varieties of potato. Finding all of them would be a bit of a task but the selections easily available will probably be more than you need anyway.

Why all this choice of potatoes?

One good reason, apart from growing habits and disease resistance, is taste.

Different potatoes taste differently. The supermarkets may offer you a choice beyond the simple ‘White or Red’ nowadays but the home grower has a range of flavours far beyond that available in the shops.

The taste of the potato is not just a product of the variety; the type of soil and growing conditions will have an effect. I may enjoy one variety but it can taste quite different when grown on your soil.

Because of the water content and flesh structure, different potatoes cook differently. Some fry well, making great chips (or crisps – Golden Wonder is a potato variety) some boil well and some mash well. Waxy potatoes are better for salads than floury potatoes.

The tables below should give you some help on what to grow for what purpose. I have not covered all the varieties available but I think I've got the main ones that are readily available from both garden centres and specialist suppliers. You may find one variety appears in two or more sections as some potatoes are more multi-purpose than others.

Best Potatoes for Boiling

First Earlies	All first earlies boil well
Second Earlies	Anya Cosmos Edzell Blue	Marfona Maris Peer Estima	Nadine Saxon	Kestrel Wilja
Main Crop	Ambo Arran Victory Cara Celine	Maris Piper Maxine Pentland Squire Picasso	Romano Sarpo Mira Stemster Pink Fir Apple	Desiree Harmony King Edward Kondor

Best Potatoes for Baking

First Earlies	Arran Pilot Duke of York Epicure	Red Duke of York Rocket Swift	Foremost Pentland Javelin	Vanessa Winston
Second Earlies	Cosmos Edzell Blue Estima	Maris Peer Nadine	Kestrel Marfona	Saxon Wilja
Main Crop	Ambo Arran Victory Cara Celine	Maris Piper Maxine Pentland Squire Picasso	Desiree Harmony King Edward Kondor	Pink Fir Apple Romano Sarpo Mira Stemster

Best Potatoes for Roasting

First Earlies	Accent	Ulster Chieftain	Swift
Second Earlies	Catriona Cosmos	Mona Lisa Osprey	Edzell Blue Kestrel	Wilja
Main Crop	Arran Victory Cara Celine Desiree	Maxine Picasso Remarka Romano	Dunbar Standard King Edward Kondor Maris Piper	Sante Stemster Valor

Best Potatoes for Chipping

First Earlies	Accent International Kidney	Swift	Premiere	Winston
Second Earlies	Kestrel	Saxon	Yukon Gold	Nadine
Main Crop	Cara Celine Desiree	King Edward Majestic Maris Piper	Dunbar Standard Golden Wonder Kerrs Pink	Pentland Dell Stemster Valor

Best Potatoes for Mashing

First Earlies	Accent	Winston	Epicure
Second Earlies	Cosmos Kestrel	Nadine Osprey	Merlin	Wilja
Main Crop	Arran Victory Desiree Harmony Kerrs Pink	Maxine Pentland Crown Remarka	King Edward Majestic Maris Piper	Sante Sarpo Mira Stemster

Best Potatoes for Salads

First Earlies	Amandine Belle de Fontenay BF15	International Kidney Pomfine Red Duke of York	Cherie Anoe (Claire) Duke of York	Rosabelle Swift Ulster Chieftain
Second Earlies	Altesse Anya Carlingford	Linzer Delikatess Maris Piper Nicola	Charlotte Franceline Juliette	Roseval Wilja
Main Crop	Pink Fir Apple	Ratte	Pompadour	Sarpo Mira

· Preparing to plant

No pain, no gain
Potatoes, like any root crop, find it difficult to grow in compacted, stony ground.

Choose an open, well-drained, sunny spot and dig over the soil, breaking up clods of earth and removing stones.

Work in plenty of compost and manure.

Avoid excessively limey soil.Pioneer potatoes

Ideally, you should dig your potato patch in the winter, allowing it some time to settle before planting.

But spuds are a pretty forgiving crop and you can do this job in the early spring if you have to.

In fact, many gardeners use potatoes as a "pioneer" crop on new vegetable plots.

Don't plant potatoes where they have been grown in the past three years.

This encourages disease.

Head start

There are three types of potato: early, 2nd early and maincrop.

The easiest way to grow any variety is to buy seed potatoes especially raised for the purpose and certified free from disease.

Earlies should be "chitted" before planting.

Find a light, airy position indoors and place the tubers in a seed tray or old egg box with the sprouting ends uppermost, around six weeks before planting.

The green sprouts that result give earlies a head start.

Chitting is not normally necessary for 2nd early or maincrop potatoes.

Try these
There are hundreds of potato varieties.

Experiment to see what works best for you.

Earlies include "Pentland Javelin" and "Arran Pilot"; "Estima" and "Kestrel" are reliable 2nd earlies; try "Cara" and "Maxine" maincrops.

Planting potatoes

Early learners

Most potatoes are planted in early to late spring but they mature at different rates to provide eating throughout summer and into autumn.

Many beginners find that it's best to start with early and 2nd early potatoes.

Spuds are pretty easy to grow but can succumb to pests and diseases, especially once they've been in the ground for a while.

New potatoes are also more expensive to buy, so growing your own will save you money.Spacing your spuds

Plant seed potatoes with the shoots uppermost.

Aim for two or three shoots per tuber. Rub off extraneous shoots.

Gently place them in 15cm-deep drills (trenches), covering them with soil to form a slight ridge.

Many gardeners recommend adding a general purpose organic fertilizer to the bottom of the drill.

Earlies should be 30cm apart, with 45cm between rows.

Space maincrop and 2nd earlies 38cm apart with 75cm between rows.

Potted potatoes

Potatoes make good container crops.

Plant two or three early seed potatoes in tubs at least 30cm deep and wide, filled with multi-purpose compost or well-improved garden soil.

Use chitted tubers and plant them half-way down a 30cm-deep container.

Alternatively, use heavy duty plastic rubble sacks, perforated for drainage. In this method, plant maincrop potatoes in a sack half-filled with compost.

"Earth up" the shoots as they grow, rolling up the sack to accommodate the extra compost.

There's more about earthing up in the next lesson.

· Looking after potato plants

First Shoots

Once the shoots have grown a few centimetres above the soil, it's time to begin the "earthing up" process.

Draw earth up around the emerging stems and repeat every fortnight or so as the plants grow.

This ensures that the developing tubers are not exposed to light.

Potatoes that have been exposed to light become green and they're not good to eat: they can give you an upset stomach.

Hanging loose

Keep the soil between your rows loosened.

This will make it easier to earth up the stems when they appear.

The best tool for earthing up is undoubtedly the draw hoe.

If you're planning on growing a lot of maincrop potatoes, a draw hoe is a smart investment.

Fighting Scab

Water early potato plants regularly, especially in dry weather.

Don't let them dry out once the tubers have reached marble size.

Maincrop potatoes need plentiful watering around the time that the flowers develop.

This will increase the yield and make the plant more resistant to scab, which attacks potatoes in dry soil.

Although potatoes are thirsty, they don't like to be waterlogged.

It's essential to choose a well-drained site in the first place.

As spring turns into summer, keep an eye out for the first flowers on your earlies.

Find out why in the next lesson.

Harvesting early potatoes

Flower power

There's a reason you're looking out for flowers on your early potatoes.

The arrival of fully opened flowers is your cue to make an exploratory excavation!

This is usually around three months after planting. Approach the plant from the side and carefully lift the tubers with a fork.

If you have a fork with flat tines, use it.

Otherwise, go gently, trying not to disturb the tubers until you've worked out how big they are.

Salad spuds

With luck, you should have a lovely crop of new potatoes – an ideal accompaniment to a summer salad.

If the tubers are still too small, leave them a little longer.

As a rule, don't harvest more early potatoes than you need for your next meal.

These spuds taste so much better when they're straight out of the earth.

They also lack the thicker skins of maincrop potatoes so they don't keep as well as their more robust companions.

Routine maintenance

If you're growing 2nd early and maincrop potatoes, don't neglect them in your excitement over your tasty early harvest.

Sticking to a regular earthing up routine, for example, will help ward off potato blight, a serious disease that can

destroy an entire crop and strikes during cool, wet summers.

Pinch off maincrop flowers to encourage bigger tubers.

·Harvesting maincrop & late potatoes

The main event

Treat 2nd early potatoes as earlies, although some varieties can be kept in the ground longer.

They should be ready to harvest after around 15 weeks.

Maincrop potatoes will reach maturity after 18 weeks.

By this time, the foliage is turning brown.

Cut down the foliage and leave the potatoes in the ground for another fortnight before lifting for storage.

Sound storage

Immediately after lifting, leave the tubers to dry out for a few hours.

Examine the crop and use or destroy any damaged tubers.

Only store completely sound potatoes.

Place them in boxes with raised corner posts, in a dark, frost-free location.

Cover them if necessary to ensure they don't turn green.

Inspect them periodically.

Welcome latecomers

Your home-grown potato experience needn't end in the autumn.

Early varieties planted in late summer will provide crops in late autumn or even winter.

Some suppliers prepare seed potatoes especially for this purpose.

Choose sheltered positions or use the space vacated by your genuine early crop, after improving the soil with

well forked-in compost and general purpose organic fertilizer.

(This follow-on technique is an exception to the rule of not growing potatoes in the same spot within three years.)

Lift in late autumn or cover with straw and leave for a few more weeks.

Fresh, home-grown potatoes are guaranteed to lift a winter supper!

Next Article

Potatoes the Humble Spud- Calories and Cooking

Potatoes are Nutritious, Potatoes are for Cooking

Food- Supermarket greed,with Government collaboration & incompetence,= the Horse Meat Fraud Scandal

Updated: 14 Feb 2013

Supermarket greed caused horse meat scandal, says NPA

11-02-2013

'Supermarket greed' is to blame for the horse meat scandal while farmers suffer as a result, according to the

National Pig Association.

Traceability standards for beef products are the subject of debate as news emerged over the content of meat

products in UK and Irish supermarkets.

The fear of eating contaminated beef has caused many shoppers to be wary of all meat sold in supermarkets.

The association has blamed retailers who 'habitually drive down meat prices' below the cost of production

causing a lapse in quality or an adulterated content of the product.

"Where on earth do they think this cheap euromeat is coming from?"

demanded Richard Longthorp, chairman of the NPA.

"If you consistently buy something below the price at which it can be produced, you must know that corners have been cut in quality, or safety, or legality, or all three."

The National Beef Association also raised the point of undervalued beef.

"At the moment we are led to believe that no one in the manufacturing process was aware of horse meat been

sold as beef, it makes one wonder when the processors were purchasing this bargain beef raw material that no

one thought how can we be getting this beef at such a bargain price?" the association queried.

"Beef is expensive to produce and expensive to process but most mainstream supermarkets discount beef

products" said Oisin Murnion, chairman of the National Beef Association.

Findus is the latest company to be caught up in the controversy surrounding contamination of meat products,

which has affected companies in the UK, Irish Republic, Poland and France.

Farming groups said supermarkets 'have only themselves to blame for the current lack of customer trust' in the meat products.

"Even though cheap imported europork hasn't been implicated in the Horsegate scandal, the price that British

pig farmers get for their safe, high-quality product plummeted by an unprecedented 3p a kilo on Friday," said NPA

general manager Dr Zoe Davies.

"Our pig farmers are already making a loss as supermarkets import increasing quantities of cheap pork from the

continent and for some this latest blow may well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back."

"But that’s not good enough for some of our largest retailers.

They have to buy cheap-cheap-cheap, and that is what has landed the High Street in its current fear and confusion."

Over 90 percent of British pork is independently audited through the Red Tractor assurance scheme along its

entire production process, from the feed that the pigs eat, to the way they are housed and cared for, to the way

they are electronically-tracked to meat plants, and to the way the meat is processed, packed and labeled.

"Shoppers can no longer trust many supermarkets but they can trust British meat."

"Our members are rightly angry and concerned with the recent developments relating to contaminated processed

meat products" said NFU President Peter Kendall.

"The contamination took place post farm gate which farmers have no control over."

"This has never been a farming issue but it is certainly an issue that farmers will be taking extremely seriously."

"We are concerned about the ramifications for the industry as a whole which is why we are meeting with retailers,

food service companies, processors, as well as the FSA and Defra, to establish the facts and seek reassurance

that the integrity of British food is maintained."

Recent events show that guaranteed origin, and full product integrity emerged as the key to higher earnings.

Oisin Murnion said: "The horsemeat scandal is a classic example of what happens when supermarket suppliers

are squeezed in cost terms and consumers are encouraged to believe that beef, which they like and love to buy,

is just as cheap as chicken or other less expensive meats."

Ten million beef burgers were withdrawn from sale in Ireland the UK last month.

Cross-border meat suppliers

Farmers and consumers have been urged to work together to prevent further cheating by cross-border meat

suppliers who have substituted beef with cheap, unregulated horse meat.

"This can be done if consumers insist that the fresh beef and manufactured beef they buy is taken exclusively

from cattle born, reared, and processed in the UK," explained NBA national director Chris Mallon.

"The integrity of their product contrasts hugely with the horsemeat which that has infiltrated the domestic food

chain as a result of careless, or unscrupulous, actions undertaken by participants in a supply chain which is

understood to cover companies in Poland, Luxembourg, Romania, France and the Republic of Ireland."

Retailers have been criticised over their scrutiny of the product as well as the price they pay for the meat.

They are 'in danger of losing their reputations' if more meat products have to be withdrawn according to Mallon.

"This disappoints us because some retailers, as well as some of their suppliers, have quite obviously been too

relaxed about the origin, even the species, of some of the meat in their processed products and beef farmers

believe the multiples can help restore consumer faith in their judgement if they make more effort to highlight the

origin, and superior integrity, of domestic beef, and domestically manufactured beef products."

Food- UK Meat Inspection is Unsafe- Tory Minister Paterson's position is untenable

Updated: 12 Feb 2013

Horsemeat scandal blamed on European meat regulation changes

Food expert says redefinition of meat meant manufacturers had to look overseas for cheap replacements

Damian Carrington
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 February 2013 14.38 GMT

Unprocessed, natural meat at Smithfields meat market in London.

Photograph by David Levene Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

The UK's horsemeat scandal was in "large part" the result of a switch from UK to foreign meat suppliers in 2012

caused by an abrupt change in European regulation that the government failed to contest, according to the

expert who led the Food Standards Agency's (FSA) surveillance programme for a decade.

The change meant that "desinewed meat" (DSM), a fine mince rubbed under pressure from carcasses, could no

longer be called meat on packaging. DSM produced in the UK was the main ingredient in most value-range

burgers, sausages, pies and kebabs and the change meant that thousands of tonnes of meat had to be sourced from elsewhere and at low cost.

"You would think it would set alarm bells ringing but it did not," said Dr Mark Woolfe, head of food authenticity

at the FSA until 2009. "There was an obvious risk. The companies were seeking a low price and that is asking for trouble."

"In principle there should not be anything wrong with a company going abroad for meat, as the EU has the

same rules," said Woolfe. "But in practice, the longer and more complex the supply chain, the more difficult it is

to control. That is a lesson we have learned the hard way."

Woolfe said the food industry got only a couple of days of notice of the change. "It was very badly done," he

said. "The government did not fight the decision of the European commission (EC), they accepted it, which I

thought was a great shame. Food retailers also seemed to be very unconcerned about the change. Everybody

bowed down to the EC decision."

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "Not complying with the

changes to de-sinewed meat rules would have risked a devastating ban on UK meat exports and we worked

hard to minimise the impact on the food industry. It's wrong to say this prompted the subsequent

contamination of meat products, but in any case there's absolutely no excuse for any food to be knowingly mislabelled."

Michael Walker, a founder board member of the FSA and now at the privatised Laboratory of the Government

Chemist, defended the EC decision: "We need to be honest about what is going into food and that is what the EC was trying to do."

But he accused the government of complacency before the horsemeat scandal erupted. "We should not let this

fade away without taking steps to prevent us being on the back foot again," he said. Walker said testing had

discovered horse and donkey contamination in food in 2003, but that after the outcry died down, it was

assumed the problem had gone away and that absence of evidence was used to infer the absence of any

problems. "This should not happen again. The UK government used to be the world leader in food authenticity."

Woolfe also criticised policies that saw the FSA losing its responsibility for food enforcement, which was

delegated to 330 local authorities. "It is unfortunate that the UK more or less ran down their surveillance," he

said. "The FSA then had to rely on information from other European countries and from local authorities."

Previously, he said, a lot of FSA testing surveys were prioritised on the basis of industry intelligence that came

from a committee that has since been disbanded. He added that local authority food enforcement services were

substandard and poorly funded "Cinderella operations".

Woolfe said that DSM had been developed to replace "mechanically recovered meat" (MRM), a "toothpaste" like

product with no muscle fibre structure, after the latter was banned from being described as meat on packaging. B

ut EC inspectors, who visited the UK in March 2012, then decided that DSM also failed to adequately meet the description of meat. The two main UK companies both subsequently abandoned production of beef and lamb DSM, Woolfe said.

"Until the change, most [meat in low-priced products] would have come from the UK, and was therefore much

easier to control," he said. "The change has probably contributed in large part [the horsemeat scandal]. Food

companies squeeze the supplier. They weren't prepared to give the suppliers more money, so it forced the suppliers to find cheap new sources."

Dr Chris Smart, a food expert from Leatherhead Food Research, said: "It is a shame that testing by the FSA has

been reduced. I am sure there will be other crises that come along in the next few years."

Food- Paterson-DEFRA-aka Minister for Food doesn't know if you are eating drugged horsemeat or beef

Updated: 11 Feb 2013

Contaminated horsemeat could harm health, environment secretary warns

Owen Paterson says tests may reveal presence of horse drug phenylbutazone, which could be 'injurious' to human health

Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent
The Guardian, Sunday 10 February 2013 18.48 GMT

The environment secretary, Owen Paterson, said the public should be prepared for further bad news as the

horsemeat scandal rumbles on. Photograph: Alamy

Contaminated horsemeat could prove "injurious" to people's health, the environment secretary Owen Paterson

said on Sunday as he served notice on the public to expect "further bad news" this week.

Amid fears in Downing Street that the ministerial team at the environment department is struggling to get a grip

on the crisis, Paterson said "an international criminal conspiracy" may be behind the introduction of dangerous

meat into processed food.

"We may find out, as the week progresses as the tests begin to come in, that there is a substance which is

injurious to human health," Paterson told LBC 97.3 Radio. "We have no evidence of that at all at the moment. At the moment this is a labelling issue."

Patersons's remarks were the first government acknowledgment of a possible health threat after the discovery

that food labelled as beef contained horsemeat.

Last week it emerged that Findus lasagne contained up to 100% horsemeat.

The Food Standards Agency is conducting tests to discover whether the veterinary drug phenylbutazone,

known as bute, is in some of the horsemeat. Meat with the drug is not allowed to enter the human food chain.

On BBC 1's Sunday Politics, Paterson warned of bad news this week when the tests are completed.

"We do not know how far this incompetence or worse, criminal conspiracy, extends," he said.

If a health threat is detected, he may ban the import of processed meat: "If we find there's a product which could

potentially be injurious to public health, then emphatically I would take necessary action," he said.

British authorities have contacted French police to investigate procedures at Comigel, the French plant which

produced the Findus lasagne found to contain horsemeat. T

he focus moved to Romania on Sunday after the company that supplied the meat, Spanghero, said it would sue its Romanian supplier for fraud.

On LBC, Paterson agreed there would be a whole new ball game if horsemeat had come from Romania

contaminated with equine anaemia, known as "horse Aids" even though it is not harmful to humans.

"Romanian horsemeat is not allowed in," Paterson said. "We are quite clear that if there has been criminal

behaviour we will work with the authorities right across the continent in bearing down on this."

He admitted that people could still be unknowingly eating horsemeat. "That is why we're carrying out this

unprecedented screening of processed beef products. It looks as if the problem is limited to processed beef,

and it looks as if there has been criminal substitution of beef with horse." But the current evidence suggested

there was a problem of false labelling rather than a threat to public health. "This issue is an issue of labelling and

fraud. This is a conspiracy against the public. Now, it's either a case of gross incompetence or, as I said

yesterday, I've got an increasing feeling that it is actually a case of an international criminal conspiracy."

Downing Street is concerned that Paterson and David Heath, the Liberal Democrat environment minister, have

been less than surefooted. Officials were astonished to discover that the two ministers returned to their rural

constituencies on Friday, though Paterson chaired crisis talks in London over the weekend.

A Defra spokesman said: "There is currently no evidence of a risk to human health. Owen Paterson was quite

clear that while we must be prepared to find more evidence of fraud, there is not a food safety risk at present.

"The FSA has said that unless there is advice to avoid a specific product, there is no reason for people to

change their shopping habits. There is no reason to believe that processed beef products currently on sale are unsafe.

"Consumers have a right to expect that food is exactly what it says on the label. The Government and the FSA

are working with authorities across Europe, including Police, to get to the bottom of this unacceptable situation.

If criminal activity is discovered we will take whatever action is necessary."

Food-"Horse meat scandal blamed on "pursuit of cheap food" - For Cheap Food read "Huge Profits"

Updated: 11 Feb 2013

Horse meat scandal blamed on 'pursuit of cheap food'

8 February 2013 | By Alistair Driver

Farmers Guardian

Radical - For "Cheap Food" read Huge Profits

RETAILERS and processors have been urged to review their ‘damaging’ pursuit of low cost food as the lid was

lifted on the extraordinary saga behind the horse meat scandal.

Investigators were this week trying to piece together a complex supply chain which sees ingredients change

hands numerous times across the EU before reaching the consumer.

Wednesday’s revelation that Findus beef lasagne products had been found to contain 60 to 80 per cent horse

meat, prompting a massive product recall, followed positive tests for horse DNA in January on beef burgers sold

throughout the UK and Ireland, including via Tesco.

The Findus beef lasagnes were produced by French company Comigel, which has a major production plant in Luxembourg.

The company supplies a wide range of processed food products across Europe.

As far as the burgers are concerned, the trail of horse meat contamination appeared to start in Poland before

moving to meat traders in Hull and Co Monaghan, Ireland, and onto processing companies and retailers, fast

food outlets and food service companies across the UK and Ireland.

As the various UK and Irish companies involved in the trade of burgers found to contain high levels of horse

DNA came to light, each protested their innocence.

But, as Irish Farm Minister Simon Coveney called in the police to assist the Irish Government’s investigation and

the UK Food Standards Agency demanded widescale testing of processed meat products, supermarkets and

processors were asked to address the bigger picture.

NFU president Peter Kendall described ABP’s role in the crisis as a ‘massive own goal’ and said farmers were

fearful about the reputational damage to the food chain and potential lost sales.

“I will be looking nervously at sales figures and I will be bloody livid if a cock up at ABP damages the market for

this product,” said Mr Kendall.

He added that farmers who had to ‘go through hoops’ to meet the high standards expected of them were

‘furious’ that the reputation of meat chain was being damaged by the lack of checks and balances in place at

companies like ABP.

He urged ABP, which slaughters more than one million cattle a year in the UK, Ireland and Poland, to ‘come

clean with the farming industry’. “This is the worst nightmare any business could have. ABP have now got to come out and say what has happened.

Can it convince farmers that this was a mistake and was not deliberate?

That is the million dollar question,” he said.

He acknowledged that ABP bought a lot of British meat and was paying ‘better prices’ and said beef farmers

needed the company to remain strong.

But he called on ABP needed to ‘think hard’ about allowing British, Irish and third country’s meat to be mixed in

the same place and to ‘improve its long-term supply relations with British farmers to prevent this sort of thing occurring again’.

But he said supermarkets also had to look at whether their pursuit of cheap food was to blame. In particular, he

highlighted the general move across the supply chain to be ‘flexible’ in terms of where products are sourced.

“Are supermarkets asking their suppliers to produce British meat or are they asking them to source from a

number of different countries? We need them to be very clear about their sourcing policies and buying British,” he said.

Eblex sector director Nick Allen said the controversy highlighted the complexity of the supply chain where

companies ‘sell bits of meat to one another’ to balance the carcase and ‘produce things as efficiently as

possible’.

“That is where consumers get cheaper food.

If that is going to change,processors need to be in a position to pay farmers more,” he said.

British Meat Processors Association director Stephen Rossides said the scandal ‘undermined confidence’ in

the sector but warned any response must be ‘proportionate’.

ABP Food Group, which is estimated to have lost in excess of £50 million in lost and suspended orders as a

result of the scandal, said it was ‘extremely proud of its relationship with British farmers’

“We have developed a very strong business based on this relationship,” the company said in a statement.

“Once we became aware of the equine DNA issue in frozen burgers we acted decisively.

The Silvercrest facility remains closed and the Dalepack site has committed to only source British and Irish beef

in the future

.ABP have apologised for the incident and have agreed that once the incident had been concluded more details

will be issued to explain what happened

Food- Of the Flying Squid kind

Updated: 11 Feb 2013

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a squid

By Harumi Ozawa | AFP – Fri, Feb 8, 2013

A species of oceanic squid can fly more than 30 metres (100 feet) through the air at speeds faster than Usain Bolt if it wants to escape predators, Japanese researchers said Friday.

The Neon Flying Squid propels itself out of the ocean by shooting a jet of water at high pressure, before opening its fins to glide at up to 11.2 metres per second, Jun Yamamoto of Hokkaido University said.

Olympic Gold medallist Bolt averaged 10.31 metres a second when he won at the London Games last year.

"There were always witnesses and rumours that said squid were seen flying, but no one had clarified how they actually do it. We have proved that it really is true," Yamamoto told AFP.

Researchers say is the first time anyone has ever described the mechanism the flying mollusc employs.

Yamamoto and his team were tracking a shoal of around 100 squid, part of the Japanese Flying Squid family, in the northwest Pacific, 600 kilometres (370 miles) east of Tokyo, in July 2011.

As their boat approached, the 20-centimetre (eight-inch) creatures launched themselves into the air with a powerful jet of water that shot out from their funnel-like stems.

"Once they finish shooting out the water, they glide by spreading out their fins and arms," Yamamoto's team said in a report.

"The fins and the web between the arms create aerodynamic lift and keep the squid stable on its flight arc.

"As they land back in the water, the fins are all folded back into place to minimise the impact."

A picture researchers snapped shows more than 20 of the creatures in full flight above the water, droplets of water from their propulsion jet clearly visible.

"We have discovered that squid do not just jump out of water but have a highly developed flying posture," the report said.

The squid are in the air for about three seconds and travel upwards of 30 metres, said Yamamoto, in what he believed was a defence strategy to escape being eaten.

But, he added, being out of the ocean opened a new front, leaving the cephalopods vulnerable to other predators.

"This finding means that we should no longer consider squid as things that live only in the water. It is highly possible that they are also a source of food for sea birds."

The study was published by German science magazine Marine Biology this week.

News of the finding comes after other Japanese scientists last month unveiled the world's first pictures of the elusive giant squid in its natural habitat, deep in the Pacific ocean.

Japan's National Science Museum succeeded in filming the huge creature at a depth of more than half a kilometre (a third of a mile) after teaming up with Japanese public broadcaster NHK and the US Discovery Channel.

Footage of the giant squid -- Architeuthis to scientists -- provided final proof of the quasi-mythical ocean-dwelling beast reported by sailors for centuries.

Researchers say Architeuthis eats other types of squid and grenadier, a species of fish that lives in the deep ocean. They say it can grow to be longer than 10 metres.

985

Food- The Nags Story continued- All meat from Poland should be banned & the FSA charged in Court

Updated: 07 Feb 2013

ABP sourced contaminated Polish horse meat from Irish trader

6 February 2013 |

By Alistair Driver

Farmers Guardian

ABP’S Silvercrest plant purchased Polish meat products contaminated with horse DNA from an Irish meat trader at

the centre of the horse meat investigation, it has emerged.

McAdam Foods became the third company from County Monaghan to be named in the scandal on Tuesday.

It was Initially identified as the supplier of frozen burger products that tested positive for up to 80 per cent horse

DNA to companies called Rangeland Foods, from County Monaghan, the Republic of Ireland, and Freeza Meats,

from Newry, in Northern Ireland.

It has now emerged that ABP’s Silvercrest plant, which was identified as the source of Tesco burgers containing 29

per cent horse DNA in the original Food Standards Authority of Ireland investigation, sourced 170 tonnes of

contaminated meat from the company.

In a statement, ABP said: “ABP Food Group confirms that Silvercrest purchased beef products from McAdams

Food Service (circa 170 tonnes out of total beef purchases in 2012 of 18,000 tonnes).

“It appears now that while Silvercrest purchased these beef products in good faith, horse DNA originating in Poland

was present in some of these products. ABP Food Group continues to co-operate fully with the competent

authorities in the investigation.”

McAdam Foods confirmed that it supplied Silvercrest, also from County Monaghan, ‘with beef until November 2012 and pork thereafter’.

The Irish Department of Agriculture confirmed on January 26 that the source of contamination of the Silvercrest

burgers was raw material imported from Poland. ABP said at the time this confirmed its ‘initial view that this

contamination originates from third party continental supply’.

Production is still suspended at the Silvercrest plant, which has lost frozen orders from major buyers, including

Tesco and Burger King, reportedly worth around £50 million.

Silvercrest’s management has been replaced and the company has been re-positioned within the ABP Food Group.

The family-owned Mcadam Foods describes its main business as the ‘export of meat from Ireland to industrial and

commercial clients across Northern Europe, with meat wholesale a growing part of our business now across Ireland’.

It supplies’ a huge range’ of beef and pork products’, from classic cuts to ‘exotic or unusual’ cuts – ‘all guaranteed

high quality, produced and delivered within EU statutory regulations’. It promotes its ability to deliver ‘any cut, any

volume, anywhere across Europe’.

In a statement on Tuesday evening McAdam insisted it purchased the contaminated meat cuts from Poland in good

faith and was confident it would be ‘fully exonerated’ of any wrongdoing.

“The company, its management and staff are shocked and astonished to discover that equine content has been

identified in products which have been imported and supplied through McAdam Foods,” the statement said.

It added that the products were ‘bought and imported on the basis of their being ordered, documented, labelled and

understood to be beef, and nothing else’.

“We are confident that the documentation and proof that we have provided to the authorities will fully exonerate our company.”

Freeza Meats said in a statement that it was only storing the contaminated product ‘out of goodwill’ on behalf of

McAdam and that all its own meat products tested had proved negative for contamination.

Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney told an Irish Parliamentary committee on Tuesday the Government

investigation was seeking to establish ‘whether there is fraudulent or criminal activity involved’ in the

contamination. If there is, ‘it is our intention to expose that’, he said.

He said the Department is in ‘continuing contact’ with the Polish authorities as the investigation has shown that ‘all

implicated raw material ingredient is labelled as Polish product’.

“We have invited the Polish veterinary authorities to Ireland if they consider it necessary to examine the product and

accompanying documentation,” he said.

He said the investigation was ‘focusing on the full supply chain including those who facilitated the purchase of the

product and its transfer to users in Ireland’.

Food- Are you getting your Oats ?

Updated: 06 Feb 2013

Why Porridge is So Good For You

by Jadwiga O'Brien on December 14, 2011

Radical says -

What this article omits to say is that the milk - whole full cream milk - non of that skimmed stuff,

is the addition that makes Oats so good for you. And milk is cheap too.Try honey instead of sugar.

Fussy kids ? Add a drop of colouring - Pink Porridge ? Blue Porridge ?

Porridge is the breakfast super-food - it releases energy slowly and has a wide range of health benefits

Porridge (also called oatmeal) is a super healthy breakfast – it tastes delicious, is versatile and easy to make.

During the colder months, there’s nothing like a hot bowl of porridge to get your kids going in the morning.

Eating porridge fills your kids up for longer than other breakfast cereals.

This makes snacking between meals less likely, helping children and adults alike to maintain a healthy weight.

Porridge oats have many other health benefits – including helping to prevent heart disease and certain cancers.

They are a high fibre food which means they help prevent constipation.

Porridge gets an even greater health boost when you add some fruit and seeds.

It’s Cheap

Porridge is extremely cheap because of the minimal processing that the oats go through.

For less than the price of a packet of biscuits, you can feed your child a healthy breakfast for approximately 2 weeks!

Branded porridge is usually more expensive and sometimes has added ingredients.

Microwave porridge oats are a good example of this – they are more expensive and sold to us on the basis that they are more convenient.

There is probably no need to buy quick-cook or microwave porridge oats because the time they save is minimal.

It’s Easy

Making porridge from scratch is easy.

Check out our basic porridge recipe for a few hints and ideas.

You can make it in the microwave or on the hob – it only takes a few minutes.

Once you’ve figured it out, you’ll find it hard to go back to boring old cereal.

Porridge is easy to adapt and you can flavour it according to your tastes.

You’ll never get bored!

Nothing Beats the Original

Whatever you do, avoid buying ready flavoured porridge products (such as Quaker Oats So Simple).

We’ve found that they can be high in added sugar (contain 20% sugar or more), as well as other unnecessary ingredients.

Check the labels carefully! Note that a regular box of Ready Brek contains 1g of sugar per 100g whereas the chocolate variety contains 22g.

Food -Monitoring Food Imports - Responsibility lies squarely with Government who have cut staffing

Updated: 06 Feb 2013

HM Revenue & Customs

Port health authorities: monitoring of food imports

Controls on UK food and feed imports, checks and inspections of high-risk food at UK borders, fees and documentation for importers.

Contents

Introduction

Role and responsibilities of port health authorities

Choosing a port Inspection of goods by port health authorities

Port health checks

Rejection of import consignments by port health authorities and appeal procedures

Support and advice on port health import controls

Further information

See more like this Introduction

Port health authorities are usually the UK local authority where a port or airport is located.

They have responsibility to protect the public, environmental and animal health of the UK.

Some are specially created local authorities for seaports where the port area is covered by more than one local authority.

These authorities carry out a range of health controls at the UK borders.

These include checks on imported food, inspecting ships and aircraft for food safety and infectious disease

control, as well as general public and environmental health checks.

The work is carried out by port health officers (specialist environmental health officers) and veterinarians, who

are employed by the local authority or port health authority.

Port health controls are managed by local authorities who enforce regulations on behalf of central government.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) are

responsible for the overall policy in the area of public and animal health for food and feed.

Through the Association of Port Health Authorities the local authorities work closely together and liaise with the government.

This guide outlines the imported food controls carried out by port health authorities and looks at how different

organisations are responsible for enforcement. It explains how you can comply with relevant health regulations,

what to do if you fail to meet import conditions and who to go to for help.

Role and responsibilities of port health authoritiesChecks on food at the point of import are in place throughout

Europe to control the risks to human and animal health.

Many ports and airports in the UK have specialist facilities that deal with high-risk food imports such as food of

animal origin, meat and fish products, as well as other high-risk foods such as peanuts.

The importance of these controls has been reinforced in recent times, with outbreaks of avian influenza and foot and mouth disease.

Local authorities (including the port health authorities) enforce controls on UK food imports.

The created port health authorities ease administration at seaports where the port area is covered by more than one local authority.

Port health authorities carry out checks on food and feed consignments in order to:

ensure that only products that are safe to eat enter the food chain

safeguard animal and public health

check compliance with EU rules and international trading standards

Port health authorities are responsible for monitoring all food imports but

will not physically check all food imports.

It’s your responsibility to ensure that your products are safe to eat.

Although detailed import checks may be carried out on any food products from non-EU countries (‘third

countries’), the actual checks carried out are determined on a risk basis. For products that have been declared

as high risk at an EU/UK level, special health controls are in place, and checks must be carried out at import stage.

Port health authorities must be notified in advance of the arrival of your goods.

One of the groups of products that are subject to special checks are products of animal origin (POAO).

Checks on these products are referred to as veterinary checks and are carried out to protect both public and animal health.

POAO include products such as:
meat
dairy products
fish
honey
gelatine
hay and straw

There are a number of products which have been found to present a particular risk to public health.

Checks are carried out on food not of animal origin (FNAO).

These include, but are not limited to:
peanuts
spices
palm oil
figs
pistachios and other nuts

Some of these products may be subject to special controls or may be banned altogether.

You can find a list of FNAO subject to special controls on the FSA website.

Certain other feed and food of non-animal origin from named certain third countries are subject to increased controls.

Such products can only enter the UK through specific ports and airports, approved as designated points of

entry (DPE) and the port health authority at that DPE needs to be notified at least one day in advance of import.

For the full detail, you can:

find the list of DPEs on the FSA websitedownload Regulation 669/2009 on increased controls on import of

certain feed and food from the Official Journal of the EU website (PDF, 864K)download Commission Regulation

(EU) 212/2010 revising the list of controlled feed and food products from the OJ website (PDF, 745K)The port

health authorities also carry out checks on imports of organic produce.

Importers can register with the Defra Organic Farming Branch to provide advance notice of the arrival of their goods.

There are also controls on imports of plants and plant produce, including:

certain fruit

potatoes

vegetables

bulbs

The Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate is responsible for implementing controls.

They require all importers of controlled health plant goods to register and provide advance notice of at least four

working hours if brought in by air and in all other cases (including ship) at least three working days.

If you do not pre-notify your consignment, it will not be Customs cleared

Food- More Horsemeat found- and possibly the brains of the Food Standard Agency experts ?

Updated: 06 Feb 2013

Meat Found To Contain 80% Horse, Says FSA

Sky News – 12 hours ago

Meat being stored at a factory in Northern Ireland has been found to contain 80% horsemeat, the Food

Standards Agency (FSA) has said.

The meat tested at Freeza Meats in Newry was potentially linked to the Silvercrest factory in Ireland, which has

been at the centre of the horsemeat burgers scandal.

The FSA NI statement said: "Of the 12 samples from the suspect consignment that have been tested, two of the

samples came back positive for horsemeat, at around 80%.

"The investigation into the traceability of these raw materials and their source is under way."

It stressed that the meat had not yet entered the food chain.

Tesco and a number of other supermarkets removed certain brands of beef burgers from its shelves after they

were found to contain horse meat last month.

Experts from Britain's Food Standards Agency (FSA) told the Commons Environment Committee they could not

be sure if contaminated burgers were being sold for more than a year.

At least 10 million burgers were put into storage to be dumped following the debacle.

Controversy and concerns about traceability of food deepened at the weekend when halal food supplied to

prisons by a Northern Irish-based company was found to contain traces of pork DNA.

In response to the scandals the FSA has announced that the results of tests on meat destined for UK shelves

will be made public, to "provide a clearer picture of standards".

David Heath, the food and farming minister, said: "This is a shared problem, and it needs shared solutions.

"Food businesses' agreement to give regular updates on meat testing is a significant move that will give

consumers confidence in what they're buying.

"It's now important that the industry starts sharing this information as soon as possible."

In Ireland, two processing plants have tested positive for equine DNA.

Police were called in after the Rangeland Foods factory in Co Monaghan was shut down when a sample tested

positive with a reading of 75% horse DNA in raw ingredient.

The ABP Food Group, owned by Larry Goodman, has lost contracts worth an estimated 45m euros (£38m) with Tesco, Aldi, the Co-Operative Group and Burger King over the fiasco.

ABP's plant, Silvercrest, also in Co Monaghan, was found to have been supplying contaminated products.

Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny has pledged to resolve the horse meat crisis as Ireland's fraud squad has been called in to help agriculture authorities track down the source of mislabelled meat.

Mr Kenny said: "This is a matter of reputation, obviously we cannot afford to have that. It is a matter that needs to be sorted out and will be sorted out."

In a statement, the department of agriculture said production had been suspended at Rangeland, a frozen burger supplier established in 1892 with a turnover of 18m euros (£15m) and about 80 staff.

"The company has indicated that none of this product has entered the food chain," the department said.

Committee chairman Andrew Doyle said: "Our committee has followed this story with deep concern. Ireland's enviable reputation in producing green, clean and traceable food, so critical to the prosperity of our euro 10 billion (£8.5bn) agri-food industry, risks being undermined when issues like this arise."

Food - Sloppy Standards ?- The Choice Cuts of Government

Updated: 28 Jan 2013

37%	Percentage of supermarket economy beef burgers tested which turned out to contain horse meat last week
33%	Cuts government is making to Food Standards Agency and trading standards services responsible for food inspections

Private Eye

Food - Public Health Inspection of UK Imported Red Meat is inadequate !

Updated: 27 Jan 2013

By sheer coincidence the Radical had written to

Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency - Defra

Asking the very question about imported red meat,

before the horse meat scandal news broke.

Subject: Public Health Inspection of Imported Food
Date: Tuesday, 15 January, 2013, 21:46

Sir

We import red meat and dairy products from the EU and outside the EU.

Inspection figures for each Country ?

Do some countries have a greater percentage of food checked than others ?

What proportion of a consignment is inspected ?

I understand that you used to inspect 20% of all food

and now it is less than 20% of the whole consignment.

Naturally the less that is inspected the greater the risk to public health.

The Radical

Food - Horse Play -Cause for Concern- Is any red meat entering or leaving Ireland inspected ?

Updated: 27 Jan 2013

'Horseburger' outbreak traced to Poland

26 January 2013 |

By Alistair Driver

Farmers Guardian

THE source of the ‘horse meat’ found in burgers sold across the UK and Ireland has been traced to a plant in Poland.

Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney announced the breakthrough in his Department’s investigation into the source of the outbreak on Saturday afternoon.

He said the contamination is likely to have been caused by an ingredient imported from Poland by ABP’s Silvercrest plant, in County Monaghan, Ireland.

He said positive test results from three burgers produced at the plant since January contained a common ingredient sourced from Poland.

The product is beef filler made up of fat cuts and trims which had been supplied to Silvercrest for the past year, according to the Irish Examiner.

The Minister said management at the plant in Monaghan is to be changed, all the meat produced there will be

removed, and future product will only be sourced from Ireland and the UK.

The ABP Food Group said the statement ‘confirms our initial view that this contamination originates from third party continental supply’.

Group chief executive, ABP Food Group Paul Finnerty said: “This has been a very difficult experience for all

involved and has led to a significant interruption in business for Silvercrest and its customers.

We are relieved that the source of the problem has been identified.

“While the company has never knowingly purchased or traded in equine product, I wish to take this opportunity

to apologise for the impact this issue has caused.”

ABP stressed that the source of the contaminated meat from Poland was not related to its plant in Poznan, which

it stressed does not process any horse meat.

The meat company, which has been hit by the withdrawal of vast quantities of burgers meat from the Silvercrest

site and its Dalepak plant, in Yorkshire, said it has taken a number of steps after the contamination came to light.

Following its own ‘extensive internal investigations’ during the last two weeks the company has appointed a new

management team at the Silvercrest facility and undertaken a Group reorganisation.

Responsibility for the Silvercrest business will transfer to ABP Ireland (the Irish chilled beef division).

The sister business in the UK, Dalepak Foods, will come under the immediate control of ABP UK (the UK chilled beef business).

The Group has also announced that will begin independently auditing all its third party suppliers.

ABP has already announced that it is implementing a new DNA testing regime on its meat ‘over and above any legal requirements’.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland announced on January 14 that a number of samples of burgers produced by

ABP’s Silvercrest and Dalepak sites and Liffey Meats, in Ireland, had been found to be contaminated with horse DNA.

In one sample, a Tesco value burger sourced from Silvercrest, 29 per cent of the meat content was estimated to be horse meat.

ABP immediately suspended production at its Silvercrest plant when additional tests had indicated that other

products produced there might be affected with equine DNA contamination.

Speculation about the source of the DNA had initially focussed on ABP suppliers in the Netherlands and Spain

after initial tests indicated ingredients sourced from these plants had been found to contain horse DNA.

In a statement on Friday, Mr Coveney said in excess of 130 samples of burgers and ingredients had been taken in

the past week and a ‘range of results’ are currently being received.

He stressed that it was a ‘complex investigation’ with Silvercrest alone producing 20,000 tonnes of burgers per

annum, with a ‘wide range of ingredients’.

The Minister said it was ‘encouraging’ that results received to date indicated no presence of equine DNA in raw

materials sourced in Ireland.

Food-The Government is Horsing around ?-Public Health inspection of Imported meat is not good enough

Updated: 18 Jan 2013

ABP identifies source of horse DNA contamination

17 January 2013 |

By Alistair Driver

Farmers Guardian

ABP says it has identified the source of contaminated material that has resulted in the discovery of horse DNA in

beef burgers sold by Tesco and other retailers in the UK and Ireland.

The Anglo-Irish meat processor has traced the meat to one of two, as yet unnamed, ‘third party EU suppliers’ it has

been investigating since the discovery of the equine DNA in its burgers as revealed.

As a result, production has been suspended at ABP’s Silvercrest plant, in County Monaghan, Ireland, one of two

ABP plants linked to the contamination in the initial investigation by the Food Standards Authority of Ireland.

The decision follows the release of further test results by Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, which show the

presence of horse DNA in more products.

“Because horse DNA has been found in finished products tested this week, we have decided that the responsible

course of action is to suspend all production at the Silvercrest plant in county Monaghan with immediate effect,”

ABP said in a statement on Thursday evening.

ABP said all staff would continue to be paid while production is suspended at the plant.

Silvercrest produce a wide range of burgers for retailers, including Tesco, in the UK, Ireland and the rest of the EU

under ‘own label’ brands and under the Flamehouse Brand, from their ‘state of the art’ production plant in BallyBay.

In a statement on Wednesday ABP revealed that its own investigations are focussing on two European plants that

supply it with beef ingredients, which are added to forequarter mince in the processing of the burgers.

While it did not name the plants, the FSAI revealed that ingredients imported from Spain and the Netherlands had

been found to contain horse DNA.

ABP said it had dispatched auditors to conduct ‘unannounced spot checks’ at the two European sites and that it

was conducting its own DNA tests ‘on a wide number of samples’.

ABP added that it would ‘consider the possibility of legal action’ against the plants should its own tests on samples prove positive

273

Food- National Potato Day

Updated: 18 Jan 2013

National Potato Day

26-27 the January 2013

Its time to order then “chit” seed potatoes

First and Second Earlies

Put the spud “rose” end up (end with most eyes)

Egg boxes will do if no chitting boxes handy

A cool dry and light place

When they have produced their shoots in 4 – 6 weeks

Start planting – Early March if soil warming

No Veg garden

No worries

Try planting in your flower beds.

Dig over the patch first

Leave plenty of space between plants and borders, say 18" ?

Plant seed potato 6" deep with the shoots pointing upwards in a hole or trench

Wait at least 100-110 days for earlies, longer for main crop, keeping the plant well watered

When the shoots break through the surface keep earthing it up to prevent tubers being exposed and turning green

And cover with fleece if frosty

(Take care not to break off the shoots)

Check the internet for varieties to grow and potato diseases to watch out for.

103

Food-A Public Health Inspection Risk- Imported Horse meat came to the UK via Ireland from Poland ?

Updated: 27 Jan 2013

The investigation was carried out by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, but it was established that

mainland Britain was also affected.

The equine meat wasn’t just confined to burgers - more than a third (37 per cent) of the products tested in Ireland

contained horse DNA.

The vast majority (85 per cent) also contained pig DNA, which would raise problems for Jewish and Muslim people

who may have unwittingly eaten pig, despite it being against their beliefs.

Officials have said there is no public health risk, but the supermarkets involved all released statements saying they

would pull the affected products from their shelves and launch an investigation into the how the meat ended up in their products.

Tim Smith, the group technical director of Tesco, said: ‘The presence of illegal meat in our products is extremely serious.

Our customers have the right to expect that food they buy is produced to the highest standards.’

1. By sheer coincidence the Radical had written to

2. Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency - Defra

3. asking the very question about imported red meat before this news broke.

Subject: Public Health Inspection of Imported Food
To: AHITChelmsford@ahvla.gsi.gov.uk
Date: Tuesday, 15 January, 2013, 21:46

Sir

We import red meat and dairy products from the EU and outside the EU.

Figures of inspection for each Country ?

Do some countries have a greater percentage of food checked than others ?

What proportion of a consignment is inspected ?

I understand that you used to inspect 20% of all food and now it is less than 20% of the whole consignment.

Naturally the less that is inspected the greater the risk to public health.

The Radical

Food-Ask Tesco- Eat their Beef Burgers & you could be eating anything else, including horse meat !

Updated: 16 Jan 2013

Horse meat found in Tesco beef burgers

15 January 2013 |

By Alistair Driver

HORSE meat has been found in large quantities in a sample of beef burgers sold in Tesco stores in Ireland.

Tesco, which has apologised to its customers, said the two frozen beef burger products in question were sold in

both Ireland and the UK.

Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has revealed the presence of horse and pig DNA in a high proportion of

products tested in a study examining the authenticity of beef burger, beef meal and salami products available from

retail outlets in Ireland.

Traces of equine DNA were also discovered in ‘beef’ products in Dunnes Stores, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland stores, in

Ireland, while 85 per cent of samples tested contained pig DNA.

The beef burger products which tested positive for horse DNA have been traced to two processing plants, Liffey

Meats and Silvercrest Foods, in Ireland, and one plant, Dalepak Hambleton, in the UK.

A total of 27 beef burger products were analysed with 10 of the 27 products (37 per cent) testing positive for horse

DNA and 23 (85 per cent) testing positive for pig DNA.

In nine of the 10 beef burger samples, horse DNA was found at very low levels.

However, in one sample from Tesco, the level of horse DNA indicated that horsemeat accounted for approximately

29 per cent relative to the beef content.

The beef burgers sold under the ‘Tesco Everyday Value’ line with a beef content, according to the label, of 63 per

cent.

The FSAI does not specify which Tesco store or stores the burgers were sold in.

In addition, of 31 beef meal products, such as cottage pie, beef curry pie and lasagne, analysed, 21 were positive

for pig DNA.

All 19 salami products analysed tested negative for horse DNA but traces of horse DNA were also detected in

batches of raw ingredients, including some imported from the Netherlands and Spain.

Tim Smith, Tesco Group technical director said the products found to contain horse DNA included ‘two frozen

beef burger products sold by Tesco in both the UK and Ireland’.

“We immediately withdrew from sale all products from the supplier in question,” he said.

“We are working with the authorities in Ireland and the UK, and with the supplier concerned, to urgently

understand how this has happened and how to ensure it does not happen again.

We will not take any products from this site until the conclusion and satisfactory resolution of an investigation.”

“The safety and quality of our food is of the highest importance to Tesco.

We will not tolerate any compromise in the quality of the food we sell.

The presence of illegal meat in our products is extremely serious.

Our customers have the right to expect that food they buy is produced to the highest standards.

“We understand that many of our customers will be concerned by this news, and we apologise sincerely for any distress.”

The FSAI said the findings raise concerns about the traceability of meat ingredients and products entering the

food chain.

It is working with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and the processing plants and retailers involved.

The FSAI said the retailers have stated that they are removing all implicated batches from sale today.

In addition, Silvercrest Foods has informed the FSAI that it is withdrawing all products from sale and replacing

them with new products.

FSAI chief executive Professor Alan Reilly said there was no clear reason why horse meat was being sold in retail stores in Ireland.

“The products we have identified as containing horse DNA and/or pig DNA do not pose any food safety risk and

consumers should not be worried.

Consumers who have purchased any of the implicated products can return them to their retailer,” he said.

“Whilst, there is a plausible explanation for the presence of pig DNA in these products due to the fact that meat

from different animals is processed in the same meat plants, there is no clear explanation at this time for the

presence of horse DNA in products emanating from meat plants that do not use horsemeat in their production process.”

He added: “In Ireland, it is not in our culture to eat horsemeat and therefore, we do not expect to find it in a burger.

Likewise, for some religious groups or people who abstain from eating pig meat, the presence of traces of pig DNA

is unacceptable.

We are working with the meat processing plants the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Marine to find out

how horse DNA could have found its way into these products.”

Food - Imports are Double exports - Balance of Trade deficit increases

Updated: 16 Jan 2013

UK Trade in Food, Feed and Drink at 2011 Prices

	Imports (£m) at 2011 Prices	Exports (£m) at 2011 Prices	Balance of Trade (£m) at 2011 Prices
1936	23,573	2,826	- 20,747
1937	25,687	2,982	- 22,706
1938	24,825	2,664	- 22,162
1939	21,707	2,296	- 19,411
1940	20,629	1,810	- 18,820
1941	18,321	1,032	- 17,290
1942	18,697	657	- 18,040
1943	21,705	660	- 21,045
1944	22,221	1,187	- 21,034
1945	18,754	2,757	- 15,997
1946	23,771	2,142	- 21,629
1947	29,332	1,813	- 27,519
1948	30,416	2,754	- 27,661
1949	33,035	2,748	- 30,287
1950	35,055	3,675	- 31,380
1951	35,969	3,991	- 31,978
1952	30,956	3,567	- 27,389
1953	31,131	3,515	- 27,616
1954	30,750	3,698	- 27,052
1955	31,483	4,053	- 27,430
1956	30,552	4,009	- 26,543
1957	30,228	4,363	- 25,865
1958	29,011	3,980	- 25,031
1959	29,604	3,980	- 25,624
1960	28,375	3,867	- 24,508
1961	26,196	3,836	- 22,360
1962	27,103	3,884	- 23,219
1963	27,847	4,276	- 23,571
1964	28,737	4,446	- 24,291
1965	26,892	4,361	- 22,531
1966	25,794	4,817	- 20,976
1967	25,670	4,636	- 21,035
1968	26,172	5,513	- 20,659
1969	25,375	5,389	- 19,986
1970	25,778	5,747	- 20,031
1971	24,853	6,148	- 18,706
1972	24,999	6,334	- 18,665
1973	30,736	7,728	- 23,009
1974	33,146	8,426	- 24,720
1975	29,759	8,921	- 20,837
1976	29,956	9,077	- 20,879
1977	31,440	10,201	- 21,239
1978	28,613	12,061	- 16,552
1979	27,597	10,360	- 17,237
1980	22,327	10,150	- 12,177
1981	21,152	10,012	- 11,140
1982	21,362	9,975	- 11,387
1983	22,086	10,281	- 11,805
1984	23,987	11,142	- 12,845
1985	23,575	11,015	- 12,559
1986	24,216	12,117	- 12,100
1987	23,718	11,924	- 11,794
1988	23,327	10,801	- 12,525
1989	23,316	12,017	- 11,298
1990	22,938	11,847	- 11,091
1991	21,412	11,793	- 9,618
1992	22,600	12,529	- 10,071
1993	22,991	13,652	- 9,340
1994	24,225	14,792	- 9,433
1995	25,803	15,886	- 9,917
1996	26,616	15,111	- 11,505
1997	25,499	14,676	- 10,824
1998	24,624	13,279	- 11,345
1999	24,478	12,627	- 11,851
2000	23,242	12,019	- 11,223
2001	24,792	11,544	- 13,248
2002	25,483	11,900	- 13,583
2003	27,170	12,819	- 14,351
2004	27,641	12,222	- 15,419
2005	28,700	12,179	- 16,521
2006	29,486	12,472	- 17,014
2007	30,352	12,982	- 17,370
2008	34,654	14,496	- 20,157
2009	35,787	15,441	- 20,346
2010	35,411	16,663	- 18,748

Food- Wasted maybe ? But certainly Wanted - Deliver us from Weevils

Updated: 11 Jan 2013

Up to 50 per cent of world food wasted, study claims

10 January 2013 | By Ryan Wood

OVER one billion tonnes of food produced world-wide is wasted according to a UK-based report.

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME) estimates between 30 and 50 per cent of food never reaches a

human stomach due to poor practices in harvesting, storage and transportation.

Consumer standards also contribute to the amount of food wasted with the study finding 30 per cent of

vegetables are not harvested because of their physical appearance.

With a projected three billion extra mouths to feed by 2075, the report calls for environmental issues, such as

food production, to be addressed to ensure a sustainable future.

Dr Tim Fox, head of energy and environment at the IME thinks the study’s findings are ‘staggering’.

“This is food that could be used to feed the world’s growing population - as well as those in hunger today,” he said.

“It’s an unnecessary waste of the land, water and energy resources that were used in the production,

processing and distribution of this food.”

It is also suggested vast quantities of water are wasted in global food production with around 550 billion cubic

metres of water used to grow grops which never reach the consumer.

The NFU released the following statement earlier today:

“No-one likes waste and farmers work with the food chain to ensure it is kept to a minimum here in the UK.

We look forward to seeing what new technologies are developed to help better grow, harvest and store food.”

There has, however, been some opposition to the figures with claims that real levels of harvesting wastage are

probably less than 10%, and difficult to avoid

Food- Opposition to GM on a Global Scale will damage the life prospects for Billions of People

Updated: 05 Jan 2013

Opposition to GM 'damaging ability to feed the world'

3 January 2013 |

By Alistair Driver

CONTINUED opposition to GM crops on a global scale will damage the life prospects of billions of people,

environmental campaigner Mark Lynas has told the Oxford Farming Conference.

Delivering the annual Frank Parkinson lecture, Mr Lynas delivered an impassioned defence of GM technology,

branding NGOs and politicians who continue to block the technology as immoral and misguided.

Mr Lynas began his 30-minute address by apologising for ‘ripping up GM crops’ for several years in his previous

incarnation as an environmental activist in the 1990s.

“I am also sorry that I helped to start the anti-GM movement back in the mid 1990s, and that I thereby assisted in

demonising an important technological option which can be used to benefit the environment. I could not have

chosen a more counter-productive path. I now regret it completely.”

He said the opposition movement to GM technology that he was a part of, led by NGOs like Greenpeace and

Friends of the Earth, was ‘explicitly an anti-science movement’.

“We employed a lot of imagery about scientists in their labs cackling demonically as they tinkered with the very

building blocks of life. Hence the Frankenstein food tag ,” he said.

“What we didn’t realise at the time was that the real Frankenstein’s monster was not GM technology, but our

reaction against it.”

Mr Lynas, who has written a number of books on the environment, remained a vocal opponent of GM crops until

2008 but said he changed his position on GM when he ‘discovered science’.

He discovered, he said, that much of the opposition was based on ‘green urban myth’.

He said he learned that GM crops could lead to less pesticides being used, benefited farmers who needed less

inputs and, in terms of food safety, could be ‘safer and more precise than conventional breeding’.

He said ‘the GM debate is over’ when it comes to food safety. “It is finished.

We no longer need to discuss whether or not it is safe – over a decade and a half with three trillion GM meals

eaten there has never been a single substantiated case of harm.

You are more likely to get hit by an asteroid than to get hurt by GM food.

“More to the point, people have died from choosing organic, but no-one has died from eating GM,” he said,

referring to ‘the debacle with Germany’s organic beansprouts’ in 2011.

Mr Lynas insisted there was ‘rock-solid scientific consensus’ on the benefits of GM, backed by the American

Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Society, health institutes and national science academies around the world.

But he said the ‘supposedly environmental campaigns spread from affluent countries’ had made GM technology

‘prohibitively expensive to all but the very biggest corporations’.

“In the EU the system is at a standstill, and many GM crops have been waiting a decade or more for approval but

are permanently held up by the twisted domestic politics of anti-biotech countries like France and Austria,” he said.
He claimed this was preventing people across the world gaining from the benefits this technology can bring in

addressing starvation and malnutrition and addressing the global food security challenge of producing more

food while meeting the challenges of climate change and managing the environment.

Continuing to oppose GM technology in this way will harm ‘the life prospects of billions of people’, he said.

Much of his speech was taken up with criticism of environmental NGOs and the organic movement, which he

said ‘freezes its technology in somewhere around 1950’ and was ‘standing in the way of progress when it

refuses to allow innovation ‘.

“In reality there is no reason at all why avoiding chemicals should be better for the environment – quite the opposite in fact,” he said.

He concluded: “Farmers should be free to choose what kind of technologies they want to adopt.

“So my message to the anti-GM lobby, from the ranks of the British aristocrats and celebrity chefs to the US

foodies to the peasant groups of India is this.

You are entitled to your views.

But you must know by now that they are not supported by science.

“We are coming to a crunch point, and for the sake of both people and the planet, now is the time for you to get

out of the way and let the rest of us get on with feeding the world sustainably.”

Food- Encouraging Farmers to Open Garden Businesses and Supply Town Markets

Updated: 02 Jan 2013

Farmers encouraged to open market garden businesses

31 December 2012 | By Barry Alston

WELSH Government encouragement to see farmers adding food production enterprises to their traditional cattle

and sheep rearing systems is being spearheaded by Farming Connect support for new market garden ventures.

The milder, drier weather of south west Wales has already proved an attractive option for experienced retailer

and grower Adam York, who has set up a new market garden business near Cardigan.

Together with his partner Lesley Bryson, who previously ran a market garden business in Manchester, they

have set up Glebelands Market Garden on a 2.4ha (6 acres) site at St. Dogmaels.

They now have more than 5,000 sq.ft of protected growing space under poly-tunnels and a growing business

providing fresh produce to local people, businesses and tourists passing the busy roadside operation.

“We considered various locations, but finally settled on this site because we hoped the milder coastal conditions

would significantly extend the growing season and our cropping period,” says Adam.

“We were also attracted by its proximity to a market town and the potential for customers who would be keen to

buy fresh, locally grown produce rather than supermarket imports.”

He also sees Wales as being “ahead of the game” when it comes to promoting food products and encouraging

farmers to diversify into horticulture, praising the Welsh Government for identifying the potential for such an important new growth area.

“The advice we received through attending a Farming Connect planning surgery was invaluable and prepared

the ground for us really well on TAN 6 (the Welsh Government’s Technical Advisory Note for planners) before we

sought planning permission from the local planning authority,” adds Adam.

Like all growers, the couple was affected by the past summer’s high rainfall which reduced outdoor crop output,

but are optimistic about the future of the business.

Recently they have had planning permission to build a new timber shop on the site, replacing the current ‘market stall’ approach.

“Getting planning permission for protected growing and permission to sell on site was crucial to the success of

this enterprise, and the advice we received from Farming Connect was really helpful,” says Adam.

“Retailers and customers are aware of sustainability and the need to reduce their carbon footprint by supporting local producers.

“By selling local produce to local markets, we will be doing our bit to help and we believe there is huge potential

for growth in this market.”

Food- Future of the Countryside and Farming in 2020 ?

Updated: 02 Jan 2013

Future of countryside and agriculture 2020ad

Will we be saying...

"In the early years of the 21st Century the crisis in agriculture deepened.

Farm profitability slumped and although few farmers were able to remain in business, a new spirit of co-operation amongst them emerged.

Gone was the myopic preoccupation with their neighbors' activities, farmers had begun to think "global" and see that the real competition came from producers abroad.

In 2008 the merging of nearly all the existing political and co-operative organisations into the Confederation of UK Agriculture marked a turning point in the fortunes of farmers.

Buying power coupled with a real market presence (nationally at least) provided the first return to profitability in nearly a decade.

Farmers responded with a plethora of new conservation initiatives that consolidated past work and caught the public's eye.

Even the skeptical PM was moved to note that agriculture was now providing "public goods" on a broad scale.

In 2015 the Confederation of UK Agriculture opened its first supermarket simultaneous with 100 new corner shops.

Food produce of UK origin whether from organic or integrated systems was proudly displayed.

"Local" in the UK sense was the new champion.

In 2020 the Confederation of UK Agriculture announced that continued vertical integration from production to retail had allowed UK farmers to generate sufficient profit that members would voluntarily no longer accept subsidies from the EEC.

When in the same year TV's latest game show winner announced that her prize of a lifetime of education fees would be going towards an education in agriculture, farmers knew they were back!

Population:
60 million.

Crops:
Food crops are now complemented by energy crops that contribute to the nation's fuel requirements in a carbon neutral way.

Specific lo-impact pesticides, high tech spraying systems and GM crops are adopted - smart farming is technology driven.

Livestock:
Sheep, beef and dairy products all providing smart technology instant online traceability through the "know your farmer" initiative.

Farming systems:
Integrated smart farming systems accounting for the majority of "commodity" production with organic and local production systems representing 15% of overall output.

Woodland and hedges:
16% woodland cover with increasing hedgerow length in a countryside clearly integrated with agricultural production, conservation and urban living finding new balance.

Social economy:
The world's first fully internationalised urban market economy that has found a place for a modern agriculture as the custodian of its precious rural landscape.

Climate:
"The hottest ever" but still 2° cooler than the bronze age to name but one brief and recent period of time

Food - The Future of the Countryside without Farming

Updated: 02 Jan 2013

Future of countryside and no agriculture 2020ad

Will we be saying...

"In the early years of the 21st Century the crisis in agriculture deepened.

Farm profitability slumped and few farmers were able to remain in business.

Many retired early and by 2010 there were few genuine farmers left.

Burdensome red tape and a general climate of criticism about farmers and their practices ensured that there

were few new entrants to the industry.

Food produce was imported from abroad where the reality of poor practice could be ignored.

Sons and daughters refused to have anything to do with the family farm and gradually agricultural land was left

idle or replaced by amenity land use.

Typically, after some years of amenity use the land fell into disrepair and developers quickly took the initiative to

"tidy up" the countryside with modern purpose built housing.

By 2015 this was widely accepted good practice.

Nowadays we can see that the real countryside has disappeared.

What is un-farmed exists only as scrub or as the next plot for development - reach for your VEC (virtual

experience centre) for a trip back to a green and pleasant land."

Population:
60 million.

Crops:
Imported

Livestock:
Sheep, pigs and cattle are confined to zoos and rare breed centres

Farming systems:
The study of history

Woodland and hedges:
Revered and subject to endless study but without a working place in the environment are now quietly decaying

Social economy:
Devoid of a rural economy

Climate:
"The hottest ever" but still 2° cooler than the bronze age to name but one brief and recent period of time

Food- Fair Trade Bill ?- To Curb the Supermarkets ?

Updated: 26 Dec 2012

Grocery Adjudicator Bill heading for New Year conclusion

25 December 2012 | By Alistair Driver

THE Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill is expected to complete its path through Parliament early in the New Year,

having successfully completed its committee stage in the House of Commons.

Ahead of the committee stage, Ministers sprung a surprise by accepting calls from MPs, farming organisations

and fair trade campaigners to give the Adjudicator powers to fine retailers as soon as it is established.

Shadow Farming Minister Huw Irranca-Davies said the Government also gave way to calls for the Adjudicator to

have discretion to apply different financial levies on supermarkets for its running costs, based on their behaviour

towards the supply-chain.

This will represent a reward for good behaviour, he said.

“A good bill is now much better, and we look forward to the report stage in parliament where we can make final

adjustments,” he said.

“The government have heeded the overwhelming calls to strengthen the bill, to give the adjudicator real teeth if

needed, and to be fair to retailers of different size and behaviour.

“Thanks are due to the farming unions throughout the UK, to the Groceries Market Action Group, to the Food

and Drink Federation and others who have worked to improve this bill.

One last push in parliament and we

should have the Adjudicator we want, and that the food and farming industry deserves.”

The Bill completed its committee stage on 18 December 2012, before Parliament entered Christmas recess.

It will be discussed again in the Commons in its report stage and third reading, which will provide the final

opportunity for further amendments, before Royal Assent is granted, it is hoped, early in 2013.

The adjudicator, the identity of which is also likely to be known in the New Year, will then spend up to six months

developing its guidance before actively engaging in its role of overseeing the Groceries Supply Chain Code of Practice

Food- Poorest hit hardest by price rises - Diet and Health problems result

Updated: 15 Dec 2012

Britain’s poorest families ditch fresh foods for price hikes

alt

Fri Dec 14, 2012 3:0PM GMT

The government’s annual Family Food survey has shown British poorest families are ditching fresh, healthy foods to counter rising prices.

The survey provides the most detailed annual snapshot of food and drink spending and consumption across the UK.

It found that the poorest have been hit hardest by price rises as one pound in every six of household expenditure

for the poorest 20 percent was spent on food, compared with one in nine for all UK households.

The study showed British families are buying up to 20 percent less fruit and vegetables in order to cut costs since

2007, saying that households are buying less food but paying far more for it.

UK households have bought less bread, lamb, beef, fish, fruit, vegetables, and potatoes than before the recession

as they struggle their biggest squeeze on living standards in decades

“The impact of austerity on our eating habits as a nation is concerning,” said Doctor Mike Knapton of the British Heart Foundation.

“Diet has a big influence on people’s risk of getting heart disease and strokes, and people who eat less fruit and

veg eat more junk food, with the potential for serious health problems in years to come.”

MOS/MOL/HE

Food- Friday in the 13th - Outlawed and Hungry -Expect more Robin Hood's to appear

Updated: 14 Dec 2012

Workers rely on private landowners

Friday 14 December 2012

Derek Wall's article on land ownership (M Star December 11) does not consider the lives of the people who live

and work on land in private ownership, either as tenant farmers or estate workers in tied cottages.

Much of the land in North Yorkshire is owned by aristocrats, the Ministry of Defence and Yorkshire Water.

One of the first things that happened following water privatisation was the conversion of field barns on

gathering grounds to be converted into yuppy residences for millionaires.

These people don't farm the land, are unhappy about the inadequacy of rural services, complain about mud and

demand upgrading of country lanes for their 4x4s.

Working people living in tied properties are dependent on the owner for their home and livelihood.

In the hungry '30s poachers would walk out of Leeds and Bradford looking for food to put in their children's

empty bellies and the gamekeepers were too frightened to oppose them.

One gamekeeper, when asked to explain the absence of pheasants at the Boxing Day shoot, indicated that they had been poached.

He was sacked immediately and his family evicted.

The people who own the land had better watch out if austerity gets worse.

Anne Lee

Otley

Food - Rising Prices increase UK Inflation

Updated: 09 Dec 2012

How rising food prices push up inflation in the UK

Indicator: CRB/Reuters Food index

Updated 7 December 2012

The Commodities Research Bureau/Reuters Food index measures moves in global food prices.

Around 11% of the UK CPI (consumer price index) consists of foodstuffs, with a further 12.5% accounted for by

hotel and restaurant prices.

So the CRB/Reuters food index is a useful indicator of future cost of living rises.

What's the latest?

The CRB/Reuters food index had risen by more than 10% last year in sterling terms on a mix of rising demand,

commodity speculation and various supply problems.

As of now, the index is in fact down around 1% year-on-year.

October UK CPI was up 2.7% year-on-year.

That's up from September's 2.2% and it's still above the Bank of England's 2% target.

Meanwhile, RPI – the retail price index, which includes housing costs - was up 3.2% on a year ago, compared

with 2.6% in September.

Food - Your daily bread- Flour prices continue to rise

Updated: 29 Nov 2012

Poor harvest fuels long-term milling wheat uncertainty

18 October 2012 |

By Cedric Porter

Farmers Guardian

BRITISH milling wheat growing is an often unsung success story, but what is the crop’s future against a backdrop of unpredictable weather and volatile prices, asks Cedric Porter.

Back in the 1960s, two-thirds of the wheat used in British baked loaves was imported, mainly from Canada.

Now, through the dedication and innovation of growers, breeders and buyers, more than 80 per cent of wheat flour used in the UK is grown in the UK.

In the year to June 2012, good availability of quality British wheat meant nearly 90 per cent of the wheat used for milling in the UK was home-grown - the highest rate ever.

However, the overall amount of milled wheat was down, due to a reduction in material used for bioethanol, a figure that is included in milling data by Defra.

But poor weather this year will mean less British wheat is available, with millers turning to imports to deliver the quality they need.

The fear is British growers might make another move away from milling wheat in favour of easier-to-grow and less risky feed varieties.

HGCA planting figures already show a 20 per cent drop in the area of Group 1 and 2 varieties between 2009 and 2012 to just 530,000 hectares (1.3m acres) or only 28 per cent of the total wheat area.

The difficulties of this year look set to mean even lower plantings for the 2013 harvest.

This year the wet spring and summer mean all crops have suffered, but the quality of milling wheat has been particularly affected.

The latest quality estimates from ADAS and HGCA highlight very poor specific weights, with Group 1 milling wheats achieving an average of just 71.6kg/hl, one of the lowest levels in the last 35 years, down 11.5 per cent or 8.2kg/hl on last year, and 7.9 per cent down (or 5.9kg/hl) on the average between 2007 and 2011.

Hagbergs have also suffered, with hagberg falling numbers averaging 255 seconds, the lowest level since 2008, down 17.2 per cent on last year and 8.9 per cent down on the five-year average.

But proteins were up slightly on last year at 13.2 per cent, the highest figure in the last six harvests, and 4.1 per cent up on the five-year average between 2007 and 2011.

It was a similar picture with Group 2 wheats with specific weights and hagbergs down, but proteins holding ground.

“Wet weather and disease pressure in June and July in particular combined to reduce grain weight,” says Jack Watts, senior analyst at the HGCA, adding this year contrasted with last year when specific weights and hagberg falling numbers were exceptionally high.

“The last two years demonstrate that, despite the effort and attention to detail of growers, crop performance is ultimately dependent on seasonal weather conditions.”

Low supplies

Low UK supplies of milling wheat should push prices up, but growers have not been able to fully benefit this year because of a good milling wheat harvest in France, Germany and Scandinavia.

Current premiums are around £30/tonne above feed values.

“Premiums have been capped off by imports,” says Mr Watts, adding millers may also import more gluten and other ingredients as well as wheat this year.

The NFU is advising growers to fully understand the quality of their wheat by conducting their own sampling and analysis, and by segregating different qualities in stores if they can.

But it has also criticised millers and merchants for imposing heavy penalties on growers who do not deliver to specification and for a lack of transparency in the tests being carried out, particularly on specific weights.

“We are getting a lot of calls from members who don’t think claims from the millers are justified,” says NFU arable adviser Guy Gagen. “Tests are often carried out on small samples and results not shared transparently.

“There has been a lot of progress made in improving relationships between all members of the milling wheat chain in the last few years, and it would be a pity for trust to break down in what is a very difficult year for everyone.”

Martin Savage is trade policy manager at milling organisation Nabim. He confirms this is one of the most difficult harvest ever and says millers are not trying to make it even more difficult by insisting on over-strict requirements.

“Just 6 per cent of the milling wheat crop meets the required specification,” says Mr Savage.

“That is one of the lowest levels ever. Our members are having to contend with a severe shortage of UK milling wheat. Some are reporting when they are expecting 20 lorries to turn up, only 10 do and the wheat that does turn up needs to be screened, creating further loss of volume.”

Richard Jenner, director of grain products and origination at Openfield, says this year is an exceptionally bad one, and reduced specific weights and lower hagbergs will inevitably lead to reduced flour quality and functionality - and in particular poor loaf volume and structure.

“To ease the pressure on growers we have amended the Advanced Payment Limits available to reflect the yield and quality concerns arising from the 2012 harvest,” says Mr Jenner. He adds it is inevitable some growers will be unable to meet their contractual obligations.

Special arrangements

He also says dedicated supply arrangements have really come into their own this year and points to the Warburtons arrangement which sets out variety-specific protocols for Hereward, Solstice, Crusoe and Edgar.

“More of these varieties will have made the grade than is likely to have been the case had the protocols not been devised. It is in seasons such as this that the true value of these arrangements becomes apparent.”

David Neale, business development manager at agronomy company Agrii, believes this harvest could add to the long-term decline of milling wheat growing in the UK if there is not a concerted effort among all in the chain to prevent that happening.

“We have seen strong demand for Group 3 and 4 variety seed this year, but have plenty of Group 1 and 2 seed available,” says Mr Neale. “You can see why growers want to opt for feed and Group 3 varieties. A grower who can achieve 10 tonnes/hectare for feed wheat and sell at a modest £155/t will have a gross margin of £894/ha.

“If he grew Group 1 milling wheat at 9t/ha, his gross margin would be £723/ha at a price of £155/t. The milling wheat would need to fetch a £20/tonne premium for margin parity. But the long-term average is for only 30 per cent of milling wheat to make full specification. In that case, the premium would need to be more than £50/tonne to reach margin parity.”

He fears a diminishing area of milling wheat grown will lead to even less investment in new varieties and techniques, while the area could be even further hit by the severe problems caused by black-grass.

“The technical challenge of growing milling wheat is getting greater, which could affect the long-term supply of the crop. That would damage the entire milling industry.”

There can be a lot of friction in the milling wheat supply chain and this year’s poor weather appears to have exacerbated that.

Supply chain

But there is also a lot of agreement as to how the chain can be improved to ensure British growers continue to deliver the wheat needed by British consumers and that the country can grow.

All those interviewed for this article agree there needs to be more research into developing new varieties and techniques for growing and milling wheat.

There was also an acknowledgement more dedicated supply arrangements provide a way forward, allowing growers to commit to growing milling wheat and understand what is required of them

120

Food- Feeds for farm animals have climbed again

Updated: 29 Nov 2012

Wheat hits £229-a-tonne on November 28

28 November 2012 |

By Howard Walsh,

Farmers Guardian

THE cereals and oilseeds markets have strengthened again, which are sure to send a shiver through most livestock producers.

London feed wheat futures hit £229/t for May 2013, and January and March trades reached £227/t and £227.75/t on Wednesday. July 2013 also shot up to £227/t.

Proteins, the other main cost ingredient in animal feed, also showed no respite with HGCA reporting that soyabean prices made the largest weekly gain for three months last week,

with January 2013 Chicago futures closing last Friday at $521.25/t (£325.50/t) - up 2.6 per cent.

However, they jumped again mid-week to $531 (£332/t).

Food- Supermarkets v Suppliers / Producers /Farmers /Customers

Updated: 26 Nov 2012

Supermarkets v Suppliers /Producers /Farmers/Customers

The Radical says :- As most food is produced on farms, the Adjudicator needs to understand why so much of the producers subsidies end up in the pockets of Supermarkets and not farmers.

Then he needs to understand that in a market there needs to be buyers as well as sellers.

Then he needs do more than establish a Code of Practice but legislate to control Supermarkets exploitation of the market by putting a guaranteed base price on food.

Then the government should stop pussy footing around the important subject of food and appoint a Minister for Food. This is in the interests of producers and customers

All this means having a British Agricultural Policy for Britain, which implies leaving the EU and taking in house control of such an important matter.

Supermarkets : The Groceries Code Adjudicator –

Commons Library Standard Note

Published 14 November 2012 |

Standard notes SN06124

Authors: Antony Seely

Topic: Competition

The Coalition Government is committed to establishing a new ombudsman within the Office of Fair Trading, to enforce the code of practice between the major supermarkets and their suppliers.

In May 2011 the Government published a draft Bill to create the Groceries Code Adjudicator; a final Bill was introduced on 10 May 2012 as one of the first Bills of the 2012/13 Session.

This note discusses the background to this proposal.

121

Food- The Wishy Washy Grocers Code Adjudicator Bill

Updated: 26 Nov 2012

Government under pressure to toughen up supermarket adjudicator

24 November 2012 |

By Alistair Driver

THE Government has come under intense pressure from MPs to ‘toughen up’ the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) as the legislative process of establishing it enters its final stages.

There was broad cross-party support for the GCA Bill, and most of its provisions, when the Bill’s second reading was held over five hours in the House of Commons on Monday.

Toothless

But one issue dominated.

MPs from all parties lined up to warn Defra and business Ministers the adjudicator, established to protect suppliers from supermarket bullying, will be ‘toothless’ unless it has powers from the start to fine retailers which breach the Groceries Supply Chain Code of Practice.

As it stands, the Bill grants the supermarket watchdog powers to ‘name and shame’ errant retailers, including through full-page adverts in the national and trade press.

However, powers to fine would have to be added at a later date if Ministers felt they were necessary.

Shadow Defra Minister Huw Irranca-Davies said the case outlined by MPs for financial penalties from the start was ‘overwhelming, clear, compelling and unarguable’.

He said: “We need all the tools in the toolbox from the off because a reserve power is one that risks not being used.”

He urged Ministers to be ‘open’ to change as the Bill moves through its committee and report stages in the next few weeks.

Mr Irranca-Davies insisted the Bill was ‘guaranteed to fail’ if naming and shaming, the preferred option of the supermarkets, was the only punishment available to the adjudicator.

Ineffective

Throughout the debate MPs highlighted cases where naming and shaming had proved ‘completely ineffective’ in changing retail behaviour.

Mr Irranca-Davies added while naming and shaming ‘played a part’ in the success of the summer SOS dairy campaign, it was ‘not a rip-roaring success’, as Farming Minister David Heath suggested.

Closing the debate Mr Heath acknowledged the question of fines was ‘clearly a serious conversation we need to have’ over the next few weeks

Food- The Complete & Ultimate Diet - The Real Benefits of Fasting

Updated: 24 Nov 2012

Deprive yourself: The real benefits of fasting

22 November 2012 by Emma Young
New Scientist

For a healthier body and mind, forget food fads and try the age-old practice of going without

THERE'S a fuzz in my brain and an ache in my gut.

My legs are leaden and my eyesight is blurry.

But I have only myself to blame.

Besides, I have been assured that these symptoms will pass.

Between 10 days and three weeks from now, my body will adjust to the new regime, which entails fasting for two days each week.

In the meantime, I just need to keep my eyes on the prize.

Forget breakfast and second breakfast, ignore the call of multiple afternoon snacks, because the pay offs of doing without could be enormous.

Fasting is most commonly associated with religious observation.

It is the fourth of the Five Pillars of Islam. Buddhists consider it a means to practise self-control and advocate abstaining from food after the noon meal.

For some Christians, temporary fasts are seen as a way of getting closer to God.

But the benefits I am hoping for are more corporeal.

The idea that fasting might be good for your health has a long, if questionable, history.

Back in 1908, "Dr" Linda Hazzard, an American with some training as a nurse, published a book called Fasting for the Cure of Disease, which claimed that minimal food was the route to recovery from a variety of illnesses including cancer.

Hazzard was jailed after one of her patients died of starvation.

But what if she was, at least partly, right?

A new surge of interest in fasting suggests that it might indeed help people with cancer.

It could also reduce the risk of developing cancer, guard against diabetes and heart disease, help control asthma and even stave off Parkinson's disease and dementia.

Many of the scientists who study fasting practise what they research, and they tell me that at my age (39) it could be vital that I start now.

"We know from animal models," says Mark Mattson at the US National Institute on Aging, "that if we start an intermittent fasting diet at what would be the equivalent of middle age in people, we can delay the onset of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's."

Surely it's worth a try?

Until recently, most studies linking diet with health and longevity focused on calorie restriction.

They have had some impressive results, with the lifespan of various lab animals lengthened by up to 50 per cent after their daily calorie intake was cut in half.

But these effects do not seem to extend to primates.

A 23-year-long study of macaques found that although calorie restriction delayed the onset of age-related diseases, it had no impact on lifespan.

So other factors such as genetics may be more important for human longevity too (Nature, vol 489, p 318).

That's bad news for anyone who has gone hungry for decades in the hope of living longer, but the finding has not deterred fasting researchers.

They point out that although fasting obviously involves cutting calories - at least on the fast days - it brings about biochemical and physiological changes that daily dieting does not.

Besides, calorie restriction may leave people susceptible to infections and biological stress, whereas fasting, done properly, should not.

Some even argue that we are evolutionarily adapted to going without food intermittently.

"The evidence is pretty strong that our ancestors did not eat three meals a day plus snacks," says Mattson.

"Our genes are geared to being able to cope with periods of no food."

What's in a fast?

As I sit here, hungry, it certainly doesn't feel like that.

But researchers do agree that fasting will leave you feeling crummy in the short term because it takes time for your body to break psychological and biological habits.

Less reassuring is their lack of agreement on what fasting entails. I have opted for the "5:2" diet, which allows me 600 calories in a single meal on each of two weekly "fast" days.

The normal recommended intake is about 2000 calories for a woman and 2500 for a man, and I am allowed to eat whatever I want on the five non-fast days, underlining the fact that fasting is not necessarily about losing weight.

A more draconian regimen has similar restricted-calorie "fasts" every other day.

Then there's total fasting, in which participants go without food for anything from one to five days - longer than about a week is considered potentially dangerous.

Fasting might be a one-off, or repeated weekly or monthly.

Different regimens have different effects on the body.

A fast is considered to start about 10 to 12 hours after a meal, when you have used up all the available glucose in your blood and start converting glycogen stored in liver and muscle cells into glucose to use for energy.

If the fast continues, there is a gradual move towards breaking down stored body fat, and the liver produces "ketone bodies" - short molecules that are by-products of the breakdown of fatty acids.

These can be used by the brain as fuel.

This process is in full swing three to four days into a fast. Various hormones are also affected. For example, production of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), drops early and reaches very low levels by day three or four.

It is similar in structure to insulin, which also becomes scarcer with fasting, and high levels of both have been linked to cancer.

When it comes to treating cancer, Valter Longo, director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California, thinks that short-term complete fasts maximise the benefits.

He has found that a 48-hour total fast slowed the growth of five of eight types of cancer in mice, the effect tending to be more pronounced the more fasts the animals undertook (Science Translational Medicine, vol 4, p 124ra27).

Fasting is harder on cancer cells than on normal cells, he says.

That's because the mutations that cause cancer lead to rapid growth under the physiological conditions in which they arose, but they can be at a disadvantage when conditions changes.

This could also explain why fasting combined with conventional cancer treatment provides a double whammy.

Mice with gliomas - a very aggressive cancer and the most commonly diagnosed brain tumour in people - were more than twice as likely to survive the 28-day study if they underwent a 48-hour fast at the same time as radiation therapy than those without the fast (PloS One, vol 7, p e44603).

Clinical trials assessing the impact of fasting in people with cancer are ongoing.

Early results are promising, says Longo, and patients in the advanced stages of cancer, who cannot wait for the results, might find it worth discussing fasting with their oncologist.

Less is more

Could fasting prevent cancers developing in the first place?

Evidence is scant but there are "very good reasons" why it should, says Longo.

He points out that high levels of IGF-1 and glucose in the blood, and being overweight are all risk factors for cancer, and they can all be improved by fasting.

Another risk factor is insulin, says Michelle Harvie at the University of Manchester, UK.

Studying women whose family history puts them at high risk of developing breast cancer, she put half of them on a diet that involved cutting calories by about 25 per cent, and half on a 5:2 fast.

After six months, both groups showed a reduction in blood insulin levels, but this was greater in the fasting group.

Harvie's team is now analysing breast biopsies to see whether this translates to fewer of the genetic changes associated with increased cancer risk.

High insulin is also associated with type 2 diabetes, so perhaps it is no surprise that fasting shows promise here too.

At the Intermountain Heart Institute in Murray, Utah, Benjamin Horne has found that a 24-hour water-only fast, once a month, raises levels of human growth hormone, which triggers the breakdown of fat for energy use, reducing insulin levels and other metabolic markers of glucose metabolism.

As a result, people lost weight and their risk of getting diabetes and coronary heart disease was reduced (American Journal of Cardiology, vol 102, p 814).

Alternate day fasting (with a 500-calorie lunch for women and 600-calorie one for men on fast days) has similar benefits, says Krista Varady of the University of Illinois, Chicago.

She has seen improvements in people's levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, sometimes known as "bad cholesterol", and blood pressure, in volunteers eating either a low-fat or high-fat diet on "feeding" days.

For people who are overweight, any kind of intermittent fasting diet will probably help reduce the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular problems, says Mattson. In 2007, he found another benefit too.

He put 10 overweight people with asthma on an alternate-day incomplete fast and found that after just a few weeks their asthma symptoms improved.

Blood markers of inflammation, including C-reactive protein, also decreased, suggesting that the fast was helping to moderate their overactive immune system (Free Radical Biology and Medicine, vol 42, p 665).

Whether fasting would benefit people with asthma who are in the normal weight range or those with other conditions associated with an overactive immune response, remains to be seen.

There is some evidence that alternate-day fasting can lower their levels of blood fat.

However, Mattson suspects that when it comes to diabetes and cardiovascular disease, fasting may not be as beneficial for people of normal weight as it is for people who are overweight, simply because they are already likely to be in pretty good shape, metabolically speaking.

Mattson has, however, identified another effect of fasting that he believes can benefit everyone - it is good for the brain.

"If you look at an animal that's gone without food for an entire day, it becomes more active," he says. "Fasting is a mild stressor that motivates the animal to increase activity in the brain."

From an evolutionary perspective, this makes sense because if you are deprived of food, your brain needs to begin working harder to help you find something to eat.

His studies show that alternate-day fasting, with a single meal of about 600 calories on the fast day, can boost the production of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor by 50 to 400 per cent, depending on the brain region.

This protein is involved in the generation of new brain cells, and plays a role in learning and memory.

It can also protect brain cells from the changes associated with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's (Neurobiology of Disease, vol 26, p 212).

In mice engineered to develop Alzheimer's-like symptoms, alternate-day fasting begun in middle age delayed the onset of memory problems by about six months.

"This is a large effect," Mattson says, perhaps equivalent to 20 years in people.

So, what about the common advice to start the day with a good breakfast?

Mattson believes it is flawed, pointing out that the studies were based on schoolchildren who usually ate breakfast, meaning their poor performance could simply be due to the ill effects that occur when people begin fasting.

Mattson himself skips breakfast and lunch five days a week, then has dinner and normal weekend meals with his family.

Varady has tried alternate-day fasting, but she likes to eat dinner with her 18-month-old child and husband, so now keeps her food intake to within an eight hour period.

Harvie, however, sounds a more cautious note for anyone thinking of giving fasting a go. "We still don't know exactly who should be fasting, how often or how many days a week," she says.

Besides, it may not be without risks.

One study in mice, for example, found that an alternate-day fast for six months reduced the heart's ability to pump blood (Journal of Cardiac Failure, vol 16, p 843).

There is also the fact that fasting is difficult. Varady finds that between 10 and 20 per cent of people who enrol in her studies drop out, unable to stick to the regime.

This may be less of a problem in the future, though.

Researchers are now investigating the possibility that you can get some of the health benefits of fasting without actually depriving yourself of food (see "Hold the protein").

As I count down the minutes to the end of my fast, I can't help wishing them success.

Hold the protein

One key physiological effect of fasting is that it lowers levels of a hormone called insulin-like growth factor 1.

Low levels of IGF-1 are associated with a decreased risk of cancer and increased lifespan.

So if you could reduce it by, say, 70 per cent, wouldn't you?

The only catch is that it takes five days without food to do this.

But what if you could get the same result simply by altering your diet?

Luigi Fontana at the University of Palermo, Italy, thinks it may be possible.

Suspecting that fasting per se is not what matters, Fontana compared the IGF-1 levels of members of the Calorie Restriction Society of Newport, North Carolina, with people who ate a typical western diet.

There was no difference, despite the former group having severely reduced their calorie intake for an average of six years.

However, IGF-1 levels among a group of strict vegans were significantly lower, even if they weighed more.

The key, he believes, is protein, which accounted for just 10 per cent of calories for the vegans but about 25 per cent for the calorie-restricted group (Aging Cell, vol 7, p 681).

There is strong evidence linking high protein intake with cancer, says Fontana.

For example, cancer rates increase for people who move from a low-protein Japanese diet to a relatively high-protein US diet.

He is currently comparing the IGF-1 lowering potential of protein restriction with fasting.

Results are not yet in, but Fontana doesn't advocate eschewing protein altogether, just consuming the US recommended daily allowance of 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight.

That equates to about 10 per cent of calories from protein - in the west, protein makes up at least 16 per cent of the daily diet.

The medical dogma is that lots of protein is good for you, Fontana says.

"But I think it's wrong. I challenge the medical community to reconsider."

Emma Young is a writer based in Sheffield, UK

244

Food- Better labelling is welcome but only a start -we need a Minister For Food

Updated: 24 Oct 2012

All supermarkets to adopt 'traffic-light labelling' for nutrition

Government announces move to make it easier for shoppers

to see which foods are unhealthy

Denis Campbell, health correspondent
The Guardian,
Wednesday 24 October 2012

Radical says :-

We need all foods labelled not just manufactued foods but natural foods like fresh Meat Eggs Vegetables and Fruit to encourage shoppers to select these first and we also need to know what additives,preservatives and fillers are used in "fast foods"

Don't exclude drinks either - What's in a can of Coke ?

Do they still put sawdust in those biscuits ? How do you know they don't ?

Following that we need better public health checks on imported foods.

We need a Preventative health food programme. All shops must carry Diet plans, Plans for Diabetics, and especially healthy eating plans for Children.

Advertising of mostly similar products to increase sales generally targets vulnerable groups and snack unhealthy foods must be stopped.

However that would be contrary to the Capitalist principle of profit before people and their health.

Its ironic that we only have a Sick Health Service and even that NHS Service is being cut back.

Shops will use a consistent system of labelling from the middle of next year.

All major supermarkets will finally adopt a version of "traffic-light labelling" to help end confusion about which are the healthiest and unhealthiest foods, the government will announce on Wednesday.

Ministers have agreed with industry officials that leading food producers and retailers will use a consistent, UK-wide form of front-of-pack labelling from the middle of next year.

Called a "hybrid system" by the Department of Health, it will combine colour coding, guideline daily amounts – which research has shown many consumers find baffling – and the words high, medium or low to describe certain ingredients, though the exact form has not yet been finalised.

The aim is to make it much easier for consumers to quickly tell the fat, salt, sugar, saturated-fat and calorie content of particular foods from the colour used.

Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl, which had opposed traffic lights, have now agreed to introduce them in some form.

Health campaigners welcomed the move.

"We are delighted that the government has finally agreed to recommend front-of-pack traffic-light labelling," said Charlie Powell, director of the Children's Food Campaign. "You won't have to be a maths genius any more to work out which is the healthier product to buy.

"Of the top 10 supermarkets, only Iceland is left out in the cold and is still refusing to commit to using traffic-light labelling. Big food manufacturers must now also confirm their commitment to traffic lights, or else be shamed."

Anna Soubry, the public health minister, said: "The UK already has the largest number of products with front-of-pack labels in Europe but research has shown that consumers get confused by the wide variety of labels used.

By having a consistent system we will all be able to see at a glance what is in our food.

This will help us all choose healthier options and control our calorie intake.

"Obesity and poor diet cost the NHS billions of pounds every year. Making small changes to our diet can have a big impact on our health and could stop us getting serious illnesses – such as heart disease – later in life."

Farming- Where most Food comes from - World Food Day - Promoting Agricultural Cooperatives

Updated: 18 Oct 2012

World Food Day, 16 October 2012

Agricultural cooperatives – key to feeding the world

Agricultural cooperatives are the focus of World Food Day 2012.

The official World Food Day theme, announced each spring by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), gives focus to World Food Day observances and raises awareness and understanding of approaches to ending hunger.

“Agricultural cooperatives – key to feeding the world” is the formal wording of the 2012 theme.

It has been chosen to highlight the role of cooperatives in improving food security and contributing to the eradication of hunger.

Interest in cooperatives and rural organizations is also reflected in the decision of the UN General Assembly to designate 2012 “International Year of Cooperatives.”

Watch this page for information materials and news about World Food Day observances taking place around the world.

Food- Farming needs every trick in the book - and GM has great potential

Updated: 16 Oct 2012

Future farms need to use every trick in the book

11 October 2012

Genetic modification of food plants has great potential, if used in conjunction with other farming techniques

FEW subjects are as polarising as the genetic modification of food.

Opponents of GM bandy about words like "unnatural", "invasion" and "contamination", decrying it as a technology forced upon the world by greedy corporations.

Its backers, in turn, slam such critics as "ignorant" and "irrational", holding back the development of technologies that will be needed to feed the world's expanding population.

This war of words does little to illuminate the real value - or otherwise - of GM crops.

Like any technology, GM has its advantages and its problems.

But a review of the available evidence (see "Hidden green benefits of genetically modified crops") suggests that it has brought a host of benefits that have received relatively little attention compared with scarier, but generally less convincing, claims about its risks.

By reducing the need for tilling, for example, GM crops have enabled farmers to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, a small but important contribution to the fight against climate change.

And GM promises more: creating drought-resistant crops that will thrive in the warmer climates of the future, for instance.

So GM has the potential to do enormous good, if used in the right way.

But ecological and organic farming techniques will also prove valuable.

For example, insects are already becoming resistant to the toxins produced by some GM crops.

Changing farming practices - by planting refuges of non-GM crops on GM farms, say - can slow the spread of resistance (Nature Biotechnology, DOI: 10.1038/nbt1382).

Encouraging animals that eat pests, as organic farmers often do, is worth investigating further for reasons of both biodiversity and pesticide use.

More productive, sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture will require ideas and practices from many different agricultural traditions.

The polarised debate over GM - exemplified by measures like California's Proposition 37, which would require GM food to be labelled as such - does little to advance that cause.

The farms of the future will have to produce more food than ever before, while doing less damage to the environment.

Squaring that circle will take every trick in the book.

Food-UK- A Dust Bowl or Swamp Ground - Extreme weather = Starvation

Updated: 16 Oct 2012

If extreme weather becomes the norm, starvation awaits

With forecasts currently based only on averages,

food production may splutter out even sooner than we feared

George Monbiot
The Guardian, Monday 15 October 2012 20.30 BST

Drought-withered corn stalks in Indiana, August 2012.

I believe we might have made a mistake: a mistake whose consequences, if I am right, would be hard to overstate.

I think the forecasts for world food production could be entirely wrong.

Food prices are rising again, partly because of the damage done to crops in the northern hemisphere by ferocious weather.

In the US, Russia and Ukraine, grain crops were clobbered by remarkable droughts.

In parts of northern Europe, such as the UK, they were pummelled by endless rain.

Even so, this is not, as a report in the Guardian claimed last week, "one of the worst global harvests in years". It's one of the best.

World grain production last year was the highest on record; this year's crop is just 2.6% smaller.

The problem is that, thanks to the combination of a rising population and the immoral diversion of so much grain into animal feed and biofuels, a new record must be set every year.

Though 2012's is the third biggest global harvest in history (after 2011 and 2008), this is also a year of food deficit, in which we will consume 28m tonnes more grain than farmers produced.

If 2013's harvest does not establish a new world record, the poor are in serious trouble.

So the question of how climate change might alter food production could not be more significant.

It is also extremely hard to resolve, and relies on such daunting instruments as "multinomial endogenous switching regression models".

The problem is that there are so many factors involved.

Will extra rainfall be cancelled out by extra evaporation?

Will the fertilising effect of carbon dioxide be more powerful than the heat damage it causes?

To what extent will farmers be able to adapt?

Will new varieties of crops keep up with the changing weather?

But, to put it very broadly, the consensus is that climate change will hurt farmers in the tropics and help farmers in temperate countries.

A famous paper published in 2005 concluded that if we follow the most extreme trajectory for greenhouse gas production (the one we happen to be on at the moment), global warming would raise harvests in the rich nations by 3% by the 2080s, and reduce them in the poor nations by 7%.

This gives an overall reduction in the world's food supply (by comparison to what would have happened without manmade climate change) of 5%.

Papers published since then support this conclusion: they foresee hard times for farmers in Africa and south Asia, but a bonanza for farmers in the colder parts of the world, whose yields will rise just as developing countries become less able to feed themselves.

Climate change is likely to be devastating for many of the world's poor.

If farmers in developing countries can't compete, both their income and their food security will decline, and the number of permanently malnourished people could rise.

The nations in which they live, much of whose growth was supposed to have come from food production, will have to import more of their food from abroad.

But in terms of gross commodity flows the models do not predict an insuperable problem.

So here's where the issue arises. The models used by most of these papers forecast the effects of changes in averaged conditions.

They take no account of extreme weather events. Fair enough: they're complicated enough already. But what if changes in the size of the global harvest are determined less by average conditions than by the extremes?

This is what happened in 2012. This is what seems likely to happen in subsequent years.

Here's why.

A paper this year by the world's leading climate scientist, James Hansen, shows that the frequency of extremely hot events (such as the droughts which hammered the US and Russia) has risen by a factor of about 50 by comparison with the decades before 1980.

Forty years ago, extreme summer heat typically affected between 0.1 and 0.2% of the globe. Today it scorches some 10%.

"We can project with a high degree of confidence," the paper warns, "that the area covered by extremely hot anomalies will continue to increase during the next few decades and even greater extremes will occur."

Yet these extremes do not feature in the standard models predicting changes in crop production.

If the mechanism proposed by another paper is correct, it is not just extremes of heat that are likely to rise. I've explained this before, but I think it's worth repeating. The jet stream is a current of air travelling westwards around the upper northern hemisphere. It separates the cold wet weather to the north from the warmer, drier weather to the south. Wobbling along this ribbon are huge meanders called Rossby waves. As the Arctic heats up, the meanders slow down and become steeper. The weather gets stuck.

Stuck weather is another way of saying extreme weather. If the jet stream is jammed to the north of where you are, the weather stays hot and dry, and the temperature builds up – and up. If it's lodged to the south of you, the rain keeps falling, the ground becomes saturated and the rivers burst their banks. This summer the UK and the US seem to have found themselves on opposite sides of stuck meanders, and harvests in both countries were savaged by opposing extremes of weather.

This is where we stand with just 0.8 degrees of global warming and a 30% loss of summer sea ice. Picture a world with two, four or six degrees of warming and a pole without ice, and you get some idea of what could be coming.

Farmers in the rich nations can adapt to a change in averaged conditions. It is hard to see how they can adapt to extreme events, especially if those events are different every year. Last winter, for example, I spent days drought-proofing my apple trees, as the previous spring had been so dry that – a few weeks after pollination – most of the fruit shrivelled up and died. This spring was so wet that the pollinators scarcely emerged at all: it was the unfertilised blossom that withered and died. I thanked my stars that I don't make my living this way.

Perhaps there is no normal any more. Perhaps the smooth average warming trends that the climate models predict – simultaneously terrifying and oddly reassuring – mask wild extremes for which no farmer can plan and to which no farmer can respond. Where does that leave a world which must either keep raising production or starve?

Food- The Poor UK harvest -But why did it happen ?

Updated: 15 Oct 2012

Worst wheat harvest since the 1980s:

Why did it happen?

14 October 2012

A PERFECT storm of wet weather and a lack of sunshine contributed to this year’s poor harvest, experts have said.

Head of technical service at crop development specialists NIAB TAG, Ben Freer, said extreme weather conditions in key growing months increased disease and left soils waterlogged.

“Waterlogging soils is very rare but happened this year and will explain some of the yield variations we have seen,” said Mr Freer.

“High rainfall increased disease and a distinct lack of sunshine made for a very dull June which had a big impact.”

HGCA agreed it had been a tough season for arable farmers, adding the harvest would go on record as one of the latest in recent years.

It comes as scientists warned farmers could face a run of dismal summers due to a warming of the North Atlantic Ocean as far back as the late 1990s.

Scientists at the University of Reading said the shift coincided with a change to wetter summers in the UK and northern Europe and hotter, drier summers around the Mediterranean.

The patterns identified match those experienced this year, when the UK had the wettest summer in 100 years, while the Mediterranean suffered with temperatures as high as 40degC or more.

Director of climate research at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and research leader, Prof Rowan Sutton, said: “The North Atlantic has alternated slowly between warmer and cooler conditions over the last 100 years.

“We saw a rapid switch to a warmer North Atlantic in the 1990s and we think this is increasing the chances of wet summers over the UK and hot, dry summers around the Mediterranean – a situation which is likely to persist for as long as the North Atlantic remains in a warm phase.”

Food- Bad Weather = Bad Harvests = Increased Food Prices = Greater Poverty = Political Chaos

Updated: 12 Oct 2012

'Low food prices are gone for good':

experts warn bad weather and bottlenecks will make groceries inflation worse

By Anna Edwards

UPDATED: 12:25, 10 October 2012

..
Not just the world's poorest citizens but also low-income households across Europe could soon be struggling to feed their families if a dire warning from food experts today is born out.

Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy at City University, and Lord Haskins of Skidby, a farmer and former chairman of Northern Foods, warned that low food prices are gone for good, thanks to deteriorating climatic conditions, structural deficiencies in world commodity markets and political complacency.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, they blamed the current rises in grocery prices on a combination of terrible weather, bad harvests and speculation.

Meanwhile, 'political drift' on the issue meant any solution to the problem in the longer term was unlikely.

Many crops were waterlogged after heavy rain during the UK summer, and the price of grain is expected to rocket

The pair agreed that a variety of factors had caused the cost of essentials, such as fruit and vegetables, to rocket.

Professor Lang said that bad weather had crippled harvests worldwide, with the UK, America, Russia and Ukraine badly affected by the poor conditions.

This has had a knock-on effect on food prices, sending the cost of grains, fruit and vegetables soaring, which has hit the bottom ten per cent of income households.

Prof Lang said: 'Fruit prices are up 34 per cent in the last 5 years and low income households are cutting back.

This is a disaster for public health.'

As the price of grain is soaring, this has a knock-on effect on meat, as a large portion of the crops are grown for animal feed.

He also warned that he and others in his field believed that the era of low food prices were over and urged politicians to focus on tackling the problem.

He said: 'I don't think prices will come down.

'The key issue is political drift.

In 2007 and 2008 prices rose.

There was a welcome relief that the leading Western world was taking it seriously - but now it's on the back foot.'

Professor Lang told the BBC that currently 50 per cent of cereal grown in the world was focused on feeding animals, and branded the situation 'crazy'.

He was joined by Lord Haskins, who said that technological developments were needed to help farmers produce more food.

He said: 'Farmers aren't productive as they could be.

If they had the technology that I have on my farm, they could improve.'

The cost of fruit and vegetables has soared by 34 per cent in five years, the professor warned

He also urged politicians to focus on tackling climate change, which he said was crucial to help the problem of miserable harvests which were being affected by the world's changing environment.

NO SUMMER WINE: POOR HARVESTS HIT UK VINEYARDS

English sparkling wine producer Nyetimber announced that it would not be harvesting its grapes this year because of the unusually poor weather conditions.

The company, which grows all the grapes for its wines in West Sussex and Hampshire, said the decision had been taken because of its commitment to quality.

Nyetimber winemaker Cherie Spriggs said: 'The decision to not make wine from 2012 is a difficult one, not just for me but for our whole team.

'However, we all know that maintaining quality is paramount.

'My first obligation as the winemaker is to ensure the quality of Nyetimber's wines, and we have collectively come to the decision that the grapes from 2012 cannot deliver the standards we have achieved in the past and will again in the future.'

.He said: 'They have to recognise climate change.

Some ministers appear not to, which is not a very good start. There's plenty of things scientists can do to alleviate the situation.'

Farmers in England and Wales have reported poor harvests due to the rainy summer.

Wheat yields fell 14.1 per cent this year on a five-year average to levels last seen in the late 1980s, according to a survey by the National Farmers' Union (NFU).

The figures have been released after the wettest summer in England and Wales for 100 years, with 14.25in (362mm) of rain falling in June, July and August.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has already warned of price 'pressures' following the worst drought in 50 years in the US and a heatwave in Russia.

Guy Gagen, NFU chief combinable crops adviser, said wheat yields were down after abnormally high rainfall across the UK since the early summer.

'The poor UK harvest compounds a series of challenging weather events for farmers around the world, most notably drought in North America,' he said.

'The resulting tight supplies of many feed grains have driven up the prices of agricultural commodities around the world.

'These UK harvest results will do little to alleviate the global dynamics of commodity prices, with the prospect of relatively high commodity levels through to 2013.

'Cereals prices impact directly on other sectors, especially pig and poultry farmers who are already struggling with higher feed costs.'

Richard Dodd, of the BRC, said: 'There certainly are price pressures in the system which are coming from poor wheat harvests in this country but also in the other big wheat producing countries.

'The most recent figures are that wheat prices are up something like 29 per cent compared with a year ago.

'Our own figures for the shop price inflation for food show that it has been very, very stable - it has been 3.1 per cent for the last three months which is actually a two-year low.

There is no food price explosion going on but there are pressures in the system that will work through.

'Our fiercely competitive retail market is protecting customers from the worst effects of these price pressures.'

They were not the only ones to speak out about the worrying trend.
According to a survey of its members, The National Farmers' Union faces a bleak harvest this year

109

Food-UK Basic Food Prices to rise by 15% - Floods,Drought and Greening to blame

Updated: 01 Oct 2012

UK Families Face Sharp Rise In Food Costs

15% Rise In Food Costs

British families are being warned to brace themselves for a 15% hike in food costs.

The wet summer has ruined many crops while farmers struggle to cope with the soaring costs of animal feed and are slaughtering or selling off their stock.

Food prices in the UK have risen by 32% since 2007, double the EU average, according to figures compiled by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Economists now expect the cost of a weekly shop to continue to rise by around 4% a year until 2022 at least.

Sky correspondent James Matthews said: "World food prices are expected to rise above last year's all time high - and some economists predict that in the UK we will be paying up to 15% more at the check-out by June next year."

Earlier this week, the Potato Council said a "perfect storm" of misery was hitting the industry.

Its chairman, Allan Stevenson, said: "The combination of low yielding potato crops, increased crop spraying costs and increased wastage from problems such as greening, soft rots and growth cracks has massively increased the average cost of producing a tonne of potatoes in 2012 to over £200 per ton.

"There is now a perfect storm of misery in the industry as most fresh and processing potatoes are sold by farmers to packers and processors at fixed prices far lower than the cost of production and they in turn are not able to cover their costs from retail and food service customers.

"There is a market price for things like potatoes and at the moment the market price is not reflected in retailers and that needs to change over time."

The worst drought in the US for almost a century, combined with droughts in South America and Russia, have hit the production of crops used in animal feed especially hard.

As a result farmers have begun slaughtering more pigs and cattle, temporarily increasing the meat supply - but causing a steep rise in the price of meat in the long-term as production slows.

Julia Glotz, fresh food editor at industry magazine The Grocer, said: "A lot of foods rely on grains either directly or indirectly so when grains prices move as dramatically as they have, immediately you start worrying about the impact it's going to have on prices in supermarkets in the UK."

107

Food- Egg Poachers used to come in pairs

Updated: 01 Oct 2012

What’s the best way to poach an egg?

By Jo Romero

Fri, Sep 28, 2012 16:09 BST

Poached Eggs Recipe

Fed up with watery poached eggs with wispy, thin whites and overcooked yolks?

We put four egg poaching methods to the test.

The scientific method

Heston' s poached egg © Jo RomeroHe's made ice cream using liquid nitrogen and a seafood dish that comes complete with an iPod, so we kind of knew Heston Blumenthal wouldn't poach an egg by just cracking it into boiling water.

In 'How to Cook Like Heston', he revealed his method for perfect poached eggs.

You'll need a cooking thermometer (to manage the exact temperature of the water), a spoon with small holes (to drain away any raw, watery egg white) and a plate positioned inside the saucepan (to diffuse the cooking heat).

After poaching, our egg was neat, perfectly cooked and practically free from wispy bits. The only problem we could see with it is that there's quite a bit of washing up, and you'd have to invest in a cooking thermometer if you didn't have one. But the egg was perfect.

The 'whisking' method

The whisking method © Jo RomeroThis method was demonstrated by Gordon Ramsay on 'The F Word'. You just whisk the boiling water until a vortex appears. The idea is that the egg white then wraps around the yolk in the swirling water, forming a ball.

You need to slip the egg in gently and quickly, right on the water's surface, so it's best to crack it into a ramekin first.

Our egg white quickly wrapped around its yolk, forming the perfect 'mozzarella ball' shape we were after.

Adding white wine vinegar to the water also helps the egg hold its shape, and a quick plunge in iced water afterwards stops it overcooking.

This method seems to make the egg white around the yolk firmer than in other methods, so you're less likely to accidentally burst it before serving, and, although we expected it to taste of vinegar, it didn't.

The 'cling film' technique

The-cling film method © Jo RomeroJamie Oliver showed us this method in 'Jamie's Great Britain'. You rub olive oil and seasonings (salt, pepper, chilli flakes) onto the inside of a cling-film lined cup and then crack in an egg.

You then tie the top of the cling film and cook the wrapped egg in simmering water. What you get is a perfectly-formed, ready-seasoned disc of poached egg.

The bonuses are that you can cook lots of eggs at once and obviously the egg never turns soggy (as long as you tie the top of the cling film properly).

The negatives?

Our egg parcel bobbed about in the water which meant it wasn't evenly cooked. It's also difficult to see how runny the egg is through the cling film.

But, as appearances go, it makes an excellent poached egg, and it's good that you can season it before cooking.

Shallow poaching

Shallow poached egg © Jo RomeroProbably one of the most common ways of poaching an egg, Delia Smith and Gino D'Acampo have recommended this method.

You just fill a frying pan with an inch or so of water, bring it to a simmer and then lower the egg gently in.

You need a super-fresh egg, anything older and the white will spread out, making it thin.

We used supermarket eggs with 17 days before the best before date and this still happened.

It's a much gentler way of cooking eggs, and certainly less stressful than frantically whisking pots of boiling water, but could pose problems if you're not sure how fresh the eggs really are (probably most of us).

So which is best?

All the methods above gave us a silky, runny-yolked egg. The main differences were with the shape.

Poached egg Heston-style was perfectly cooked and neat, but we're not convinced we'd want to be clattering around with cooking thermometers and straining raw eggs first thing on a Sunday morning.

Jamie's cling-film method is less messy and great for poaching lots of eggs together, but it's less easy to judge how cooked the egg is through the cling film.

And for the shallow poaching technique you need really fresh eggs: a problem if you don't have hens in your back garden.

So, all things considered, we felt the whisking method was the best.

You get a compact poached egg with a firm white and a soft yolk, and all you have to do is crack the egg into a ramekin and then lower it into the deep, swirling hot water.

Which do you think turned out the best? What's your method for poaching eggs?

121

Food- Singing the Fishing ? Not in the overfished Atlantic stock

Updated: 25 Sep 2012

Stop fishing in the Atlantic and reap the rewards

20 September 2012

STOP fishing in the Atlantic for a decade and you will boost profits for a lifetime.

At least, that's the conclusion reached by a UK-based think tank, which says that paying the fishing industry to keep its boats on dry land while stocks recover makes good economic sense.

The New Economics Foundation examined 49 overfished fish stocks in the north-east Atlantic.

NEF concluded that if all fishing were stopped, stocks would recover within 10 years, depending on how fast the species reproduce. Equivalent salaries for this period would cost €10.56 billion ($13.81 billion).

However, larger catches from recovered fish stocks when the moratorium ended would recoup those costs within 4.6 years.

Assuming the stocks were then fished sustainably, the larger yields would generate €139 billion of extra revenue within 40 years of the start of the ban, according to the NEF report.

In reality the costs would be higher, because the report doesn't consider job losses in the fish-processing sector, says Callum Roberts at the University of York, UK.

But he says temporarily stopping fishing would probably still work out financially in the long run.

European governments have tended to allow overfishing to avoid unemployment in the fishing industry.

The European Common Fisheries Policy is being reformed for the first time in a decade - but major restrictions on fishing are not on the table

Food - Save Our Bacon Campaign -Govt. must support British Pork Producers

Updated: 24 Sep 2012

Pork prices could double unless retailers act - NPA

21 September 2012 |

By Alistair Driver

Farmers Guardian

THE National Pig Association (NPA) has called on other major supermarkets to follow Sainsbury’s lead in paying more for its pigmeat in order to protect consumers from massive price hikes next year.

The NPA is warning that a world pigmeat shortage next year is now ‘unavoidable’ and that consumer pork prices could double as a result, unless retailers do more to support pig farmers.

Pig farmers are quitting in large numbers across the world on the back of soaring feed costs, caused by the global failure of maize and soya harvests.

New data shows the European Union pig herd is declining at a significant rate, mirroring a trend being seen around the world.

All the main EU pig-producing countries report shrinking sow herds in the 12 months to June 2012 - Denmark (-2.3), Germany (-1.3), Ireland (-6.6), Spain (-2.8), France (-3.2), Italy (-13), Hungary (-5), the Netherlands (-3.6), Austria (-2.8), Poland (-9.6) and Sweden (-7.2).

The shortages in the EU are likely to be exacerbated next year by the partial ban on sow stalls, which comes into effect on January 1 2013.

Only 18 of the 27 member states are expected to comply with the higher welfare standards by the end of this year.

The NPA said British supermarkets can help ‘Britain’s loss-making pig farmers’ remain in production if they pay a fair price for their pigmeat.

The association welcomed the move by Sainsbury’s to increase the price it pays to some of its pig farmer suppliers but said the major supermarkets ‘need to do much more, if they want to protect their customers from shortages and high prices next year’.

NPA chairman Richard Longthorp said: “British supermarkets know they have to raise the price they pay Britain’s pig farmers or risk empty spaces on their shelves next year.

But competition is so fierce in the high street at present, each is waiting for the other to move first.”

BPEX director Mick Sloyan warned a meeting of British and mainland Europe retailers in Brussels on Wednesday that a fall of only 2 percent in slaughterings next year will cause prices to rise by 10 percent.

NPA believes slaughterings could fall by as much as 10 per cent in the second half of next year, on the back of high feed prices and the sow stall ban, which it claims could double the price of European pork and pork products.

“If supermarkets act now, they can prevent this happening,” said Mr Longthorp.

The NPA is urging consumers, through its ‘Save Our Bacon’ campaign, to only select pork and bacon with the Red Tractor logo.

It is also urging retailers to sign up to a voluntary agreement, covering own label and branded products, committing them to only sourcing pigmeat produced from legal systems when the sow stall ban comes in next year

106

Food- Record prices forecast in Britain due to UK & World crop failures

Updated: 24 Sep 2012

World on track for record food prices 'within a year' due to US drought

By Emma Rowley |

Telegraph –

Brace yourself for some painful "agflation".

That is the shorthand for agricultural commodity inflation, otherwise known as rising food prices.

They are being driven upwards by the climb in grain and oilseed prices as US crops weather the country's worst drought since 1936 , while the farming belts of Russia and South America suffer through similar water shortages.

What we are seeing represents the third major rally in global grain and oilseed prices in just half a decade.

Worse is to come, new research warns.

World food prices look set to hit an all-time high in the first quarter of next year and then keep rising, according to the analysis from Rabobank, a specialist in agricultural commodities.

By June 2013, the basket of food prices tracked by the United Nations could climb 15pc from current levels, according to the bank's analysts.

"The coming year will see the world economy re-enter a period of agflation as grain and oilseed stocks decline to critically low levels, pushing the FAO [Food and Agricultural Organisation] Food Price Index above record nominal highs set in February 2011," they say.

The index offers a useful proxy for the prices paid by world consumers for food, they note indicating how agricultural commodity price movements are likely to translate into prices of shop shelves.

For policy-makers, the pick up in food inflation signals problems, as high food prices tend to magnify social unrest.

"Politics and economics are inextricably linked as exemplified by the Arab Spring, which was preceded by a rise in food prices," note Hermes fund managers in a recent report.

But no crisis looks quite the same as the last.

Rabobank thinks the consumer impact could be less painful this time around compared to 2008, when there were severe shortages of wheat and rice.

That is because today's shortages are being seen more in crops used as animal feed, such as corn and soybeans .

In contrast, back in 2008 falling wheat stocks and various bans on rice exports capped the amount of grains available for direct consumption by people.

Today, prices for staple grains such as rice and wheat are currently 30pc below their 2008 peaks.

So while the pressure on feedstock supplies pushes up meat prices, consumers feeling the squeeze should be able to switch from animal protein towards staple grains.

Food prices are also rising in a very different global economic environment, with Chinese demand slowing and the debt problems of the West weighing on world growth.

That lessens wider price pressures in the system.

However the risks remain, as states try to appease citizens feeling the squeeze.

As in 2008, government stockpiling, trade restrictions and other forms of intervention remain a significant threat, says Rabobank.

But it warns a pick-up in government intervention will prove counterproductive at an international level, as states engage in a "vicious cycle" of protectionist policies, aggravating the food price environment.

More specifically, the scarcity of feed crops is expected to have major repercussions for the meat and dairy industries, as the increase in the costs of feed stocks raises the prices faced by consumers and hits profit margins.

In the shorter term, higher slaughter rates as producers respond to rising feed costs should temporarily increase the meat supply. But the ultimate result is expected be smaller animal herd sizes, which will reduce meat and dairy production and ramp up prices.

The British public, which consumes high levels of meat and dairy products, will definitely feel the impact of this latest bout of agflation, says Rabobank. Nick Higgins, one of the report's authors, says UK food prices "are going to rise in the coming year significantly."

Still, while consumers in developing countries show "elasticity" of demand as prices move, people in the UK tend not to change their consumption patterns in response to prices, he notes.

In other words, even if meat gets more expensive, they will keep buying.

= Copper market in deficit =

The World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) published its monthly supply and demand statistics for the metal markets last week and the copper market is firmly in deficit.

In the first seven months of the year, supply rose 2.4pc, but demand was up by 6.7pc.

Analysts at Macquarie Bank think that consumption could rise next year, as China increases spending on infrastructure projects to stimulate its economy.

"Copper consumption in China is highly leveraged to infrastructure spend," Macquarie says.

The Australian bank estimated that 42pc of all copper demand in the Asian country is on infrastructure projects.

= Threat to bacon supplies as pig farmers reel from rising feed costs =

Soaring grains costs are rippling through the global food chain and the high cost of feedstock is likely to lead to a shortage of bacon.

"New data shows the European Union pig herd is declining at a significant rate, and this is a trend that is being mirrored around the world," according to the UK's National Pig Association (NPA).

"Pig farmers have been plunged into loss by high pig-feed costs, caused by the global failure of maize and soya harvests."

Earlier this month Genus (Xetra: 762548 - news) , the FTSE 250 (FTSE: ^FTMC - news) company that provides pigs and cows with superior genetics to farmers worldwide, warned that rising feed costs impact "a number of customers" in the year ahead.

"British supermarkets know they have to raise the price they pay Britain's pig farmers or risk empty spaces on their shelves next year," Richard Longthorp, NPA chairman, said.

"But competition is so fierce in the high street at present, each is waiting for the other to move first."

Farmers worldwide have responded by sending their pigs to slaughter earlier than usual to save money - and fewer pigs are expected next year should prices remain high.

However, some respite may be ahead, after the price of grains fell last week the most they have in the last three months. Soybeans fell the most in almost a year

146

Food- Read the Label- "Low Fat" can still mean high calories

Updated: 21 Sep 2012

Always read the label:

How low fat can still mean high calories

(and most of us don't know the meaning of 'light' food options)

• Study found many products have minimal differences

• 'Little benefit in choosing low-fat options', Which? said

• Most people don't know meaning of 'reduced fat'

By John Stevens

UPDATED: 08:02, 20 September 2012

Many foods marketed as ‘low in fat’ contain the same number of calories as the standard options – and some have more sugar, a study has found.

A survey by Which? found that six out of ten consumers eat low-fat and light products several times a week, thinking they are a healthier option.

But many of the products have minimal differences in calorie content compared to their standard counterparts and some are still rated as red under the traffic light labelling system.

A ‘snapshot sample’ of 12 low-fat, reduced and light products found there was little benefit in choosing them over normal products, the consumer group said.

A standard McVitie’s chocolate digestive biscuit contained 85 calories while a ‘light’ one had 77.

The difference of eight calories could be burned off in less than a minute of swimming or running, it found.

A Tesco low-fat yoghurt had more calories per pot at 130 than a standard Activia version at 123, while the Tesco option contained more sugar.

It had 20.2g – more than four teaspoons – compared with the 16.9g in the Activia pot.

The high fat and saturated fat content of cheese meant that Cathedral City lighter cheddar was still given a red rating under the traffic light system.

Decisions: A Tesco low-fat yoghurt had more calories per pot at 130 than a standard Activia version at 123, while the Tesco option had more sugar (file)

Which? found most consumers did not know the meaning of the terms ‘reduced fat’ and ‘light’.

A survey of 1,005 shoppers found only 16 per cent of people correctly identified that these products have to contain 30 per cent less fat than the standard alternative.

Labelling regulations define ‘low fat’ as containing less than 3 per cent fat, and the terms ‘reduced fat’, ‘light’ and ‘lite’ mean products contain 30 per cent less fat than the standard or original product.

More than 20g of fat per 100g makes a product high in fat.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: ‘Consumers are choosing low-fat and light options believing them to be a healthier choice.

‘But our research has found that in many cases they’re just not living up to their healthy image.’

He added: ‘Our advice to consumers is to read the nutritional labels carefully.’

Which? is campaigning for clearer labelling on food and is calling for Morrisons and Iceland

to join other supermarkets in using the traffic light labelling system

125

Food production a "Free for All" says New Defra Sec. Yocal Paterson

Updated: 15 Sep 2012

No more ‘clueless urbanites’ in Defra,

just a focus on reviving rural economy

14 September 2012

OWEN Paterson says he is back to finish what he started almost a decade ago. Alistair Driver met the new Defra Secretary this week.

Even before he said a word, Owen Paterson’s broad smile confirmed he was very happy with the hand he was dealt in last week’s Government reshuffle.

The North Shropshire MP and new Defra secretary of state feels he is returning to complete a job he started [as a Defra Shadow Minister] nearly a decade ago.

Self-assured and enthusiastic, Mr Paterson is credited with a doing a good job in the tricky role as Northern Ireland Secretary for the past two-and-a-half years and appears to be a good fit for the Defra role he inherited from Caroline Spelman last week. He certainly thinks so.

Country man

“I was sad to leave Northern Ireland, but it’s tremendous to be back at Defra.

What’s interesting is Jim Paice and Caroline Spelman picked up some of the things I started in opposition, and here am I picking up some of those things from them,” he said when we met in his office at Defra this week.

Frequently referring to himself as a ‘country man’, he explained how he hails from a farming background and still keeps horses, chickens and Black Welsh Mountain sheep at home.

He has been an MP in a ‘rural constituency’ for 15 years and said he has close links to the local NFU and farmers.

He added, even since moving on from the Shadow Defra role in 2005, he has ‘kept in touch through the medium of Farmers Guardian on a weekly basis’.

“I am not coming into this blind,” he stressed.

“When I was in opposition, we always had very well-meaning, well intentioned Ministers at Defra who were completely urban and completely clueless.

That’s not going to happen with me. And I eat meat.”

He acknowledged he, along with the other Defra newcomers, will be on a steep learning curve when it comes to policy detail. But the direction of travel, in many cases, appears to be clearly set.

There is no doubt where he stands on the badger cull.

He made his name in politics by tabling around 600 questions on bovine TB in 2004 - a record on a single topic - as he campaigned against the Labour Government’s refusal to cull badgers to tackle the disease.

“I come at this from a practical countryman’s point of view.

Nobody likes killing any animals, but we want healthy cattle living alongside healthy badgers.”

He refused to be drawn on the timing of the planned English pilot culls, but said: “I very much hope we can get going soon.

The quicker we can get on top of this disease, the better for dairy farmers, the rural economy and wildlife.

“I am convinced it is the right thing to do until we get a vaccine.

We cannot allow this pool of disease to keep on growing, and I find the attitude of those who want these wonderful animals to die of this disgusting disease completely incomprehensible.”

Mr Paterson praised the work of his predecessors, particularly on bTB, and, in Mr Paice’s case, on the dairy industry and the code of practice specifically.

He pledged to build on this work and identified targeting new markets, such as the dairy dessert market, where the UK is currently a big net importer, as key to a delivering a prosperous dairy industry.

CAP reform

Farmers might be less enthused by his views on CAP reform.

Mr Paterson is likely to lead for the UK on crucial reform negotiations in coming months and, as a right-wing Conservative and passionate advocate of free market economics, he readily embraces the Defra/Treasury mantra of phasing out direct subsidies to farmers and targeting EU support at the environmental goods provided by farmers.

“I am quite clear on where I would like us to end up, without putting a definitive timetable on it.

Ideally, I would like all farmers to grow crops demanded by the markets.

“I am absolutely of the view you leave food entirely to the market, but it’s quite right the taxpayer should compensate farmers for the environmental benefits they provide.”

Mr Paterson’s appointment has already caused a stir in the national media, where, labelled as a ‘climate change sceptic’ and someone who cares little for the environment, he has been held up as a symbol of David Cameron’s retreat from his claim to lead ‘the greenest Government ever’.

Mr Paterson insists the picture has been skewed.

He acknowledged he has opposed the construction of wind farms in his ‘inland’ constituency, but insisted they were ‘incredibly unpopular and we proved they were not going to be viable’.

“I am simply taking a ‘horses for courses’ approach,” said Mr Paterson.

“It is perfectly obvious climate change is there, and there is a human contribution, but I want to be sure the measures we are taking to ameliorate the problem don’t create other problems. So that’s why I am sceptical.”

When Mr Cameron handed Mr Paterson the role, the Prime Minister gave him a single overarching objective ‘to promote and revive the rural economy and encourage rural businesses to prosper and expand’.

As the interview drew to a close, he explained his first major engagements would be a Downing Street summit on skills in the food and farming sector, followed by the launch in Cumbria of Defra’s Rural Statement.

“It’s all about promoting food and the rural economy full bore. It’s nice to be back.”

122

Organic food is no better for you or the planet

Updated: 11 Sep 2012

Organic food: no better for you, or the planet

18:10 04 September 2012

by Michael Marshall

For organic farmers, bad news comes in twos this week.

Organic crops seem to be no more nutritious than conventional ones, and are not necessarily great for the planet either.

Organic farming eschews synthetic pesticides and fertilisers, and supposedly produces more nutritious food containing fewer harmful contaminants.

Crystal Smith-Spangler of Stanford University in California and colleagues put together 237 studies comparing organic and non-organic food.

They found little evidence that organic food was more nutritious.

Conventional foods contained more pesticides but were within permitted limits (Annals of Internal Medicine, vol 157, p 348).

Meanwhile, organic farming's green credentials have been questioned by Hanna Tuomisto of the University of Oxford and colleagues, who reviewed 109 papers.

Organic farms were less polluting for a given area of land, but were often more polluting per unit of food produced.

They did have better soil, though, and housed more species (Journal of Environmental Management, doi.org/h8v).

"An 'organic' label is not a straightforward guarantee of the most environmentally friendly product," says Tuomisto.

She advocates integrated farming, combining a range of existing systems.

"Advanced breeding technologies, combined with the best farming practices from organic and conventional systems, could have the best overall impact in terms of improving crop yield and sustainability," says Dale Sanders, director of the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK.

153

Food- Bringing home the Bacon will cost more? -So keep a Pig or Two at home ?

Updated: 08 Sep 2012

Drought pressure on feed to make pork and bacon scarce

7 September 2012 | By Alistair Driver

THE world is running short of pigmeat due to soaring feed costs and supermarket prices that aren’t keeping pace, the National Pig Association (NPA)has warned.

Pig industry leaders from across the EU were meeting in London on Friday to explore ways to ensure pork remains what they claim is the world’s most affordable red meat.

They reported that pig herds are being sold across the world because prices are not rising fast enough in supermarkets to cover current record-high pig-feed costs.

Feed costs have been forced up by drought in soybean producing areas of the United States which has led to massive crop losses.

Governments around the world are already beginning to sit up and take notice of the potential crisis unfolding in the pig sector.

In the United States the Government has introduced a pork-buying programme in a bid to keep its pig farmers in business, while the Chinese government is putting pork into cold storage, as a buffer against shortages and high prices next year.

The NPA is now urging British shoppers to make a ‘special effort to safeguard supplies of British bacon and pork’ by only buying packs carrying the Red Tractor logo.

NPA chairman Richard Longthorp said some analysts believe the price of pigmeat will increase by over a third eventually.

“But we would rather see a more immediate, modest but sustainable rise that would allow producers to get into profit sooner thereby preventing the wholesale reduction in the pig herd with the inevitable record prices that would follow,” he said.

“It usually takes at least six months for higher production costs to filter through to shop prices — but pig farmers simply haven’t got that long.

Some have got only a few weeks left before they run out of credit at the bank and have to sell up, and this is happening all over Europe.”

Mr Longthorp, who farms outdoor pigs in Yorkshire, said pork has always been the ‘affordable meat’ as it was half the price of beef and lamb.

“We urgently need the retail price to go up by a modest amount to keep pig farmers in business, but we want it to remain the most affordable red meat,” he said.

126

Food-Morrisons - Almost 50% of customers prefer cheaper eggs

Updated: 06 Sep 2012

Morrisons stripped of Good Egg award over cage back down

5 September 2012 | By Olivia Midgley

SUPERMARKET giant Morrisons has been stripped of its prestigious Good Egg Commendation award following its decision to re-introduce eggs from caged hens across its own brand range.

Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) announced it was taking away the away the award to encourage the retailer to ‘get back on the right track’.

But Morrisons hit back at the move, saying the eggs from caged hens had always been available in store – even when the award was handed out four years ago - but they were sold under a different brand name.

The spokesman added that just under 50 per cent of all the eggs sold across the chain were from caged hens, representing a need for cheaper eggs as families struggled with rising food prices.

“The only change we are making is to sell caged eggs under the entry price point M Savers brand rather than under a different brand name,” he said.

“This allows us to take greater control of the egg supply chain. It also puts us in the best position to respond to customers on a budget while improving control of animal welfare.”

He said the supermarket remained a ‘strong supporter’ of free range eggs and had developed the Nature’s Nest enrichment project, to promote good welfare conditions in the market.

But CIWF said the action by Morrisons represented a ‘retrograde step for animal welfare’.

CIWF’s director of food business, Steve McIvor, said: “Consumers do not like caged egg production and Compassion in World Farming shares this view.

We awarded Morrisons a Good Egg Commendation in good faith and would encourage Morrisons to reverse this decision and get back on the right track.”

The charity presented Morrisons with the title in 2008 for its policy commitment to sourcing only free-range eggs across its entire own branded egg offer.

Mr McIvor added: “At a time when other brands across Europe, including Sainsbury’s, McDonald’s, The Co-operative Food, Subway, Weatherspoons, Ocado and IKEA, are taking positive steps to improve welfare, this is a really surprising and unfortunate decision by Morrisons and goes against the general retail trend.”

133

Food- Cargill UK -An International Conglomerate

Updated: 04 Sep 2012

About Cargill in the UK

Cargill has been active in the United Kingdom since 1955 and now employs over 3,000 people in 19 locations, in Cobham, Dalton, Hereford (two locations), Hull, Lichfield, Liverpool (four locations), London (two locations), Manchester, Newent, Shobdon, Witham St Hughs, Wolverhampton, Worksop and York.

Cargill also has an agriculture joint venture with Allied Grain (part of ABF), under the name Frontier Agriculture.

Cargill has activities in the following areas in the United Kingdom:

•alcohol
•animal feed ingredients
•asset management
•cotton trading
•energy volatility management solutions
•financial services and risk management
•food and feed ingredients sales
•grain and oilseed trading
•industrial chocolate
•ocean transportation and logistics
•oilseed crushing, refining and hardening
•poultry processing
•primary cocoa processing
•production and sales of glucose syrups, starches and starch derivatives
•specialty food ingredients including texturisers
Recent Cargill Investments in the United Kingdom
2011 Cargill completed the acquisition of Provimi, a leading global producer of animal feed.

2011 Cargill acquired Royal Nedalco, a producer of premium potable and industrial alcohol.

2008 Cargill announced the expansion of its poultry operations in the UK with the acquisition of Freeman’s of Newent Ltd. (Freeman’s), a primary chicken processing business in Gloucestershire.

2007 Cargill started processing wheat at its new starches and sweeteners facility in Manchester.

2005 Cargill announced its intention to invest in a state-of-the-art wheat-based sweeteners plant at its Manchester facility.

2005 Cargill began trading emissions, electricity and gas from its new office in King Street, London.

2004 Banks Cargill Agriculture and Allied Grain (part of ABF) combined their existing UK operations trading under the name of Frontier Agriculture.

2004 Cargill acquired The Nestlé Group's primary cocoa processing facility in York.

2003 Cargill acquired OCG Cacao's industrial chocolate business, including its plant in Worksop.

2002 Cargill acquired Cerestar - a leading provider of starch and starch derivatives - the largest acquisition in Cargill's history, including Cerestar's sweeteners plant in Manchester.

162

Food- World Costs at Record Levels Again Threatens the Health and Well Being of Millions

Updated: 04 Sep 2012

World Bank: Food costs at record levels again

Prices now one per cent higher than previous peak in Feburary 2011

"threatening the health and well-being of millions".

Carey L Biron Last Modified: 31 Aug 2012 12:58

Global food prices spiked 10 per cent in July, the World Bank said on Thursday [EPA]

After decreasing somewhat in recent months, international food prices have again risen dramatically, according to figures published on Thursday by the World Bank.

Statistics for July indicate a 10 per cent rise over just the previous month, and a six percent increase over already high prices from the same time frame a year ago.

“Food prices rose again sharply, threatening the health and well-being of millions of people,” World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement on Thursday from the bank’s Washington headquarters.

“Africa and the Middle East are particularly vulnerable, but so are people in other countries where the prices of grains have gone up abruptly.”

That list includes countries around the world. According to the World Bank’s new Food Price Watch, between June and July prices for both maize and wheat increased by 25 per cent, while soybeans went up by 17 per cent.

That leaves prices one per cent higher than the previous price peak in February 2011.

Kim noted that the World Bank has already brought its agriculture support to its highest level in the past two decades.

“We cannot allow these historic price hikes to turn into a lifetime of perils as families take their children out of school and eat less nutritious food to compensate for the high prices,” he said.

“Countries must strengthen their targeted programmes to ease the pressure on the most vulnerable population.”

'Devastating volatility'

In recent months, watchdog groups around the world have expressed frustration with a perceived lack of both urgency and creativity on the part of national and multilateral policymakers in dealing with the return of food prices to near-crisis levels.

“Today’s World Bank report is yet another alarm bell for governments that action on food price volatility is urgently required, but it’s still not clear whether they are listening,” Colin Roche, a spokesperson with the aid agency Oxfam, said on Thursday.

In depth coverage on global food issues [Al Jazeera]

Roche said that Oxfam has already started to see “the devastating impact of food price volatility in developing countries that rely on food imports”.

On Monday, the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Jose Graziano Da Silva, called on the Group of 20 (G20), a multilateral grouping, to engage in “coordinated action” on spiking food prices.

But that same day, the G20 decided that it would wait for September’s US crop report before deciding how to proceed, a move decried by Oxfam.

“The G20 must act now before prices spiral out of control and push more people into hunger,” Roche warned.

“This ‘wait and see’ attitude is unacceptable, especially when the World Bank report has warned that prices are expected to remain high and volatile.”

Remembering sustainability

Much of the concern today is over the ongoing drought in the United States and in parts of Europe.

The situation in the US alone could have a devastating effect on food stocks and prices internationally, as the country is the world’s primary supplier of both maize and soybeans.

As of mid-August, the United States government had classified nearly 1,800 counties throughout the country as disaster areas, mostly due to a grinding drought that, even if it were to end soon, has already gutted this year’s harvest for many grain crops.

By late July, nearly three-quarters of the US maize crop was officially rated very poor to fair.

That’s a stark turnaround from forecasts made earlier this year of a record maize harvest in the US, which many were hoping could help shore up depleted foodstores in other countries.

Although more extreme than what has been seen in recent months, the new World Bank numbers extended a trend of volatility that has held over the past year as well as a trend of high food prices that dates back to 2008, when a confluence of issues created a sudden crisis in foodstores and prices that strained local communities globally and took many policymakers by surprise.

The 2008 experience helped to reverse a two-decade international decline in investment in agriculture.

“What we saw in 2008 – those high prices never really went away, especially for the developing world,” Danielle Nierenberg, director of the Nourishing the Planet programme at the Worldwatch Institute, an environment-focused think tank based, said.

“While the renewed investment in agriculture since 2008 has been much needed, it has been mostly focused on long-term, technology-focused research.

We need a 180-degree turn in thinking in how we approach agriculture.”

South Sudan refugees running out of food

Overlooked in today’s renewed agriculture policy, Nierenberg said, are “those things we already know work”, such as a spectrum of sustainable practices, rainwater harvesting and the use of natural fertilisers.

She also highlights a need to return to national policies of storing grains and other foodstuffs, a practise that has faded in recent years.

“The silver lining of the current drought is that the West can perhaps take a new look at the sustainable practices that have been helping many African farmers combat drought,” she said.

“This is an opportunity for the Western world to look to the developing world – they have a lot to teach us.”

A changing agriculture

Nierenberg suggested it will be at least a year or more before the full ramifications of the current situation are fully understood. Others suggest that the situation today is probably the new normal.

“My sense is that we are in a transition from an age of abundance to one of scarcity,” Lester Brown, a longtime sustainability advocate with the Earth Policy Institute said.

In this, Brown notes not only a fast-growing global population but, more importantly, the inevitable effects of rising affluence. Over the past decade alone, he said, world grain demand has doubled, from 21m tonnes per year to 41m.

While the impact of demand for biofuels has also been widely felt on grain stocks in recent years, particularly leading to the economic collapse in 2008, Brown suggested that this demand is already starting to decline.

“Once we’ve set aside the issue of ethanol” – a common biofuel – “the big thing now is the fact that three billion people in the world are trying to move up the food chain and are clamouring to consume more meat, especially in China,” he explained.

Meanwhile, for years it has been apparent that arable land is becoming increasingly scarce.

Now the same can also be said of irrigation water, including in the world’s three most important grain producers, China, India and the United States.

“We need to recognise that agriculture as we know it evolved over 11,000 years of remarkable climate stability – the system is designed to maximise production within that system,” Brown said.

“But that is now changing; today, we have constant flux.

And with each passing year, the systems of climate and agriculture are becoming a bit more out of sync with one another.”

A version of this article was first published by Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency.

114

Food-UK Price hike to affect family budgets & Osborne's inflation strategy

Updated: 29 Aug 2012

Food prices hike punishes UK families

British shoppers are to face new expenses in food products

due to the affects of the US drought

.Tue Aug 28, 2012 2:8PM GMT

Press TV

British shoppers are to face new hikes in prices of food products like bread, pasta and meat, due to the impacts of a devastating drought in the United States, which has ravaged crops.

The drought crisis in the US is forcing up the global price of crops to make products like bread and pasta, causing many families in the UK to struggle with heavier food bills and resulting in some parents forced to skip meals to feed their children.

The severe drought in the States has also affected the price of meat, which is rising due to animal feed costs, experts warn.

The UK even faces a worse situation because common vegetables like peas and potatoes are now being imported from as far as Guatemala, South Africa and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Farmers in Britain stress that the heavy rain and lack of sunshine have also delayed or decimated harvests this summer.

Meanwhile, incomes in the UK are under much pressure from inflation, which has been above the official target for many months.

Fuel prices are predicted to go up this winter as some suppliers are already raising their charges.

The food price problem is now becoming a threat to UK chancellor George Osborne‘s election strategy as he aims to bring inflation under control.

121

Food- US Corn crop has failed due to a drought -Global Higher Prices and Unrest will result

Updated: 21 Aug 2012

US drought could spur civil unrest around the world

11:20 17 August 2012

by Michael Marshall

New Scientist

As prices rise, tempers fray.

The US drought has pushed up global food prices and is likely to continue to do so.

Some say riots and unrest may follow.

According to the Climate Prediction Center, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, El Niño conditions are likely to develop over the Pacific in August or September, which should affect global weather before the end of the year.

This may drive food prices up further if it causes floods or further drought.

US farms are already crippled: the Department of Agriculture says the corn (maize) crop is likely to be the worst since 1995.

As a result, the Food Price Index (FPI) of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization rose 6 per cent in July, to 213.

That is dangerously high, says Yaneer Bar-Yam of the New England Complex Systems Institute in Massachusetts.

He has found that if the FPI goes above 210, riots and unrest become more likely around the world.

Both the 2011 Arab Spring and the 2008 riots in places such as Mexico, India, Russia and Belgium may have been partly triggered by high food prices.

More unrest is likely in the next year, although we cannot predict where, says Bar-Yam.

That depends on how governments respond

113

Food- US red meat linked to prostate cancer

Updated: 20 Aug 2012

Why men should should avoid the burger van:

Pan-fried meat increases risk of prostate cancer

Red meat has been linked to prostate cancer before

but now scientists believe the cooking method could be crucial

Radical - What is more important is that UK beef does not contain growth hormones.

By Daily Mail Reporter

UPDATED: 17:24, 17 August 2012

..A couple of hamburgers a week could increase the chances of getting prostate cancer by 40 per cent, according to new research.

Scientists say cooking meat at a high temperatures creates cancer causing chemicals that damage DNA.

A study of almost 2,000 men found prostate cancer cases rose dramatically in those who often ate meat cooked in a pan, with red meat being particularly dangerous.

Chemical carcinogens are formed when meat is cooked at a high temperature

Professor Mariana Stern, of the University of Southern California, said: 'We found men who ate more than 1.5 servings of pan-fried red meat per week increased their risk of advanced prostate cancer by 30 percent.

'In addition, men who ate more than 2.5 servings of red meat cooked at high temperatures were 40 percent more likely to have advanced prostate cancer.'

The carcinogens at the centre of the scare are known as HCAs (heterocyclic amines) and PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons).

HCAs form when protein is cooked at high temperatures for a long time, while PAHs occur when fat from the meat drips onto an open flame creating smoke that deposits the chemicals on the meat.

There is strong experimental evidence that HCAs and PAHs contribute to certain cancers, including prostate cancer.

When considering specific types of red meats hamburgers, but not steak, were linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer, especially among Hispanic men.

Prof Stern, whose research was published in the online journal Carcinogenisis, said: 'We speculate these findings are a result of different levels of carcinogen accumulation found in hamburgers, given that they can attain higher internal and external temperatures faster than steak.'

The participants, more than 1,000 of whom had advanced prostate cancer, answered questionnaires about their red meat and poultry consumption.

They were also asked to photograph their cooking methods and how charred their meat was.

The researchers said the study, published online in the journal Carcinogenesis, provides important new evidence on how red meat and its cooking practices may increase the risk for prostate cancer.

Previous studies have emphasised an association between diets high in red meat and risk of prostate cancer, but proof is limited.
But attention to cooking methods shows the disease may be a result of potent chemical carcinogens formed when meat is cooked at a high temperature.

The researchers also found the men who ate baked poultry had a lower risk of prostate cancer, but those who pan fried it had a higher risk.

Prof Stern said pan-frying, regardless of meat type, consistently led to an increased risk of prostate cancer. The same pattern was evident in her previous research which found fish cooked at high temperatures, particularly pan-fried, increased the risk of prostate cancer.

The researchers do not know why pan-frying poses a higher risk for prostate cancer, but they suspect it is due to the formation of the DNA-damaging HCAs during the cooking of red meat and poultry.

Added Prof Stern: 'The observations from this study alone are not enough to make any health recommendations but given the few modifiable risk factors known for prostate cancer, the understanding of dietary factors and cooking methods are of high public health relevance.'

Dr Carrie Ruxton, from the Meat Advisory Panel, commented: 'This study confirms earlier findings that it is best not to over-cook or pan-fry your poultry, meat and fish where prostate health is concerned.

'However, all of these foods can be enjoyed in a healthy, balanced diet when cooked by other methods which minimise the use of extra fat, and which avoid over-cooking or burning.

'Meat and meat products make a significant contribution to intakes of iron, zinc, selenium, vitamin D and B vitamins, and the Department of Health advises that lean red meat should be consumed in moderation as part of a balanced diet.'

117

Food- Try to Remember the benefits of a Cup of Cocoa

Updated: 15 Aug 2012

The Benefits of a Cup of Cocoa

Then after an active day, what better than a nice cup of cocoa.

The Daily Telegraph reports study findings showing that a daily cup of cocoa containing high levels of flavonols could protect against memory decline.

The Italian trial in Hypertension, found that compared with those given a cocoa drink with lower levels of flavonols, the high-dose group scored better on several different tests of memory.

The participants –all of whom had mild memory problems - also showed improved blood glucose control with the flavonol-rich drink.

Study leader Dr Giovambattista Desideri said: ‘The positive effect on cognitive function may be mainly mediated by an improvement in insulin sensitivity.

It is yet unclear whether these benefits in cognition are a direct consequence of cocoa flavonols or a secondary effect of general improvements in cardiovascular function.'

132

Food- Which Potato should you buy ?

Updated: 14 Aug 2012

What Varieties to Grow For Flavour

What potato to grow?

There are around 500 varieties of potatoes available to the gardener to grow.

Yes, that’s right 500 varieties of potato.

Finding all of them would be a bit of a task but the selections easily available will probably be more than you need anyway.

Why all this choice of potatoes?

One good reason, apart from growing habits and disease resistance, is taste.

Because of the water content and flesh structure, different potatoes cook differently.

Some fry well, making great chips (or crisps – Golden Wonder is a potato variety) some boil well and some mash well. Waxy potatoes are better for salads than floury potatoes.

The tables below should give you some help on what to grow for what purpose.

I have not covered all the varieties available but I think I've got the main ones that are readily available from both garden centres and specialist suppliers.

You may find one variety appears in two or more sections as some potatoes are more multi-purpose than others.

Best Potatoes for Boiling

First Earlies All first earlies boil well
Second Earlies Anya
Cosmos
Edzell Blue Marfona
Maris Peer
Estima Nadine
Saxon Kestrel
Wilja
Main Crop Ambo
Arran Victory
Cara
Celine Maris Piper
Maxine
Pentland Squire
Picasso Romano
Sarpo Mira
Stemster
Pink Fir Apple
Desiree
Harmony
King Edward
Kondor

Best Potatoes for Baking

First Earlies Arran Pilot
Duke of York
Epicure Red Duke of York
Rocket
Swift Foremost
Pentland Javelin Vanessa
Winston
Second Earlies Cosmos
Edzell Blue
Estima Maris Peer
Nadine Kestrel
Marfona Saxon
Wilja
Main Crop Ambo
Arran Victory
Cara
Celine Maris Piper
Maxine
Pentland Squire
Picasso Desiree
Harmony
King Edward
Kondor Pink Fir Apple
Romano
Sarpo Mira
Stemster

Best Potatoes for Roasting

First Earlies Accent Ulster Chieftain Swift
Second Earlies Catriona
Cosmos Mona Lisa
Osprey Edzell Blue
Kestrel Wilja
Main Crop Arran Victory
Cara
Celine
Desiree Maxine
Picasso
Remarka
Romano Dunbar Standard
King Edward
Kondor
Maris Piper Sante
Stemster
Valor

Best Potatoes for Chipping

First Earlies Accent
International Kidney Swift Premiere Winston
Second Earlies Kestrel Saxon Yukon Gold Nadine
Main Crop Cara
Celine
Desiree King Edward
Majestic
Maris Piper Dunbar Standard
Golden Wonder
Kerrs Pink Pentland Dell
Stemster
Valor

Best Potatoes for Mashing

First Earlies Accent Winston Epicure
Second Earlies Cosmos
Kestrel Nadine
Osprey Merlin Wilja
Main Crop Arran Victory
Desiree
Harmony
Kerrs Pink Maxine
Pentland Crown
Remarka King Edward
Majestic
Maris Piper Sante
Sarpo Mira
Stemster

Best Potatoes for Salads

First Earlies Amandine
Belle de Fontenay
BF15 International Kidney
Pomfine
Red Duke of York Cherie
Anoe (Claire)
Duke of York Rosabelle
Swift
Ulster Chieftain
Second Earlies Altesse
Anya
Carlingford Linzer Delikatess
Maris Piper
Nicola Charlotte
Franceline
Juliette Roseval
Wilja
Main Crop Pink Fir Apple Ratte Pompadour Sarpo Mira

189

Food - Do you eat Potatoes ?

Updated: 14 Aug 2012

Potato growers in Wales face serious challenges

14 August 2012 | By Barry Alston

The Radical says his own Allotment potato crop has been affected by the unseasonal weather. In fact I have planted potatoes for Christmas. May I suggest you buy a 25kg bag of potatoes ?

Keep them in the cool garage - after the bag is opened keep it sealed closed by rolling over the top and putting a brick on top of the bag to keep it closed. Try Picasso or Maris Peer variety. You should pay £7/8 a bag- not more -28p a bag. Later get a bag of "maincrop" potatoes which should be £5 a bag from your local market.

POTATO growers in West Wales are facing a challenging season following the heavy rainfall and lack of sunshine in recent months.

“Without doubt, this season has been a very difficult one with exceptional blight pressure combined with poor weather leading to real problems,” according toPembrokeshire NFU’s arable chairman, Nigel Raymond, who grows potatoes near Fishguard.

“I am used to having to irrigate my crop, but the sustained downpours we have experienced since the beginning of April have left me praying for some dry weather instead,” he said today (Tuesday, August 14).

“Unfortunately, the sunshine we have all been waiting for has not really materialised and this has really hit crop development, with the lack of sunlight hours affecting bulking of the crop and leading to lower than expected tuber numbers.

“Potato Council figures up until July 20 this year show yields of 22.7 tonnes per hectare compared to 33.1 tonnes at the same time last year.

“The wet weather has also contributed to a really high incidence of blight, the highest I have seen for many years,” he added.

“On top of this, harvesting the crop has been made difficult by the condition of the soil, with yields proving to be highly variable and well down on last year.”

116

Food- Bringing home the Bacon will cost more

Updated: 12 Aug 2012

Price of bacon set to soar

as producers are hit by new EU animal welfare laws

News comes as British pig farmers continue to leave the industry

Jamie Doward
The Observer, Sunday 12 August 2012

Consumers are being warned that the price of bacon will rise significantly next year as European producers quit the industry ahead of new laws governing animal welfare.

The predicted decline in the number of European producers comes while many of their counterparts in the UK industry, who account for 40% of all domestic bacon sales, are battling to stay in business.

Last week British pig farmers mounted a publicity drive to encourage consumers to buy British pork products. The National Pig Association warned that farmers who are responsible for as much as 10% of all British pig production will be forced to leave the industry by Christmas.

The association blamed poor crop-growing conditions, particularly in the US, for a 25% rise in the cost of pig feed ingredients, which has meant many producers are unable to turn a profit.

It claims that, if British pig farmers continue to leave the industry, around 1.5m rashers of British bacon and 2.3m British sausages a week will disappear from supermarket shelves.

Sharp rises in pig feed prices are not new. There have been spikes in 2008 and 2011 due to poor weather. "But what we are seeing now is a fundamental shift in grain prices going upwards," said NPA general manager Dr Zoe Davies.

For the British consumer, soaring feed prices may not be a problem in the short term. High street rivalry is making supermarkets reluctant to pay farmers more to cover their extra costs of production.

And empty spaces on supermarket shelves, caused by British producers quitting the industry, can be filled with imported bacon and sausages, which are often cheaper than British alternatives but do not adhere to stringent welfare standards.

However, a partial ban on sow stalls, due to take effect throughout Europe from 1 January 2013, will have a major impact on the EU pig meat market, according to experts.

BPEX, the body that represents the interests of pig producers, said that similar animal welfare legislation, which came into force at the start of this year, has caused serious disruption with the price of eggs up 75% compared with a year ago.

BPEX warns that pig production is likely to fall by between 5% and 10% with the result that retailers will be face substantial price increases.

Only three EU member states have reported that they comply with the new legislation. Several have already indicated that they expect a "significant number" of their producers to stop breeding pigs or allow their herds to run down.

"In the past, the UK was 40% self-sufficient for pork and 60% came from elsewhere," Davies said. "But that is no longer going to be the case. We could soon see pork being imported from South America or Thailand if British producers go out of business."

123

Food- Storing Cooking Apples

Updated: 06 Aug 2012

Storing Cooking Apples

An alternative to dry storing them whole.

Apples: Slices - Peel and core the apples.

Cut into slices.

Immerse slices in a bowl full of very cold acidulated water (1 gallon water and juice of 1 lemon)

to stop them going brown

Blanch (immerse in fast-boiling water) for 1 - 2 minutes and immediately cool in ice-cold water.

Drain well.

Dry or sugar freeze by packing in rigid containers or polythene bags

119

Food-UK - Beware a poor main crop of potatoes this autumn

Updated: 31 Jul 2012

Weather tests potato growers

The early crop was light in this part of Lincolnshire and we are

worried about the health of the main crop.

And this is only in my allotment-the Radical

30 July 2012

UNSETTLED weather in some regions continues to pose problems for potato growers struggling to lift crops or apply blight sprays.

According to Potato Council, in the West crop development has fallen well behind, with the lack of sunshine affecting bulking.

Incidences of blight have increased as wet conditions continue to interrupt spraying.

Incidents of blackleg are being reported, together with some breakdown issues associated with waterlogging. Yields are currently in a wide-range of 24-38 tonnes per hectare (9.7-15.4t/acre).

In the South, lifting is said to be behind in most areas, with yields variable in a range of 20-40t/ha (8-16t/acre), with low tuber counts.

Blight is evident, particularly in late-planted crops where top growth is very lush.

Some early-planted crops are showing signs of early senescence and others have been burnt off, but are slow in dying back.

Rain

In Scotland, rain has affected lifting in all areas to some extent, with heaviest falls in the east.

In Fife, Marfona had been burnt off for set skin packing, with a start on lifting loose skinned Maris Piper anticipated this week.

Potato Council estimate the total early GB crop harvested to July 20 was 3,363ha (8,306 acres) and movement of 76,274 tonnes (22.7t/ha/9.2t/acre), which compares with 6,541ha (16,156 acres) and movement of 216,809t (33.1t/ha/13.4t/acre) in the same week last year

216

Food- Greedy Milk Processors were holding back cash for Dairy farmers

Updated: 26 Jul 2012

Attention back on milk processors after retailers' price move

25 July 2012 | By Alistair Driver

THE focus of the SOS Dairy campaign will now shift back onto the major processors after a series of price hikes announced by major UK supermarkets, according to NFU president Kendall.

Since last Friday, the Co-operative, Morrisions and, on Tuesday, Asda have all raised the price their farmers receive for liquid milk to at least 29 pence per litre, following intense pressure from the farming industry.

The three retailers have all been targeted in the form of protests and ‘naming and shaming’ campaigns, while leaders of the ‘dairy coalition’ have held a series of face-to-face meetings with supermarket executives.

The supermarkets have also indicated that they will review the way they procure their milk on the back of criticism that they currently shun the cost of production models used by Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Marks and Spencer and Waitrose.

Mr Kendall acknowledged that there had been a deliberate focus to target the big players within the food chain that ‘don’t have a mechanism to pay a sustainable price to their dairy farmer milk suppliers’. He said the recent successes were ‘good news’ but stressed that the work is ‘far from over’.

“With three major retailers and Aldi all having made commitments in recent days, the attention turns not only to other outlets but also to milk processors. We now expect them - Wiseman/Muller, Dairy Crest and Arla - to play their part and commit to rescinding their price cuts before the dairy coalition’s August 1 deadline,” he said.

“I know that despite all of the fantastic work to date there will be many farmers who remain unaffected by this news. Many don’t supply milk to a dedicated retailer milk pool and so behind the scenes we have started to tackle the discount retailers and food service companies. We will focus the spotlight on any company that is exploiting farmers and paying crazy low prices for their milk.”

From the very start of the campaign, the dairy coalition of NFU, NFUS, NFU Cymru, TFA and the FFA, with backing from the WI, has called for milk price cuts made this spring and further cuts due to come in on August 1 to be reversed. It has called for dairy farmers to receive a price for their milk that covers the cost of production.

In a further development, Farming Minister Jim Paice is due to meet supermarket representatives today to discuss what measures they can take to improve the situation in the dairy supply chain.

Supermarket movers

On Tuesday Asda announced it will increase the price it pays dairy farmers by an additional 2ppl from August 1, taking its base price up to 29.5 up to the end of the year when it will be reviewed.
On Saturday, Morrisons announced a milk price increase of an additional 2p-a-litre premium for every litre of milk that it buys. There will also be an additional support payment equivalent to 3p-a-litre because of the extreme weather that is currently affecting farmers. These payments will last from August through to the end of October when they will be reviewed.
On Friday, the Co-operative announced a price increase of 2.57ppl with immediate effect, rising to 4.27ppl from August 1. This will increase The Co-operative’s farmer milk price to 29ppl with immediate effect.

170

Food- Can the Milk Industry stay afloat ?

Updated: 21 Jul 2012

Can the milk industry still stay afloat?

Friday 20 July 2012

by Adrian Roberts

Farmers and the Morning Star are not usually on the same page politically, but over the past couple of weeks that position has shifted.

Farmers are fighting to keep their heads above water as some supermarkets cut the wholesale price they pay for their milk.

Supermarkets have made cuts of up to 2p a litre. The National Farmers Union (NFU), which has launched an SOS Dairy campaign, is focusing on Morrisons, Asda and the Co-operative because they say that, as of August 1, their milk prices will not cover farmers' production costs of about 30p a litre.

Last year dairy farmers received a little under 29p for every litre they sold, but this is set to fall to less than 25p. The NFU is now urging consumers to shop at places where farmers are paid a "sustainable" price that pays for the cost of production.

NFU president Peter Kendall also said that protests by farmers have been "extremely effective" at raising the issue to consumers "that the farmers who supply milk to these retailers do not receive a price that reflects the cost of production.

"These demonstrations have huge impact. No retailer enjoys being shamed in this way on their own doorstep. Believe me, it is making a difference," he said.

NFU dairy board chairman Mansel Raymond told MPs this week that farmers "will not have the heart to go into the winter" if milk prices stay where they are.

The direct action group Farmers for Action has warned that if prices are not restored to pre-April levels by August 1 they will disrupt delivery.

Speaking to the BBC Radio 4 Farming Today programme, chairman of the organisation and Welsh dairy farmer David Handley said: "If we don't get reinstatement we are looking at disruption of milk supply.

That could come in many forms and with us running into something that is very important to many people: the Olympics.

"Part of our action is likely to disrupt. That's unfortunate, but at the end of the day we are in desperation street."

Mr Handley's warning follows announcements in the past seven days from three dairy processing companies - Robert Wiseman Dairies, Arla Foods UK and Dairy Crest - that they also intend to cut the prices paid to farmers.

But a Robert Wiseman Dairies spokesman said: "We fully understand the strength of feeling amongst dairy producers and continue to engage with those with an interest in the dairy supply chain.

"It is important to stress we are not in a position to fund a milk price at the level it was prior to the global collapse in the value of cream.

"It is our hope that the market for liquid milk and bulk cream which is at the core of this issue will quickly find a balance which will allow us to return improved prices to farmers."

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) claimed that supermarkets were the "wrong target".

Spokesman Richard Dodd said: "They're actually the best payers for milk. Currently, 11 of the top 12 best-paying milk contracts are contracts paid by supermarkets."

However despite the protestations of the BRC, supermarkets and suppliers, the farmers' plight has gained the support of celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall who have stepped in, writing a letter to The Times in which they said:

"The value of milk is something we have all lost sight of.

We pay more for bottled water than we do milk - crazy when you think of the work that goes into producing it."

Calling on consumers to boycott supermarkets that continued to use milk as a loss leader, they warned that thousands of family businesses would fail and the landscape would be threatened if the industry breaks down or becomes "super-industrialised."

Let's hope the cream sinks to bottom.

For information on how you can suport the farmers' campaign visit www.nfuonline.com/Home/SOS-dairy

121

Food- Don't Pass on the Humble Spud

Updated: 16 Jul 2012

Devils food The surprising health benefits of the humble spud

By Anastasia Stephens

Radical - Buy "Second Earlies"( Charlotte, Nicola or Maris Peer) now to Chit for planting out at the end of August for Christmas new potatoes. But beware and protect from early frost.

(Or buy cheap from the Supermarket some of the last seasons crop)

( We plant out in our raised beds for added protection)

..
A new survey has revealed that after sugar, carbohydrates such as potatoes are one of the first things that those keeping an eye on their weight cut out.

Yet far from being the devil's food, a cooked new potato has only 26 calories and is packed with nutrients. Here we reveal the surprising health benefits of the humble spud.

A key to lasting weight loss is eating foods that make you feel full for longer, says Dr Jacquie Lavin, a weight-loss doctor for Slimming World.

'You should eat complex carbohydrates such as potatoes, rather than simple carbohydrates like sugar or biscuits which give a short energy boost followed by hunger pangs,' she says.

'In this way, potatoes can help you reduce binge-eating.'

Nutritious: Potatoes provide the body with an essential source of fuel and energy, which you need even when dieting

According to a study in the British Journal of Nutrition, potatoes are wrongly classified as high on the Glycemic Index, which ranks carbohydrates from one to 100 according to how quickly they are broken down during digestion into basic glucose.

Pure glucose scores 100. The lower the rank, the longer it takes for the food to be absorbed, and the longer we feel satiated after eating it.

This is why a diet of low GI foods is recommended to those wanting to lose weight.
However, the research revealed that the GI of potatoes varies depending on the type, where it is grown and the preparation methods.

For example, the GI may be medium to low when potatoes are eaten cooled, rather than hot, and when boiled and consumed whole, rather than mashed.

Potatoes provide the body with an essential source of fuel and energy, which you need even when dieting. As a rich carbohydrate source, they help to fuel all reactions in the body which you need for movement, thinking, digestion and cellular renewal.

VITAMIN BOOSTER

Potatoes were eaten by 19th Century English and Spanish sailors to fend off scurvy.

Surprisingly rich in immune-boosting Vitamin C, a medium potato (150g) with the skin provides 27mg, almost half of the recommended daily intake.

Potatoes are also a rich source of Vitamin B, folate and minerals such as potassium, magnesium and iron.

Potatoes are underground tubers, meaning that they store all the vitamins and minerals needed for growing new potato plants in spring.

Rather than being bland and starchy, they're actually full of nutrients.

Super food: One new potato contains just 26 calories

BLOOD PRESSURE

Researchers at the Institute for Food Research in Norwich have found blood-pressure lowering molecules in potatoes called kukoamines.

Traditional Chinese Medicine uses a plant, Lycium chinense - which also contains kukoamines - as a tea to lower blood pressure.

While the precise quantity of potatoes you'd need to eat for a therapeutic effect has still to be measured, it is thought that a few good servings of potatoes a day would have some blood-pressure lowering activity.

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

The Agricultural Research Service in Navarre, America, has identified 60 different kinds of phytochemicals and vitamins in potato skins.

Many of these were flavonoids, which help protect against cardiovascular-disease by lowering levels of bad LDL-cholesterol and keeping arteries fat-free.

The B vitamins in potatoes also protect arteries. Vitamin B6, found in potatoes, reduces levels of a molecule called homocysteine which is involved in inflammation and the furring up of arteries.

High homocysteine levels are associated with a significantly increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

GUT HEALTH

A single baked potato will provide nearly 12 per cent of the daily recommended amount of fibre, giving similar levels to whole grain breads, pastas and cereals.

High levels of dietary fibre and 'bulking agents' support healthy digestion and regular bowel movements, while giving a protective effect from colon cancer.

While most potato fibre is found in the skin, some of the starch in potatoes is indigestible.
Instead it passes through the gut intact, adding bulk.

If you suffer from sluggish bowel movements, eat cooked potatoes that have been cooled.

The cooling process increases the amount of indigestible starch from seven per cent to 13 per cent.

STRESS

Potatoes are exceedingly rich in Vitamin B6, a substance needed for cellular renewal, a healthy nervous system and a balanced mood.

Just 100g of baked potato contains 21 per cent of the daily value of the vitamin.

It is used to make neurotransmitters --substances that deliver messages from one cell to the next.
Neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine are needed for the regulation of mood and Vitamin B6 is needed to make them.

It is also used to make adrenaline, hormones that help us respond to stress, and GABA, a substance linked to relaxation and a feeling of wellbeing.

Healthy: A single baked potato will provide nearly 12 per cent of the daily recommended amount of fibre

PICK YOUR POTATOES WISELY

Earlier this year, a new breed of potato - Vivaldi - was developed in Lincolnshire by the company Naturally Best and is now sold in Sainsbury's.

The white and salad potatoes contain at least 26 per cent less carbohydrate and 33 per cent fewer calories than other varieties.

The health benefits do not impair the taste. Vivaldi has been dubbed the 'butterless baker' for its creamy texture and flavour, making it less likely you'll want to smother it in butter.

Floury potatoes can become light and fluffy when cooked and are high in starch.

They tend to have a high GI therefore, as starch has a profound effect on blood glucose levels.

This can be lowered to a medium GI by mashing them and adding olive oil-based spread or skimmed milk.

Waxy potatoes, such as new potatoes like Charlotte and Nicola, are medium GI foods.

They are high in moisture and sugar, but low in starch, hence they will have a more minor effect on blood sugar levels.

You can further combine new potatoes with salad oil or protein to balance out sugar levels as opposed to raising them.

DON'T PASS ON THE POTATOES

Potatoes are typically loaded with calorie-laden fats such as butter, sour cream and melted cheese.

Cut out the extra fat and deep frying, and a typical baked potato suddenly becomes a healthy high-fibre food.

Packed with vitamins: Potato skins contain fibre and flavonoids and other nutrients, so keeping them on if you boil or mash potatoes will give extra nutrition

'Use fillings such as coleslaw, tuna or hummus, or an olive oil spread that contains less saturated fat,' says Amanda Jennings of Bristol's Vitality Centre.

'Adding protein such as tuna or hummus, made from chickpeas, will mean the carbohydrate in the potato is broken down more slowly, making you feel fuller and energised for a longer period of time.'

Potato skins contain fibre and flavonoids and other nutrients, so keeping them on if you boil or mash potatoes will give extra nutrition.

As Vitamin C leaches into water, bake your potatoes if you want to get the most of this vitamin.

Chips that have been cooked in deep-fried oil will be soaked in artery-clogging fat and packed full of unhealthy calories. Instead, eat oven-baked chips, which are virtually fat free.

118

Food- 10 Vegetables to grow over winter

Updated: 16 Jul 2012

Top 10 vegetables to grow over winter

By Bunny Guiness

Sow now before it gets too cold, says Bunny Guinness

Now that the mower is about to be stored away for the winter months, I like to spend a couple of weekends getting my vegetable beds packed so that I have lots of fresh fodder to pick at over the chilly months ahead. Keeping your garden going through the winter gets you outside in the fresh air, allow you to exercise and can give you brilliant home-grown produce.

Up until the end of October there is a good range that can be sown to supplement the leeks, parsnips and sprouts that should already be settled in. Except for garlic, onion sets, asparagus and cabbages, I sow in modules in my cold frame or greenhouse and plant out as mini-plants a few weeks later. Alternatively, sow outside and cover with fleece or perforated polythene. And don't forget pests: slugs and snails are less of a threat now as they start to hibernate, but they can still ruin tender young seedlings.

1 BROAD BEANS
I always autumn-sow broad beans. As well as having more time than I do in spring, it stops nutrients leaching through otherwise fallow soil, which allows its structure to deteriorate. They are ready a good month earlier than those sown in April, and they don't get black fly. If the beans are in an exposed position and grow too tall (above a foot ) over winter, they can wave around and split just above ground level, so put in canes or sticks and string if necessary. Good autumn varieties are Aquadulce Claudia (AGM) and Super Aquadulce. Don't forget, broad bean tops are delicious wilted with butter. If you pick out some tops to cook before the pods are formed you will delay pod production, which can help stagger your crop. Small pods are delicious cooked and eaten whole.

2 ASPARAGUS
Asparagus varieties are now available for autumn planting, which helps them establish that bit quicker. Thompson & Morgan is offering Ariane, Guelph Millennium, Pacific 2000 and Purple Pacific. Although a common perception is that asparagus beds are hard work, in my experience if you get the bed weed-free, as with other perennial vegetables, they take far less work than annual vegetables. You do wait for two years before you can cut them, but it is a small price to pay for a gourmet extravaganza.

3 PEAS AND PEA SHOOTS
For a late spring crop, it's worth trying sowing seeds now, especially in mild areas. If you sow direct into the ground, plant them one inch deep and relatively closely at about one inch apart, to make up for a higher loss rate.

Plant in groups of three lines all 12in apart to form thick rows, and make each thick row 18in apart. With peas, don't forget the pea shoots are tasty: just pick off the tips and add to stir fries and salads for that intense, delicious fresh pea flavour. Meteor is a first early variety and overwinters well. To speed up germination, put seeds on a wet kitchen towel on a plate and sow (in modules) when the root starts to develop.

4 GARLIC
This is the easiest crop to grow. Plant the cloves individually to a depth of 2.5in deep on light soils and a lot less deep on heavy soils, but always a minimum of one inch below the surface. The distance should be about one foot apart each way. If you suffered from rust this year, in addition to rotation try hoeing in sulphate of potash in February/March.

Otherwise, spraying with a sulphur-based compound helps. Solent Wight is a trusty variety (stores well and has large cloves), but this year I am putting in a new variety, Province. It is available from The Garlic Farm (www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk) and has huge cloves.

5 ONIONS, SPRING ONIONS AND SHALLOTS
There are quite a few varieties of onions from sets that can go in now. This is the easiest way to grow onions, and they can be harvested earlier on in the year. Electric is a good red set, Radar a good yellow and Shakespeare is a highly reliable white. Sow some spring onions now: White Lisbon Winter Hardy (from T&M) is a good one. Many garden centres have shallots available for planting now, Jermor is out there already - normally I plant these in December or after Christmas, but I will pop some in and see. Shallots, with their sweet, subtle flavour, are becoming trendier, and they store well.

6 WINTER LETTUCE
My cut-and-come again varieties, such as Niche Mixed, were sown a few weeks ago. But you can still sow a really hardy variety, Meraviglia d'Inverno San Martino, and plant it out under fleece or a perforated polythene sheet. I have picked it right through the winter in previous years, and in milder winters left it unprotected once it establishes. Winter Gem is a good new variety from T&M, and can be sown right through the winter till January in a cold frame.

7 LAMBS LETTUCE
This is a good filler: it's undemanding, easy to grow and useful for bulking out the salad bowl. It is useful in that it does not need high light levels and tolerates low temperatures, and so can be sown up until the end of October outside; it can be picked until December or into the new year with some fleece or milder weather. It can be a cut and come again or left as a singleton. If you are short of space, you could broadcast some in between your spring cabbage plants. Seeds of Italy (www.seedsofitaly.com) offers Verte de Cambrai and D'Olanda; T&M offers Cavallo.

8 SPINACH
This is another vegetable that is very popular now. We pick it younger and just wilt the leaves rather than ruin it with overcooking. Great in salads, too. Useful varieties that will tolerate being sown now until the end of October are Riccio d'Asti and Merlo Nero (Seeds of Italy). The big advantage of autumn sowing is that there is no tendency to bolt.

9 SUGARSNAP PEAS
Although not usually known for sowing now, if you choose a variety such as Snow Pea Gigante Svizzero (Seeds of Italy) you can get slow growth (as with all the peas) over winter to produce a crop of smallish, edible pods earlier next year. Sugarsnap peas are a firm favourite of mine: you get far more of that great fresh pea flavour than you do from just using the pea, and they are highly versatile.

10 SPRING CABBAGE
If you ring around your local garden centres, you might well find some spring cabbage plants left. Plant 12in apart each way and earth up the soil around their stems after they have got going to help them against the cold. If it gets icy in colder areas, fleece or cloches can help. You can thin early plants for spring greens and leave the rest to heart up. Watch out for pigeons

154

Food - Drink Milk to cut the risk of heart disease and strokes

Updated: 05 Jul 2012

A pint of milk a day cuts chances of heart disease and stroke

A pint of milk a day greatly reduces your risk of developing heart disease and suffering a stroke, a study has found.

Researchers found that drinking more than half a litre of milk a day – just under a pint – reduces your chances of suffering heart attacks and strokes by up to a fifth.

It also reduces your chances of developing diabetes and colon cancer, the research found.

The findings appear to reverse the commonly held view that drinking too much milk is bad for you and suggest the removal of free milk in schools could have been a mistake.

Scientists at the University of Reading and University of Cardiff analysed more than 324 studies from across the world, which covered health and milk consumption in thousands of people.

They found that those who drank around a pint of milk a day had greatly reduced chance (around 15 to 20 per cent) of contracting cardiovascular disease..

"I think that this shows that the bad press milk has been getting is undeserved," he said. "Other studies had shown that milk had beneficial to health but the extent was a surprise to us."

The study also discovered the incidence of diabetes was also reduced by between four and nine per cent and colon cancer rates were also lowered.

Other cancers such as prostate and bladder however showed slight increases.

The findings published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition do not distinguish between low and high fat milk though they do seem to suggest that the health benefits of drinking milk outweigh any dangers that lie in its consumption.

It has had bad press in recent years because it is associated with a rise in blood cholesterol.

Professor Givens added: "While growth and bone health are of great importance to health and function, it is the effects of milk and dairy consumption on chronic disease that are of the greatest relevance to reduced morbidity and survival.

"Our findings clearly show that when the numbers of deaths from coronary heart disease, stroke and colorectal cancer were taken into account, there is strong evidence of an overall reduction in the risk of dying from these chronic diseases due to milk consumption.

"We certainly found no evidence that drinking milk might increase the risk of developing any condition, with the exception of prostate cancer. Put together, there is convincing overall evidence that milk consumption is associated with an increase in survival in Western communities."

The researchers believe the findings are of particular relevance because milk consumption is falling fast.

Within the UK the fall has been around one third during the past 25 years.

Milk is the main source of calcium and within the UK it has been estimated that 20 per cent of adolescent girls and 10 per cent of boys have less than the recommended intakes of calcium.

Free milk was withdrawn from schools in the 1970s

120

Food- The Humble Spud

Updated: 27 Jun 2012

One potato, two potato, three potato four...

Potatoes are the world's fourth most important food crop (after rice, wheat and maize), providing a vital carbohydrate source throughout the temperate regions.

Potatoes were originally introduced to Europe from central America by Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century, but potatoes were not grown in England until Sir Francis Drake brought a clutch of potatoes back in 1563.

It took two centuries before potatoes were widely grown as a food crop.
...five potato, six potato, seven potato more.

Ireland's rich soil and high rainfall meant they got the biggest crops of potatoes and potatoes became the staple food.

All the potato crops were virtually identical genetically because the potatoes had been vegetatively propagated over the generations from the same original handful of potato tubers.

This meant all the potato crops were vulnerable to the same potato pests and diseases.

In the 1840s a series of potato crops were completely wiped out by potato blight disease, resulting in a widespread potato famine.

Choosing potatoes

Modern potatoes are broadly grouped according to when they are harvested.

The three main groups are 'first early', 'second early' and 'maincrop'.

Just to confuse matters, the earliest 'first early' potato varieties are often labelled as 'ultra-early' or 'extra-early'.

The 'first early' potato varieties are planted in March, grow rapidly and produce moderate crops of small potatoes in June or July before potato blight can take hold.

The 'second early' potatoes are planted about a month later and lifted in July or August, producing larger harvests. 'Maincrop' potatoes produce the biggest crops, but take the longest to grow.

They are planted in April, ready for lifting in August for immediate consumption, or can be left until September or October before they are lifted for winter storage.

'Maincrop' potatoes are the most susceptible to potato blight, however.

118

Food- Is this the End of Meat - Or putting Veggies out to grass ?

Updated: 11 Jun 2012

Is this the end of meat?

These days, fake flesh looks – and tastes – just like the real thing. Kate Burt visits the first 'vegetarian butcher' and asks, are the omnivore's days numbered?

Kate Burt Saturday 19 May 2012
Independent
Korteweg's butcher's shop in The Hague trades well on its retro stylings.

Outside the old-fashioned glass-and-wooden shop front, there's a sit-up-and-beg delivery bike parked on the pavement and, next to it, the obligatory fibreglass black-and-white cow. Inside, there are marble worktops – one with an old-fashioned meat grinder clamped onto it – rustic blue and white tiles featuring vignettes of Dutch country life, a set of antique-shop enamel weighing scales and a wooden butcher's block, opposite which chiller cabinets are stuffed with chicken pieces, meatballs, mince and smoked bacon.

But look closer, and there's something very un-retro.

The butcher's block, rather than being blood-stained and knife-chipped, is pristine; the meat grinder is for show too, filled with beans instead of beef.

Even if you don't speak Dutch, the shop's name gives away the biggest break from tradition before you're even inside: De Vegetarische Slager – The Vegetarian Butcher.

This unlikely oxymoron means that nothing in the shop, despite being labelled and heavily marketed to the contrary, contains animal flesh.

The packets emblazoned with '100 per cent natural chicken pieces', the 'tuna flakes', the 'minced beef', the 'mackerel salad' and the 'organic sausage rolls' – are all conjured from the raw ingredients of either non-GMO soya or, in a new more sustainable approach, locally-grown lupin beans (like the ones in the meat grinder).

And the business is booming: it has expanded from just one shop, when it opened late in 2010, to selling in 180 Netherlands outlets, with 500 supermarkets joining this summer and international distribution underway.

The Vegetarian Butcher makes use of emerging techniques and new recipes to create, they say, some of the most convincing meat replicas ever.

And they are not the only ones: an omnivorous New York Times food columnist tasted its flagship 'chicken' and concluded that "taste and mouth feel come very close to the original...", and while I'm visiting the shop, staff are conducting a taste test on the street with the smoked 'mackerel'.

Not one passer-by guesses it is not fish. Most surprisingly, a group of Holland's master butchers have agreed to sell the products and help Korteweg and his team understand how to improve the products further still.

"They were hostile at first," he says when I meet him.

"How did we persuade them?

They tasted it." The butchers also recognised commercial potential around the common dinner dilemma where only one person around the table doesn't eat meat.

But who is buying this stuff in such great numbers – and why?

As a vegetarian who greets a new substitute meat with disproportionate enthusiasm, I have some inkling.

But why the meaty marketing – and what might it all mean for the future of vegetarian food generally: is meat in the 21st century destined to go the same was as fur, where faux becomes the mainstream version?

The global 'meat analogue' industry, as it is rather unappetisingly known, is competitive: three in five adults now eat meat-free food, say Mintel; part of a market that increased by 18 per cent between 2005 and 2010.

And the US, home of the unsexily-named but pioneering Tofurky, a roastable, kosher wheat protein/organic soya concoction, is way ahead of the UK: there, 110 new imitation animal products have hit shelves since 2010.

A vegetarian neighbour just back from New York "nearly cried with joy" in a Chinese restaurant in Brooklyn with a vegan menu full of sizzling meaty skewers and black-pepper steak – thanks to soy protein and seitan, a wheat gluten product originally developed in China in the early 1960s. "My New York friends can't believe how behind we are in England," the neighbour told me.

Korteweg hopes to help shift the balance in Europe.

We meet at the shop, on a grey Hague morning. He's here with the Vegetarische Slager's co-founder and 'concept-maker', Niko Koffeman, who devised the butcher idea. Korteweg, also a farmer, used to be a keen hunter.

"I love meat very much," he says, explaining his motivation.

"But I had problems with how we produce it." He is passionate about creating products so convincing, that there will be no need to eat real meat. His theory is to cut out the 'middle man' – the animal – from the grain-to-plate story.

He is also unhappy with the dairy industry and thinks he can improve on soya milk; soya is also an environmentally tricksy crop, as vast swathes of rainforest are often cleared to grow it.

Debates rage about how healthy it is, too: the Asian diet has used soya for centuries, but in its fermented form – which is not, typically, the way it is processed to make fake meat.

Korteweg also has ambitions to create a convincing beef steak, and open a vegetarian fishmonger.

I ask what he thinks of the challenge thrown down by the American branch of the animal rights charity, Peta; that it will give $1m to whoever can grow in vitro chicken – real meat, but grown in a lab, not on an animal – by 2012.

He and Koffeman grin: "But we have [the equivalent] already!"

The Netherlands is perhaps particularly receptive: it is the first country in the world to have a member of parliament for animal rights (Koffeman is a member of the senate for the Party for Animals, and Korteweg's wife is its leader).

There are also a lot of animals: "No country in the world has as much livestock as Holland: 500 million chickens and 12 million pigs," says Koffeman.

"We are the milkman and the butcher for Europe. And the impact of the animal disease crisis in Holland was very big." (In a 10-year period, swine fever, foot and mouth, avian flu and Q fever, a bacterial infection, resulted in millions of animals being culled.)

Koffeman suggests this is why "more than 80 per cent of [Dutch] people now don't eat meat every day".

It's generally accepted that a modern Western diet includes too much flesh: our appetite for a daily fix has led to increasingly intensive farming which impacts not only on animal welfare but also on natural resources, as the average cow consumes up to eight kilos of grain just to produce one kilogram of meat. And that's aside from the debated health issues associated with excessive consumption. Even organic flesh fanatic, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, f whose River Cottage has run butchery courses and published a book called Meat, has promoted the ethical value, and gastronomic possibilities of a vegetarian diet.

"I think he really believes in it, but why go back to eating meat?" asks the Vegetarian Society's Liz O'Neil of Fearnley-Whittingstall's temporary regime. "I don't think he realises the impact his recipes have. [These chefs] might tell us to use ethically-sourced meat – but people buy what is easy and affordable. Only with a vegetarian recipe can you guarantee you're not encouraging anyone to buy factory-farmed meat, or endangered fish."

And Fearnley-Whittingstall is not alone: Simon Rimmer, another omnivore chef, has just republished his recipe book, The Accidental Vegetarian, while Yotam Ottolenghi continues to bring naturally meat-free Middle-Eastern dishes to the mass-market, alongside his harissa beef and sumac roasted chicken. Meanwhile, more encouragingly for O'Neil, London's Vanilla Black recently became the UK's second only meat-free restaurant to be Michelin-recommended, alongside Brighton's Terre à Terre. Paul McCartney's 'Meat Free Mondays' campaign has also gained currency: could fake meat in restaurants the next step?

Joanna Blythman, the food writer and author of What to Eat: Food That's Good For Your Health, Pocket and Plate, thinks not. "Just those two words: 'fake chicken'. Urgh. I do not want pretend anything. Vegetarian bacon, vegan cheese... revolting." Blythman, whose book lays out her '20 principles of eating', continues: "I think vegetarians would eat anything if you told them it had no animal products in it. They don't read labels – they're often [eating]colourings, artificial sweeteners, all sorts of nasty additives – and they don't care. I don't understand this vegetarian preoccupation with making things look like meat. If you want to be vegetarian: like vegetables." It is a good point – and it is not surprising that fake meat mystifies not just omnivores, but many vegetarians. Also, few of the fakes on sale in the UK (see sidebar) come close to real meat – but they do serve a purpose. As The Vegetarian Butcher's Niko Koffeman puts it: "People say, 'Why make it similar to meat?'. And we say, 'Why make yellow balls for your lunch when there is a vacancy [for meat] on your plate?'." I don't eat fakes often, and I do like vegetables, as my organic delivery box confirms. But I'm aware this is a very middle-class way to shop. Besides, there isn't always time to make something from scratch, or fill the cupboard. Which is when a freezer-drawer of Linda McCartney sausages is handy. Also for varying protein fixes – egg, pulses or dairy isn't always what you fancy.

Andrew Dargue, chef of the previously-mentioned Vanilla Black, admits he eats Quorn at home occasionally. "I'm not usually in until midnight; it's convenient." But would he serve a healthy, ethically-produced, delicious fake in his restaurant? "Never," he says instantly. "It'd remove the challenge; kill the creativity".

When I relay Blythman's comments to him, he sighs. Dargue says he finds the prejudice against vegetarian cooking frustrating. And yet he and Blythman's outlooks are probably pretty close: "I try not to think of the word 'vegetarian'," he says. "It creates a barrier. We just use food; flavour comes first. But people still roll their eyes as if you're going to try to convert them." He recounts the reaction from his father, a Teesside man, when he opened the restaurant: "He said, 'I won't be able to come, will I? I don't like vegetarian food.' So I asked him: 'Well, do you like Corn Flakes and cheese on toast? Ever had a mushroom pizza...?' People actually eat a lot of vegetarian food, it's just the label we put on it."

Morgaine Gaye, a food futurologist, agrees – saying that it's about language and branding and image. "It prevents people from eating certain foods. Our relationship to meat is changing for complex reasons, and as meat prices go up and there is more transparency about [production], we are now looking for new ways to fill the meat gap." She sees seitan becoming more mainstream, but is also swayed by another stand-in: "I've talked about [eating] insect burgers for a long time; it will become popular when we get away from the word insects."

Either way, we are very likely to see more and better-quality meat substitutes in the next 10 years, according to Florian Wild, who is leading 'Like Meat', an EU research project geared towards improving fake flesh. "In Western Europe," he says, "meat alternatives are getting a lot of attention." He predicts two trends: on the one hand, the development of "premium products with more fibrous, elastic and juicy textures, with the potential to replace meat in good restaurants". This is the focus of his project.

The other trend he sees is for lower-quality substitutes, which "have the potential to replace 5-10 per cent of today's meat market". He sees potential for these both in the developing world, as well as in the fast-food arena in the form of burgers and nuggets, for example, since they are "very attractive for economic reasons".

But as for the idea that real meat will one day be off the menu? "Wishful thinking by vegetarians," says Blythman. "Intelligent omnivorism," is more likely, she believes: "red meat and fish once or twice a week and everything else plant-based." TheVegetarian Society's findings echo this: "I'd love to say the number of vegetarians was rising," says Liz O'Neil. "Instead it's the numbers of people not eating meat every day." Which is surely, at least, a move in the right direction for vegetarians, ominivores and the planet alike.

National Vegetarian Week begins on Monday

Four top fakers: Kate Burt's taste test

Tivall

Vegetarian Frankfurters, £3.36. A guilty pleasure – as hot dogs should be. Even without squirty mustard, fried onions and ketchup, they're scarily convincing. Best boiled.

Redwood Wholefood

Gourmet Fish Style Steaks, £2.93. An impressively flaky texture; a little like a posh fish finger. Tastes quite fishy but incredibly salty. Resident omnivore was impressed too. Made by the Heather Mills-owned company.

Linda McCartney

Vegetarian Barbecue Selection, £2.50. Soya protein sausages (OK taste, weird texture), burgers (good and pretty meaty) and fillets (urgh: like Eighties school-dinner tinned meat fritters).

Quorn

New Chef's Selection Sausages, £1.50So much tastier than the regular Quorn sausages; the texture is vastly improved and the skin is good too. Made from mushroom-related and wheat proteins – not vegan.

138

Food- Cucumber

Updated: 06 Jun 2012

WHAT A LITTLE GEM THE CUCUMBER IS,

I WILL LOOK AT IT DIFFERENTLY NOW.

1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick me up that can last for hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa like fragrance.

4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminium to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

5. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!

6. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!!

7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don't have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.

9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

10. Stressed out and don't have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber with react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown to reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don't have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemicals will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

12. Looking for a 'green' way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won't leave streaks and won't harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.

13. Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!

Pass this along to everybody you know who is looking for better and safer ways to solve life's everyday problems..

114

Food-Street Markets or Supermarkets for fruit and veg. ?

Updated: 01 Jun 2012

Can shoppers really save '32%' on fruit & veg

by shunning supermarkets for street markets?

We test the claim

By Debbie Davies
PUBLISHED: 11:31, 25 May 2012 | UPDATED: 12:36, 25 May 2012

The big four supermarket groups are failing to match street market prices across a range of popular fruit and veg, research conducted by This is Money and MailOnline suggests.

On average shoppers can save 32 per cent buying fruit & veg from market stalls compared to supermarkets, according to research undertaken by one of London's most popular markets.

We tested the claim - and found that on certain items of produce, the savings were even bigger.

Spearing a bargain: Asparagus at £1 a lb, which your correspondent spotted

Even buying fresh fruit & veg that is on promotion or from supermarkets' value ranges designed to help families make their money go further can cost more than paying the unit price at a fruit & veg market - and buying the quantity needed.

Savings are particularly keen on local, seasonal produce in good supply.

English asparagus at supermarkets this weekend costs from £6 per kilo compared to £2 - £2.50 per kilo from markets.

Some tropically grown produce where the supply is year round is also cheaper bought at market stalls.

A pair of large mangoes are currently selling for around £1 from markets or 60p each compared to between £1 and £1.50 for a large mango at the big four supermarkets.

Aisles of plenty: Prices in supermarkets for asparagus were today considerably higher than in the market
Asda, Sainsburys and Tesco all currently offer a small pineapple as part of their value ranges, all priced at 84p.

Expect to pay between 80p - £1.00 for a medium pineapple from a market stall this weekend.

Savings on some salad ingredients are better than half supermarket prices:

A vine of five large tomatoes currently sells for around 70p at markets compared to between £1.70 and £2.00 for the equivalent from supermarkets;

Red pointed peppers are currently priced between £1.20 and £2.00 for a supermarket pack of two.

From markets with pound a bowl offers, five pointed peppers cost £1.

Alan Ottey, town centre manager at Nuneaton Market in Warwickshire, said: '£1 bowls are now very popular and all stalls have them.'

Bowls can be a selection of fruit and veg or a bulk buy of one item but whatever is in the bowl the cost is £1.

It is worth having a good look at the produce before you buy.

The pound a bowl concept is so simple it is usually laid out as just a range of bowls with no prices or signage - the opposite of supermarkets' confusing blizzard of offers that changes every week and which makes it difficult to know if it is a bargain or not.

Good value?: £1 bowls in Nuneaton Market

Mark Atkinson, markets development officer for Portobello and Goldborne Markets in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, said: ’On average, shoppers can save 32 per cent by buying fresh produce at street markets compared to supermarkets.'

The council has a website and Twitter feed @portobellonews for information about the markets. 'Asparagus for £1 a pound is pretty cheap.

Even when compared to supermarket multi-buy or pence-off offers, our research shows market stalls are cheaper,' said Mr Atkinson.

Ironically, fruit & veg markets have been in long-term decline because of the growing dominance and popularity of supermarkets, and even price rises have not been enough to slow the trend.

In 2008, we reported that the last fruit and vegetable stall in the market where Jack Cohen founded the Tesco empire 80 years ago had shut - and traders blamed competition from the supermarket for its demise.

Figures collated by the Office for National Statistics show that the average price of vegetables has risen by 5 per cent in the past two years while the cost of fruit is up 4 per cent, with most of the increase coming in the past year.

Those rises are lower than wider consumer inflation in the economy but will still have added to the squeeze on household budgets.

Richard Dodd, spokesman for the British RetailConsortium, said: 'Value is right at the top of the customer's list inthese difficult times and supermarkets are battling it out to serve them with amass of prices and promotions that change frequently.

'It is not true to sayacross the board that fruit and veg is cheaper at street markets but they areone channel along with greengrocers and supermarkets that shoppers are checkingmore than ever to decide where to shop.'

My tips for fruit & veg market shoppingIt was after friends and family kept mentioning that they were buying fruit & veg from their local market and were saving money that I started looking at what was available and how it compared quality and price-wise with the supermarkets.

I have also found that the quality easily matches what you find in the supermarket.

The disincentive is having a good street market nearby.

We are all within a few minutes of a supermarket but not everyone has easy access to a market.

If you do have a convenient fruit & veg market nearby then you can save money.

Shop there regularly and you get to know the stall holders.

They want you to come back.

Ask if produce is to eat now or for later.

Plan your shop around your weekly menu and be prepared to cook and freeze ahead.

Only buy what you need to avoid throwing food away.

This is easier done when produce is loose and sold by weight and you can buy exactly what you need. In hot weather, shop early if you can before produce has been sat out in the sun for hours.

There are fewer packaged items on market stalls so think about how to store produce like brocoli or cauliflower given that it will not have packaging that helps to maintain freshness.

Saturday is clearance day for market traders as few markets are open on Sundays.

This can be a good time to shop in the afternoon for produce for smoothies, punches, fruit salads, soups as clearances prices will be especially cheap and what you buy is ripe and ready to use

115

Food - Lamb prices down due to increased supply

Updated: 31 May 2012

High supply driving down spring livestock prices

30 May 2012 | By Barry Alston

Farmers Guardian

A HIGH supply of lamb to the market is said to be one of a number of forces influencing the prices received by farmers for livestock this spring.

Figures show that the GB weekly average auction market price for lamb for the week ending May 26 was 200.93 p/kg — 59 p/kg lower than the same period in 2011, but at a similar level to prices in 2010.

“The dip we are seeing at the moment is a result of a number of key factors,” said John Richards, industry information officer with Welsh red meat promotion agency, Hybu Cig Cymru.

“One reason why the price received by producers in the UK has been lower is due to an increase in imports of lamb from New Zealand at this time of year.

“The price of New Zealand lamb has also dropped recently which is having a direct influence on the price of domestic lamb —however the Welsh and UK flocks have also increased this year, resulting in an expected increase in supply.

“Early reports suggest that there is also likely to be a rise in the lambing rate this year compared to 2011 due to the reportedly good ewe condition at tupping and after the mild winter.

“Other market forces have also had an impact on the difference in prices compared to last year,” added Mr Richards..

“There have been indications from the industry that many store lamb finishers may have held on to their lambs for longer than normal in anticipation of price increases similar to 2011.

“This, however, did not happen — resulting in lambs being marketed later and at heavier weights than previously.”

The economic climate in the Eurozone might also have impacted on market prices.

“As a result of the uncertainty that surrounds the Euro, the growth of the export market may have eased recently, but exports are still expected to increase this year.”

The weekly average auction market price for the week-ending May 26 was 200.93 p/kg. During the same week in 2011 the average price was 259.94 p/kg and 207.76 p/kg in 2010

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100

Food - "Farming Delivers for Britain" Campaign

Updated: 22 May 2012

'Farming delivers for Britain' - NFU launches new campaign

21 May 2012 | By Alistair Driver

Farmers Guardian

THE NFU has launched a major new campaign aimed at encouraging consumers to buy British produce.

The new campaign, ‘Farming Delivers for Britain’ urges the public to be ‘proud to buy British food and remember farming’s immensely powerful role in helping to secure the nation’s future’.

The campaign will be formally launched on the River Thames on Monday.

NFU representatives will set sail from Tower Bridge to meet MPs at the House of Commons in a bid to get the key messages across to the British public and important decision-makers.

The campaign seeks to highlight six key areas where farming plays a ‘unique and important role’: Producing food, looking after the environmental, kick-starting economic growth, producing cleaner energy, providing exciting new careers and world-class animal welfare standards.

NFU President Peter Kendall said farming had seen a huge change in its fortunes in the past decade moving from a sector seen as being in terminal decline to one that is now ‘delivering for Britain and has the potential to do so much more’.

“I don’t want to dwell on the past; today is about celebrating all that farmers and growers deliver to this country and its people every day,” said Mr Kendall.

“But I do want to acknowledge what a tremendous turn around we have seen, certainly in the past ten years.

The NFU has re-stated and, over time, re-established the case for our productive farming industry.

No-one now seriously doubts the need for this country to have an efficient, productive, environmentally-conscious British farming sector, or the value that it, and we as farmers and growers, can deliver on all fronts.”

He added: “I’m not asking for any special treatment.

Today is about showcasing what farming delivers for Britain.

And we want to continue building on today’s good news story by working with Government to replace, what can be, piecemeal and contradictory approaches to food and farming, to ensure there are policies in place that sees the UK becoming more self-sufficient; protecting its own food supply and building on today’s economic success story for the future prosperity and well-being of this country.”

He urged consumers to ‘do their bit by enjoying a more seasonal diet and eating more British food when it’s at its best’.

“Buying more local food also helps to make a big difference to the communities closest to us.

So, our message is simple; ask for British food. Make it British, make it local and make it happen,” he said.

The Food and Drink Federation is also supporting the campaign.

Its Director General Melanie Leech said: “We support this drive by the NFU to maximise the role our farmers can play in being more productive whilst being effective stewards of our natural resources.”

The campaign aims to engage with people in a variety of ways including via a new website, within social media and across the regions at agricultural and county shows.

A new report and consumer leaflet have also been published together with statistics that will be updated annually to help measure progress against the food production and energy challenges farming faces while safe-guarding the environment.

· For more information visit the new Farming Delivers website at www.farmingdelivers.co.uk or visit Facebook.com/farmingdelivers or follow it on Twitter #farmingdelivers

As background to the campaign, the NFU commissioned a OnePoll consumer survey of 1,822 adults in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It showed:

· The three most important things farming should deliver according to the UK public is food security, good value food and high welfare standards

· Most respondents said that UK farmers do an OK, good or excellent job at delivering good value food (91%); delivering food that is produced to high welfare standards (90%); and delivering security of food supply for the UK (89%)

· 73% agreed the UK needs to be much more self-sufficient in food

· 72% say agreed supermarkets should sell more UK food

· Nearly three quarters (73%) actively look for UK food at least sometimes

· UK food appeals because it is locally sourced (57%), tastes better (41%) and consumers can be confident of where it comes from (35%)

· Two thirds (67%) say they would be more encouraged to buy UK food if it was cheaper

· 69% agree that UK farming will become more important in the years ahead

· Creating jobs is the main area where they want farmers to deliver more (38%)

140

101

Food-Lincolnshire imported Sleaford MP-Imported Lincolnshire made Sausages OK for Tories

Updated: 17 May 2012

16 May 2012

Bid to protect status of Lincolnshire sausage fails

The sausages should contain at least 70% pork and be made in Lincolnshire

Supported by the Sleaford Tory MP Stephen Phillips but

not by his Government,

which goes to show,

that if the Tories can import their MP, (Phillips comes from Oxford)

they can agree to imported Lincolnshire made Sausages

An application to give the Lincolnshire sausage special protection has been turned down by the government.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it took the decision because there were already "too many variations" across the UK.

The department found there was no enduring link between the product and the county, stating that they had been made elsewhere for more than 20 years.

Campaigners said they were disappointed by the news.

The Lincolnshire Sausage Association (LSA) has been campaigning for Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status for more than seven years.

'Damaged businesses'

The decision means the Lincolnshire Sausage will not be submitted to the EU Protected Food Name Scheme as a PGI.

A positive decision would have meant that only sausages made in the county of Lincolnshire could use the name, and they would need to be made of 70% coarse ground or minced pork, packed in natural casings and flavoured with sage.

Food and Farming Minister Jim Paice said: "British food is outstanding and we're working hard to protect the local heritage of certain foods through PGI status.

"But with so many variations on the recipe, and 95% of sausages sold under the Lincolnshire Sausage label being made outside the county, the application as it stood could have seriously damaged businesses and jobs," he said.

"We remain open to looking at other options which would allow producers in Lincolnshire to highlight the traditional and local nature of their sausages, without potentially damaging the overwhelming majority of manufacturers."

The UK now has 48 foods protected from imitations by the EU Protected Food Name Scheme, including Cornish clotted cream and Melton Mowbray pork pies.

122

102

Food - Lincolnshire Sausage -Sleaford MP supports EU Protected status

Updated: 17 May 2012

I support EU protected status bid for Lincolnshire sausages,

says Sleaford MP

Saturday, April 07, 2012
IN his most recent Target column, Sleaford MP Stephen Phillips speaks out about Lincolnshire sausages...
________________________________________

MINISTERS at DEFRA are approaching the decision stage on whether or not to submit the Lincolnshire Sausage Association's application for Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) to Europe.

This would ensure that only sausages produced in Lincolnshire would be able to be sold under that name, stopping inferior imitations of our fantastic sausages.

The Secretary of State has said that she would like to see more protected food names granted within the UK, and I very much hope that Lincolnshire sausages will soon be one of them.

The purpose of PGI status is to support small local producers.

We have a long history of producing our characteristic course cut, sagey sausages in Lincolnshire; although every butcher has their own specific recipe which they carefully guard, Lincolnshire sausages are distinctive.

People across the country associate Lincolnshire with sausages, and I am always proud when I see Lincolnshire sausages being sold in the cafes and restaurants in Westminster.

My colleagues and I are working with the Lincolnshire Sausage Association to ensure that this remains the case by ensuring that Lincolnshire sausages are only made in Lincolnshire to the proper specification.

I know that many Lincolnshire residents have written to DEFRA to support the application, and I have done so myself as well.

I have expressed my strong support for PGI status to be granted, and I will certainly continue to buy authentic Lincolnshire sausages!

160

103

Food- A Bunch of Radishes- With powerful medicinal properties

Updated: 16 May 2012

Health Benefits of Radish

Our Kitchen garden has exploded with Radish which are cleaned and left on the table like sweets to be consumed.

And they are. So I thought .. How much good are they for you ? Radical

Radish, the well known part of your salad, is a root crop, pungent or sweet in taste with a lot of juice.

Radishes can be white, red, purple or black, long cylindrical or round in shape.

They are eaten raw, cooked or pickled.

The oil obtained from the seeds of radish is also used.

The other parts of radish which are consumed are the leaves, the flowers, the pods and the seeds.

The scientific name of radish is Raphanus Sativus which belongs to the Brassicaceae family.

Radish is also known as Daiken in some parts of the world.

The benefits of radish against certain ailments and on certain body parts are listed below:

◦Jaundice:

Radish is very good for the liver and the stomach and it is a very good detoxifier too, that is, it purifies blood.

It is miraculously useful in jaundice as it helps removing bilirubin and also checks its production.

It also checks destruction of red blood cells during jaundice by increasing supply of fresh oxygen in the blood.

The black radish is more preferred in jaundice.

The leaves of radish are also very useful in treatment of jaundice.

◦Piles:

Radish is very rich in roughage, i.e. indigestible carbohydrates.

This facilitates digestion, retains water, cures constipation (one of the main causes for piles) and thus gives relief in piles.

Being a very good detoxifier, it helps heal up piles fast. Its juice also soothes the digestive and excretory system and this also relieves piles.

◦Urinary Disorders:

Radishes are diurectic in nature, i.e. increase production of urine.

Juice of radish also cures inflammation and burning feeling during urinating.

It also cleans the kidneys and inhibits infections in kidneys and urinary system.

Thus it helps a great deal in curing urinary disorders.

◦Weight Loss:

Radishes are very filling, i.e. fills your stomach and satisfies your hunger easily without giving you many calories, as they are low in digestible carbohydrates, high in roughage and contain a lot of water.

It is a very good dietary option for those determined to lose weight.

◦Cancer:

Being a very good detoxifier and rich in vitamin-C, folic and anthocyanins, radish helps cure many types of cancer, particularly those of colon, kidney, intestines, stomach and oral cancer.

◦Leucoderma:

The detoxifying and anti carcinogenic properties of radish make it useful in treatment of Leucoderma.

The radish seeds are used in this case.

They should be powdered and soaked in vinegar or ginger juice or cows urine and then applied on the white patches.

Eating radish also aids treatment of Leucoderma.

◦Skin Disorders:

Vitamin-C, phosphorus, zinc and some members of vitamin-B complex, which are present in radish, are good for skin. The water in it helps maintaining moisture of the skin.

Smashed raw radish is a very good cleanser and serves as a very efficient face pack.

Due to its disinfectant properties, radish also helps cure skin disorders, such as drying up, rashes, cracks etc. and also refreshes it.

◦Kidney Disorders:

Being diurectic, cleanser and disinfectant, it helps cure many kidney disorders.

Its diurectic properties help wash away the toxins accumulated in the kidneys.

Cleansing properties clean kidneys up and lessens accumulation of toxins in the blood, thereby decreasing their concentration in the kidneys.

Its disinfectant properties protect the kidneys from any infections too.

Thus it is good for overall health of the kidneys.

◦Insect Bites:

It has anti pruritic properties and can be used as an effective treatment for insect bites, stings of bees, hornets, wasps etc.

Its juice also reduces pain and swelling and soothes the affected area.

◦Fever: It brings down the body temperature and relieves inflammation due to fever.

Drink radish juice mixed with black salt.

Being a good disinfectant, it also fights infections which cause fever, thereby helping cure it.

◦Respiratory Disorders, Bronchitis and Asthma:

Radish is an anti congestive, i.e. it relieves congestion of respiratory system including nose, throat, wind-pipe and lungs, due to cold, infection, allergies and other causes.

It is a good disinfectant and also rich in vitamins, which protect respiratory system from infections.

◦Liver & Gallbladder:

Radish is especially beneficial for liver and gallbladder functions.

It regulates production and flow of bile and bilirubin, acids, enzymes and removes excess bilirubin from the blood, being a good detoxifier.

It also contains enzymes like myrosinase, diastase, amylase and esterase. It protects liver and gallbladder from infections and ulcers and soothes them.

◦Other Benefits:

Apart from above benefits, radish is a good appetizer, mouth and breathe freshener, laxative, regulates metabolism, improves blood circulation, is a good treatment for headache, acidity, constipation, nausea, obesity, sore throat, whooping cough, gastric problems, gallbladder stones, dyspepsia etc.

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Food- Boycott of Israeli goods and Product Labelling

Updated: 26 Apr 2012

://www.bigcampaign.org/posts/category/take-action/online-actions/

Thursday,26 April, 2012 8:51

EMAIL -To: stephen.phillips.mp@parliament.uk

I specifically want to boycott, and persuade others to boycott Supermarket food produce from Israel and I enclose the website address of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign section.

The problem is that with all labelling of all products in Supermarkets,it just is not clear.

We now know the product and what it contains. It must say so on the packet. If you squint you can just read the price per kilo or 100grams but so many items including fresh food do not state at the point of sale where the product comes from.

It would also be helpful to know that a sample of the product has the Public Health stamp of approval.

I know you are against the Israeli occupation of Palestine lands and Israelis flouting of so many UN resolutions. And we both know that UN and its organisations is the best we have.

The origin of foods is important and labelling is essential for customers and public health alike, I am sure you would agree, that you want to know what you are eating and where it comes from so you can make an informed choice.

A jar of Set Honey states from "EC and Non EC" and that is not good enough either.

May I ask you to make representation on my and others behalf to insist that all produce be labelled at the point of sale with the Country of Origin as well as making the price per Kg / gram much larger and clearer.

When I mean the Country of Origin, I include in that the Country the product was produced in and not the Country the product was packed or exported from.

(The Radical )

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Food- Its Great British Beef Week-www.greatbritishbeef.co.uk.

Updated: 24 Apr 2012

Great British Beef Week launched

23 April 2012 | By David Boderke

Farmers Guardian

A GROUP of female beef farmers is adding to the St George’s Day celebrations today (Monday) with the launch of the second Great British Beef Week (GBBW).

Ladies in Beef are encouraging people across the UK to celebrate in the traditional way by ensuring Red Tractor assured British beef is on the menu.

GBBW, which is running from April 23-30, has harnessed support across the industry from livestock markets to independent butchers, while major supermarkets, including Asda, Tesco, Waitrose and Morrisons, have also agreed to carry special on-pack logos.

Agriculture Minister Jim Paice, who will help launch this year’s GBBW in Westminster on Monday, said: “With the world’s population growing fast, Britain’s got huge opportunities to export our high quality beef and breeding stock to the world.

“I fully support the valuable work being done by Ladies in Beef to generate growth in the industry, which will go hand in hand with all the work this Government is doing to rebuild confidence and respect for British farming.”

Minette Batters, Ladies in Beef co-founder, said: “We have very little resource and not much time to spare but what we do have is a determined group of women who are passionate about creating a sustainable future for British beef.”

Ladies in Beef, which is backed by TV star Lynda Bellingham, was formed to help promote and drive awareness of the quality and versatility of British beef to consumers.

This year, its chosen charity is Help for Heroes, which aims to provide better facilities for British servicemen and women wounded in action. Minette Batters said livestock auction marts and butchers had been busy fundraising and there had been a ‘fantastic’ response from most supermarkets.

Ladies in Beef have created a variety of recipes, ranging from roast beef and Yorkshire pudding to beef chilli and beef and beer casserole, which can be found on the website www.greatbritishbeef.co.uk.

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Food- Egg prices set to rocket due to battery cage ban

Updated: 24 Apr 2012

'Record' egg prices seen on back of battery cage ban

23 April 2012 | By Alistair Driver

WHOLESALE egg prices have soared to the highest levels seen in recent times on the back of the EU battery cage ban.

Despite recent figures showing 12 member states have still not complied with the January 1 ban, member states have generally taken a tougher line than expected in enforcing it, according to NFU poultry vice chairman Duncan Priestner.

He said ‘robust’ European Commission action, including the initiation of infraction proceedings against non-compliant member states has prompted the removal of millions of hens taken out of conventional cages.

In many cases producers do not have the necessary funds to reinvest in new enriched cages, which are permitted under the Welfare of Laying Hens Directive.

The result is an estimated 10-15 per cent drop in caged egg production. Spain, alone, has culled eight million hens and is now having to import eggs from South America, Mr Priestner said.

This has led to the ‘highest prices ever seen’ in the UK wholesale market in recent weeks.

The high prices have started to affect sales volumes to some caterers and manufacturers who would traditionally be purchasing cheaper imported cage egg and egg products, Mr Priestner said, adding that the price has started to ease off over the past week.

The major egg packers have also increased their prices on the back of the short supply, particularly to free range producers, although not the extent seen in the wholesale.

He said the free range was in urgent need of further rises, following 18 months of high feed prices and oversupply.

The latest figures from the European Commission show that nearly 50 million hens – one in seven - across 12 member states are still being kept in outlawed battery cages, nearly five months after the ban came in.

Of the 13 member states warned by Brussels to comply or face legal action, only Romania appeared to have acted on the warning.

Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland and Portugal have all been told they need to ‘make extra efforts’, according to reports.

Those countries could now receive a ‘final warning’, known as ‘a reasoned opinion, before being referred to court, a source is quoted as saying.

Compassion in World Farming chief executive Philip Lymbery said: “It’s astounding that, after 13 years of preparation, farmers in 12 EU countries are still profiting from keeping hens crammed in these small cages, a full five months after the ban came into force.

“The governments of those countries still shamefully flouting the rules should never have allowed this to happen. The rest of the non-compliant states need to follow Romania’s lead and consign barren battery cages in the EU to history.”

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Food- The Supermarkets need reeling in over their control of food supply chain for their profit

Updated: 21 Apr 2012

Supermarket Adjudicator Bill expected in May Queen's speech

20 April 2012 | By Alistair Driver

A GROCERIES Code Adjudicator (GCA) Bill is likely to be included in the Queen’s Speech on May 9.

This will finally pave the way for the legislative process to establish the new body that will monitor behaviour in the supply chain by overseeing the Grocery Supply Chain Code of Practice (GSCOP), which came into force in 2010.

But NFU president Peter Kendall has expressed concern that, however, current Government plans for the new body, outlined in a Draft Bill last year, do not go far enough.

One of the biggest concerns is that the draft Bill does not currently permit third parties, like the NFU, to initiate investigations, although the NFU said the Government was prepared to consider changing its stance on this issue.

The other major concern is that Ministers do not intend to give the new watchdog the power to fine retailers who breach the Code. Instead it intends to rely, initially at least, on ‘naming and shaming’.

Mr Kendall and NFU horticulture chair Sarah Pettittt told the recent NFU council meeting, in Warwickshire, that it was essential that both sanction were made available to the Adjudicator.

Mr Kendall said the NFU was pressing these points with the Lib Dem MP Norman Lamb, the Business Minister now in charge of the Bill.

He said there was an urgent need for the new body, as retailers were currently ´behaving badly´ and putting ‘immense pressure on supply chain’

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Food- Dairy Crest plan to close two Dairies taking milk further and by road

Updated: 18 Apr 2012

Unions pledge to do ‘everything possible’

to protect 450 jobs in Dairy Crest closure

by Pete Murray - 17th April 2012, 14.55 BST

Nearly 500 jobs are under threat after supermarket milk supplier Dairy Crest announced plans to close two dairies.

The proposed closures involve a glass bottling dairy at Aintree, where 220 people work, and a site at Fenstanton in Cambridgeshire employing 250 people.

Unions say the job cuts – which amount to more than 10% of the workforce – will be ‘devastating’ for the Merseyside workers, in an area of high unemployment.

Dairy Crest said it plans to move the work to three other sides in Derbyshire.

It says the Aintree bottling plant could close as early as August.

John Gorle, national officer at Usdaw, which represents workers at Aintree said: “Today’s announcement has come as a complete shock to our members.

“It is potentially devastating news for everyone who works at Aintree and for the local economy, where over 9,000 unemployed people are already chasing just 750 job centre vacancies.”

“While we are under no illusion about the challenges facing the milk industry at the moment, Usdaw will examine the company’s business case for the proposal in detail and we will use the consultation process to explore every possible alternative to closure.”

Dairy Crest, which employs 4,000 people in its dairies business and 6,000 people overall, blames the closures on a fall in sales of milk in glass bottles as residential trade continues to decline and customers increasingly opt for plastic bottles and milk bags.

Dairy Crest also has a food division which makes leading brands such as Cathedral City, Country Life and Clover.

Unions say they will immediately begin a 90-day consultation with the company to try to secure redeployment and alternatives to redundancy for members at the two sites.

Unite national officer, Cath Speight, said: “This is devastating news for the 400 workers spread across both sites.

“These closures will be a massive blow for the workers and the local areas affected.

“As more and more people are made redundant, job opportunities are becoming even scarcer.

We now owe it to our members and their families to do everything in our power to help and support them.

“We hope Dairy Crest’s management will rethink this decision and we urge them to offer the staff affected every opportunity for redeployment within the business.”

Dairy Crest’s Aintree site is primarily a glass bottling dairy.

The company says it intends to supply residential customers with milk in glass bottles from its Hanworth dairy in London should Aintree close.

Tags: 90-day consultation, Dairy Crest, dairy industry, Merseyside, milk, redundancy, Unemployment, Unite, USDAW

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Food- Own Brands save you Money

Updated: 10 Apr 2012

Save £60 with own-brand breakfasts

More than half of all UK breakfasts include cereal but are you spending double what you need to?

By Felicity Hannah | Yahoo! Finance UK – Thu, Apr 5, 2012 18:37 BSTtweetShare0EmailPrint

Nearly every UK home buys some sort of breakfast cereal and more than half of all breakfasts consumed in this country include cereal, according to the Breakfast Cereal Information Service. Yes, I there really is a Breakfast Cereal Information Service – I was as surprised as anyone.

So breakfast is big money for UK supermarkets, but how important is brand?

What’s the price difference between own-brands and big brands, and is there really a difference in taste? I’ve been trialling a few of the brands to find out…

Best for cost

I bought a few boxes of Kellogg’s cereal at ASDA and compared them with Tesco and Sainsbury’s own brands, as well as Aldi’s Harvest Morn option.

Here’s how much each cost:

Brand Cornflakes Coco Pops or similar Frosties or similar Rice Krispies or similar
Kellogg’s at ASDA
£1.98 (40p/100g) £2.00 (36p/100g) £1.98 for 500g £2.00 for 510g
Tesco
£1.29 (26p/100g £1.79 (30p/100g) £1.35 for 500g (27p/100g) £1.95 for 600g (32p/100g)
Sainsbury’s £1.29 (26p/100g) N/A £1.55 for 500g (31p/100g)
£1.86 for 600g (31p/100g)
Aldi Harvest Morn £0.69 (17p/100g) £0.99p (26p/100g) £0.99 for 500g (20p/100g) £0.89 for 375g (24p/100g)
Cheapest per 100g Aldi’s Harvest Morn Aldi’s Harvest Morn Aldi’s Harvest Morn Aldi’s Harvest Morn

So it’s a pretty straightforward comparison.

As you’d expect, the big brand is the most expensive, Tesco and Sainsbury’s are very similar and Aldi has the cheapest option by far.

But you don’t necessarily want the cheapest; you want the best value for money.

And that means there are two more things to consider, the nutritional value and the taste.

Best for nutrition

Each of these breakfast cereal displays nutritional information on the front of the packet, to help consumers make informed choices about salt, sugar and calorific intake.

Sainsbury’s has one of the easiest to read as it uses green, amber or red to show whether the number should be considered high, medium or low.

But the rest provide information about the percentage of a person’s guideline daily recommended amount they contain.

Do the cheaper brands necessarily contain more salt, sugar and general badness, or are they much the same?

Taking the Frosties and similar cereals as an example, I’m surprised at how hard it is to compare these products.

Some include 125ml of semi-skimmed milk, while others don’t; some call a “portion” 30g, others 25g.

Here’s what I found for 30g servings without milk:

Brand
Calories (no milk) Sugars Fat Salt
Kellogg’s 112.5 10.8g 0.2g 0.27g
Tesco 120 11.1g 0.2g 0.2g
Sainsbury’s 115 11.4g 0.2g 0.16g
Aldi Harvest Morn 116 11.1g 0.2g 0.16g

One thing is clear, the cheaper brands aren’t necessarily more unhealthy than the big-name counterparts.

But your kids won’t care if a cereal is cheap – or if it’s healthy – they just want a tasty breakfast.

Best for taste

Taste is a fairly subjective thing, so I gathered five volunteers and together then joined in myself as we munched our way through more cereal than anyone should really eat in a day.

Normally whenever I review the cheaper brands, I’m surprised at the quality of the economy or own-brand option. However, with breakfast cereals it was really hit and miss.

Take the Coco Pops and similar own-brand options.

There was simply no loss of quality between the supermarket-own and Kellogg’s options.

They tasted different admittedly, but the milk still turned chocolaty and the taste was good.

The cheapest option from Aldi had a slightly less chocolaty flavour and it washed off the rice pops fairly fast but it was still a tasty breakfast cereal.

However, the various corn flake options definitely had more of a difference.

The volunteers agreed that the Kellogg’s brand stayed crunchy for longer, although they were divided on whether that was a good thing or not.

But only one out of six of us thought the Aldi cornflakes were a tasty alternative, most of us thought they tasted like cardboard.

The crisped rice cereals seemed identical and the frosted flakes all tasted different but not unpleasant.

Kellogg’s had a slight edge, with most people saying they preferred the big brand but would happily eat the other three.

Which is best for value?

If you’re regularly eating a big brand cereal then it’s definitely worth trying a supermarket-own brand instead, you could be surprised at the quality.

A household that ate its way through 500g of cornflakes a week would spend £104 a year on Kellogg’s, while Tesco or Sainsbury’s own would cost them a total of £67.60 – that’s a saving of £36.40 a year.

When there’s no drop in quality, it’s got to be worth considering.

If you were happy with the taste of the Aldi Harvest Morn brand, you’d pay just £44.20 a year, saving almost £60.

If you’re counting every penny then that could make a real difference.

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Food- The New Science of Steak

Updated: 10 Apr 2012

The new science of steak

Mens Health

Cook the best meat you've ever tasted, with the highest nutritional content.

Just use the cutting edge kitchen science that will also deliver this luxury for less

The UK has the highest rate of food inflation in Europe, which means a good meal costs us more than ever.

But master these scientific principles and you can enjoy a Michelin-grade dinner for a fraction of the price.

Plus, using high-tech ingenuity, you can engineer your slab of beef for maximum protein and vitamins.

You won’t need the grill – you’ll barely need a frying pan.

What you will need is an appetite for experimentation.

On these pages, you’ll find cutting-edge gastronomy from Dr Nathan Myhrvold, formerly chief technology officer at Microsoft who left to start his own food lab.

He reveals the high-tech secrets that will transform your steaks from so-so to stunning.

How to select the juiciest steak

Dissect the perfect cut

Ask your butcher for two 1-inch-thick rib-eye steaks from between the fifth and 10th bones.

Cuts from hard-working muscles (like those from the thigh) are rich but require more chewing.

Rib-eye matches them for flavour and is also the juiciest, says Chris Young, one of the chefs in Myhrvold’s food lab. It has more marbling than tenderloin, but hasn’t been toughened up by over-exertion.

Simple biology.

Time travel Most high-end chophouses age their beef for 30 days, but Young has a low-tech shortcut anyone can use.

Just leave your steaks in their packaging in the fridge for five days before cooking, says Young. “As beef ages, the longer protein chains within the muscles break down,” Young says.

“The meat becomes more tender and flavourful.”

In the fridge, you can tell this is happening when the meat changes colour to a greyish brown.

Don’t worry, they’re not going bad. In fact, the breakdown of protein chains makes the meat easier to digest – so your muscles absorb more fuel from the meal.

Go slow for the tenderest moments

The secret to a tender steak is to cook it at a low temperature, says Myhrvold. Doing this activates enzymes that soften the meat for that melt-in-your-mouth texture.

It also preserves nutrients that are lost when you cook at greater heat, which is handy because beef is packed with B vitamins.

These halve the rate of cognitive decline as we age, according to Oxford University research.

Making it good enough to serve to a Nobel Laureate.

Prepare to experiment Heat a large pan three quarters full of water on a low-to-medium heat.

Using a thermometer (£3, houseoffraser.co.uk), bring the water temperature to 118-122°F (48-50°C). This will cook the meat gently, retaining flavour and maintaining its juiciness.

Bags of flavour Place each steak in a large food bag.

Squeeze out the air as, then seal.

Place the steaks in the water and cook for 30mins.

Then raise the water temperature to medium-to-high on the hob (136-140°F) and cook for another 15mins.

The bag seals in flavour that is lost in all other cooking methods.

Side-dish chemistry

Baked potatoes Heat the oven to 200°C.

Then, to cut your cooking time by as much as half, push a clean aluminium nail lengthways through the centre of each potato.

Make sure at least an inch of nail is sticking out of the spud.

It will conduct heat, boosting its internal temperature, says Young.

So you won’t be sat there drumming your fingers.

For a velvety texture, select a floury spud.

Russet potatoes contain cells that separate easily when cooked, making for the fluffiest centre.

Plus, recent research from the US Department of Agriculture found they’re high in heart-protecting antioxidants.

Lightly coat two potatoes with olive oil, which slows the escape of moisture.

Place them on a baking sheet and bake until the skins are crisped and you can pierce them easily with a fork.

This should take about 40 minutes.

Then, wearing an oven glove, carefully remove the nails.

Make a shallow cut lengthways and fluff the inside with a fork, gradually adding about a tablespoon of cold butter.

Season and serve. It’s spud science 101.

Green beans Boil them for five minutes.

After which Myhrvold recommends that you drop them immediately into ice cold water for around 10 seconds. This preserves the beans’ pectin, which gives them their bite, and also lowers your cholestorol, according to research published in the Journal of Nutrition.

Young beans taste best, so look for specimens that are as thin, or thinner, than a #2 pencil.

Once they’re cooked, drain and serve them with a knob of butter.

You’re on your way to a PhD in gastronomy.

Don't fear the sear Remove the steaks from the bags and blot off any excess moisture.

The meat will look pink, so crank up a blowtorch (£16, houseoffraser.co.uk) and brown it.

This gets rid of the meat’s greyish-pink hue, giving it an appetising chargrilled look.

Let the flavour build Let the steaks rest for 15mins – Myhrvold and Young’s research shows that this dramatically improves its juiciness.

“Resting lets the protein-rich juices cool and thicken,” Young explains.

Now you’re ready to serve a steak engineered to astound the tastebuds of lucky dinner guests.

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Reference - The search for global Food Security gains pace

Updated: 10 Apr 2012

The Search for Food Security Gains Momentum

Written by Our Correspondent

Asia Sentinel
Monday, 09 April 2012

A new form of colonization, infrastructure, political and climate problems aside

India, which doesn’t allow corporate farming domestically, has joined the growing list of countries going overseas to look for food security, with more than 80 Indian agribusiness companies investing more than Rp10.8 billion (US$211.2 billion) in African countries including Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Congo, Madagascar, Liberia and Ghana.

India is far from alone in looking for food security overseas, nor are the African nations where India is investing unique. Many developing countries, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations “are making strenuous efforts to attract and facilitate foreign investment into their agriculture sectors.”

That has dovetailed with increasing nervousness on the part of countries which, either because of population pressures, lack of arable land or climate change problems, have begun to look overseas for land on which to grow their food.

Critics say this has raised concern whether food security FDI has the potential to harm the host countries, distorting their local markets, taking food away from poverty-stricken domestic citizens, distorting production, pushing people off customary lands or forcing them into seasonal labor, increasing the dependence of the poor on commercial foodstuffs, taking water or other natural resources that the poor used for their own production, and other issues.

For investment-strapped governments such as Sri Lanka, Laos and many others, however FDI in any segment of the economy is generally regarded by traditional economists as important, providing technology transfer, infrastructure development.

For them, FDI is regarded as a “potentially important contributor to filling the investment gap and providing developmental benefits, for example through technology transfer, employment creation and infrastructure development,” the FAO said in a recent study.

“Whether these potential developmental benefits are actually likely to be realized is a key concern, as FDI has also the potential to harm host countries.”

With the global transport network now providing the ability to move vast amounts of food around the planet cheaply, and with the world population having reached 7.023 billion, both the need and the ability to do so have overlapped.

According to a 60-page July 2011 report titled Land Tenure and International Investment in Agriculture by the Committee on World Food Security, over the past 50 years, “Multinational companies have extended their global reach on supplies of food, animal feed, biofuels, timber and minerals.”

Deals, according to the report, occur at multiple levels, both within and between regions. In particular, as Asia Sentinel reported in May 2009, the major players were China, South Korea and countries in the Gulf States.

However, today the deals have spread far beyond those countries, with the South African Commercial Farmers Association acquiring 200,000 ha in Congo and negotiating with another 22 African governments for more land.

Brazilians are expanding their holdings in Bolivia, Vietnamese and Chinese interests are moving into Laos, UK interests are acquiring land in Eastern Europe. Kuwait has obtained 50,000 hectares of Cambodian farmland.

Indian companies are growing oilseeds, cereals, flowers and tea in seven countries across Africa.

“The search for fertile and cheaper lands and labor are taking us to Africa.

The governments in most of the African countries are gradually getting more democratic and stable.

They are also proactive towards promoting industries, especially agriculture to meet the demand for food,” an official of Karuturi Global told India’s Financial Chronicle.

Although Indian companies are looking thousands of kilometers away in Africa for land on which to produce food, Sri Lanka is practically begging agricultural investors to enter the country, now recovering slowly from decades of sectarian violence and outright war.

The government recently held a Sri Lanka Expo in Colombo at which the country’s farmlands were marketed aggressively to Arabian Gulf-based businesses.

The island’s consul general in Dubai was quoted in media recently as urging the acquisition of Sri Lankan land for agricultural export.

“The UAE’s imports of food products have significantly increased over the recent years. Investing in agricultural land will greatly benefit in preventing steep increase in prices and ensuring steady supply,” according to Invest Sri Lanka, a government publication.

That has raised concerns because despite the lush tropical climate of the Indian Ocean country, it can’t meet demand for fruits and vegetables and other staples foods, authorities say.

And in fact there is growing concern that extends well beyond Sri Lanka.

It many never come off in any case. Many eager developing countries simply don’t have the ability to absorb large-scale investment.

A venture capitalist who recently visited Sri Lanka told Asia Sentinel that much of the land that is under-utilized is in territory previously held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, with well-connected Sinhalese taking Tamil land for corporate farming, causing some corporations to shy away from investment.

Equally, As Asia Sentinel reported in 2009, Saudi Arabia’s Binladen Corporation walked away from a proposed US$4.3 billion scheme to plant rice on a half-million hectare area of Indonesia’s Papua, apparently privately blaming red tape, overlapping regulations, corruption and inadequate infrastructure.

A million-hectare oil palm plantation proposed by the Chinese in Kalimantan also has never materialized.

The South Korean company Daewoo was forced to drop plans to plant more than 400,000 hectares of Madagascar land in corn in the face of political opposition in 2008.

Still, it appears that agricultural colonization is gaining pace although according to the Committee on World Food Security, the amount of hectarage being purchased across the world is shrouded in secrecy and estimates vary wildly.

As an example, one 2011 study cited by the committee estimated that 46.6 million hectares were taken over by foreign interests in 81 countries across the globe between 2005 and 2009 while another puts the figure between 51 and 63 million ha which reportedly was taken over in 27 African countries up to 2010.

“While there clearly is much uncertainty about how much land is changing hands, all sources agree that the trend is markedly upward and is likely to continue,” the authors note. “Large-scale land investments involve a complex, interlocking global system of interests.

Investments may be direct or indirect, international and domestic, productive or speculative, corporate, public or farmer investments.”

The direct players include companies seeking land to grow food, feed and biofuels.

However, as Asia Sentinel reported in November 2011, there is growing concern over the “financialization” of agricultural products as indirect players such as pension funds, hedge fund managers, real estate groups and other equities funds pile into the market, not only on land but on commodities, for speculation purposes.

“Evidence suggests that many land deals have not been followed by productive investment, with only 20 percent of investments that have been announced actually being followed through with agricultural production happening on the ground.”

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Food- Cool Season Vegetables

Updated: 07 Apr 2012

Cool Season Vegetables

Catherine Abbott, Your Vegetable Gardening Helper.

Cool season vegetables grow well in the early spring, fall and winter.

These vegetables do not mind the short days, less sun and their flavor is often enhanced after a frost.

There are some vegetables that store well in the ground over winter.

Just remember if you plan to harvest vegetables over the fall and winter months make sure your veggies are protected from the cold, rain and snow.

If you live in a colder climate you can plant these cool season veggies once the last frost is gone and the soil can be worked. In more temperate climates you can be planting these veggies all year round - just be aware if you live in a rainy climate they may not grow very well until the days get a bit longer starting in March or April.

Here is a list of vegetables for you to try:

Artichokes - this vegetable will keep in the ground over winter

Asparagus - this is a perennial vegetable

Beets

Broccoli

Brussel Sprouts

Cabbage

Carrots - this vegetable will keep in the ground over winter

Cauliflower

Celery

Collard

Cress

Endive

Garlic

Kale

Kohlrabi

Leeks

Lettuce

Mustard greens

Onion

Oriental greens

Parsnip - this vegetable can be left in the ground over winter

Peas

Potato- this vegetable will keep in the ground over winter

Radish

Rutabaga - this vegetable will keep in the ground over winter winter

Scallions

Spinach

Swiss chard

Turnip - this vegetable will keep in the ground over winter

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Food- Cooking at home or buying Takeaways ?

Updated: 06 Apr 2012

The great debate:

Is it cheaper to cook from scratch or buy a ready meal?

By Tara Evans

PUBLISHED: 13:21, 29 March 2012 | UPDATED: 13:21, 29 March 2012

The Radical rarely buys takeaways or eats out because the value for money is poor.

Also cooking at home from food you know is safer is more enjoyable and varied.

We buy when products are on offer and in bulk.

A 25kg bag of potatoes, market shopping or freezing food, which is the most natural way to preserve it.

We also grow some of our own but that is for pleasure less than for good economics.

It is arguably healthier to cook a meal from scratch, but is it cheaper?

One supermarket boss, Dalton Philips of Morrisons, thinks so, and he has credited money-saving home chefs with changing the nature of shopping.

But is this a culinary rule that will line the pockets of shops or a tip that will really save you money?

Tara Evans explores the debate over whether making your own dinner is a recipe for financial success?

Ready made versus home made: Morrisons boss Dalton Philips claims that it's cheaper to make home made food rather than buying ready meals.

This is Money investigates.

Last month Morrisons boss Dalton Philips claimed that that people were cooking from scratch rather than buying prepared food to save money.

He was referring to a specific breed of what he termed 'professional shoppers' who meticulously plan meals to make the best use of promotions and offers to keep the cost of their groceries as low as possible.

The supermarket boss told the Times: 'They are customers who are spending to a specific budget - they are spending more time cooking at home, so cooking from scratch.'

'And they are shouting about the bargains that they see out there, going on to social media checking for them and communicating them.'

However, this notion was challenged on BBC Radio 4 last Friday morning.

The Today Programme sent one reporter out to buy ingredients for a homemade chicken tikka masala for four people.

It cost him £12.25, while the ready meal equivalent cost £6.60.

OVEN VERSUS MICROWAVE

You might not have considered it, but the method you choose to cook your dinner also has an impact on your wallet.

Is it cheaper to cook from scratch rather than buy a ready meal?

Cooking with a microwave (get those ready meals out!) is much more energy efficient than cooking using an electric oven, according to data from the Energy Saving Trust.

The average oven uses less than half as much energy as the typical oven.

A microwave used once a day costs on average £13 of electricity a year, compared to £30 for an electric oven.

The ready meals were on a 'buy one get one free' promotion, so would have actually come in £1 more expensive had they not been on offer.

Chef and co-founder of the restaurant chain Leon, Allegra McEvedy speaking on the programme, said 'There are some things which are definitely going to be cheaper to buy ready-made such as a beef lasagne'.

She argued that it depends on what you’re cooking and who you’re cooking for.

She said: 'Premium ready-made mash for example isn’t always cheaper to buy, when you can buy potatoes cheaper.

But there is a time and a place for a ready meal.'

However, supermarkets are keen to push the cheap but homemade option.

Sainsbury’s for example last year put a heavy advertising push on 'feeding your family for a fiver'.

The key to keeping within the £5 limit is that families have to buy items from the supermarket’s basic range.

On the flipside, last year retailer Waitrose said that it had spied a rise in the amount of 'lazy cooks' with customers choosing to buy pre-made, prepared food.

The supermarket reported a rise of 40 per cent in the amount of people buying peeled potatoes compared with a year ago.

Diced onions were up 14 per cent and its butternut squash/sweet potato mix saw a 29 per cent increase.

Overall, all prepared vegetables were up by 17 per cent.

There is of course another side to the argument, which suggests that cooking a meal from scratch, if buying premium products, will undoubtedly cost you more than a ready made meal, but the quality will be far superior.

Muddying the waters further is the fact that while if you buy ingredients for just one meal at a time and make it, then it could be pricier than a ready-meal equivalent, but use the same ingredients over a number of meals and you slash the cost.

Some savvy families cooking from scratch on a regular basis may be tempted into cooking en masse by making more food than they need and then freezing the left overs for further mealtimes.

To this end, parenting forum and website Netmums suggests that there is a large range of food which can be pre-prepared and cooked in advance.

This gives you the luxury of a ready meal but the ability to spread the cost of the groceries by cooking a larger batch.

Some ready meals will be cheaper than buying all the ingredients separately, then again cooking up your own big batch of food to spread over a number of days, can save a packet, however, use some items, such as prepared vegetables, and you will pay a premium for convenience.

The key is find a balance for your budget and your diet.

Which is cheaper, a ready meal or cooking yourself?

What factors have we not included.

Tell us what you think and if you have any culinary money saving tips share them below in the reader comments.

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Food- Lamb prices will be higher this Easter

Updated: 05 Apr 2012

Early Easter helps lamb prices surge

4 April 2012 |

By Barry Alston

Farmers Guardian

AN early Easter has helped push lamb prices at Welsh auction markets higher than normal for this time of year, according to the Wales-based red meat promotion agency, Hybu Cig Cymru.

“Lamb prices have recorded some increases in recent weeks as prices rise in line with the seasonal trend in the run-up to Easter,” says HCC’s industry information officer, John Richards.

“At 213p per kg in the week ending March 31, prices have increased by around 15p per kg since the end of February,” he said.

“Liveweight prices remain ahead of 2011 levels, but this is being driven by Easter falling a fortnight earlier this year.”

There is a warning, though, that expectations of another year of record prices for Welsh sheep farmers may not be realised throughout 2012 due to an increase in the supply of lamb produced in the southern hemisphere.

Deadweight prices have also picked up as increases in the liveweight trade has exerted upward pressure.

The price at the end of March increased by over 14p to average 458.6p per kg deadweight, representing the largest week-on-week increase recorded so far in 2012.

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115

Food - A day in the Life of Britain's Best Baker

Updated: 02 Apr 2012

A day in the life of Britain’s Best Baker

24 March 2012

Farmers Guardian

How does a day unfold for Britain’s Best Baker? In the first of a new Best of British series, Robert Ditty tells Barbara Collins all about a day in his professional working life.

Robert Ditty’s name is synonymous with artisan baking across Britain - he was crowned British Baker of the Year at a prestigious ceremony in London last September.

However, Ditty’s Craft Bakery has been a feature of Main Street in the sleepy mid-Ulster village of Castledawson since 1963, having been passed down from father to son.

So you can’t help wonder what is a typical day for the man who has made oatcakes for the Queen?

3am

Bakers, like farmers, are no strangers to pre-dawn starts, but these days, he lets some of his staff do the really early shift.

They’re in for 3am, working on the traditional Northern Irish wheaten and soda breads which need to leave the bakery first, but Robert casts his beady eye over them.

5.30am

“I’m always up at half past five,” says Robert. “I’m in the bakery between 6 and 6.30am, when I start going over that morning’s production, because nothing will have gone out before 7 o’clock.

7am

“Then I spend half an hour in the shop, helping to set up the sandwich bar and the counter for that day, before heading back into the bakery.”

7.30am - 12.30pm

He might have a staff of 65, but there are still some jobs only Robert himself does. He always makes the Danish pastries and on Mondays, he makes éclairs.

“Monday is the only day of the week when we have to play catch-up, because we’re closed on Sunday, but I’m always happiest when I’m in my whites, so I make sure I bake something every day I can.”

The rest of the morning is taken up with cake making, puff pastries, apple tarts and the savoury products that are sold in the cafe in Castledawson and in the sister shop in the nearby town of Magherafelt.

12.30pm

Lunch. Luckily he doesn’t have to go too far.

1.30pm

“The last thing I do before going into the office is check the sourdoughs have been put down for the breads the next morning.

“I firmly believe that bread is at its best eaten on the day it’s made, and that’s what our customers want.

“Some breads can have a shelf life of up to six days, but that’s not what I’m about. There are no additives in anything that’s made here.”

Successful businesses are all about innovation and Robert Ditty is always looking for new products to trial and old recipes to resurrect. Sitting on the counter on the day I visited was a basket of what he called Kaiser rolls.

“They’re a great chewy, crusty roll which we used to make 25 years ago, when Northern Ireland was in the backwaters and people didn’t travel that much.

“If it works again, it will have gone full circle. I’m giving a week’s free supply to a local supermarket to see how they go. It’s a bit of test marketing.”

It is this willingness to experiment which Robert believes helped him win the British Baker of the Year award.

“When they came to visit, the judges were very critical and pointed out what I needed to do,” he says. “They wanted me to upgrade the Castledawson shop, which I had already put plans in to do, but when they got it down to the final two, they said the big question was ‘How best could one of these two people use the award?’

“Their interest is in promoting the baking sector and my position in the industry meant I could do that - and it has been enormously beneficial.”

That position in the industry is, in no small part, due to one of his signature products - the oatcake. It’s still being made to a 50 year old recipe, which Robert refuses to compromise on.

“Nothing has changed with the oatcakes, apart from the marketing. We use buttermilk, which makes them more akin to a digestive biscuit, unlike traditional oatcakes, which can be quite dry.

“I’ve seen machines that could quadruple output, but we would have to take 60 per cent of moisture out and we don’t want to do that, so we just use the old recipe and make them not quite by hand.

“For me, they work as a product because they can be made in advance; they have a very long shelf life. They’re also very versatile in that we can add ingredients that introduce another part of the island.

“Two of our most successful combinations; the smoked oatcakes and the Gubbeen cheese ones, were both accidents.

“I was chatting to Frank Hederman, who makes the most fantastic smoked fish in Cork, and I was joking to him about smoking oats.

“He said he’d never tried it, but after having a go using a fly screen to put them on, we started using them in our oatcakes.”

2pm

Afternoons for Robert are spent in the office concentrating on marketing and research and development.

It is these hours on the phone and the computer which have led to contracts with Waitrose, who are his biggest customer and also Harrods, Fortnum and Mason and Selfridges - among others.

Recently, he’s been spending time on the local Northern Ireland market.

“Apart from the bakeries, we only have very small outlets here, such as delis, so I’ve been in serious talks with Tesco about taking our oatcakes and biscuits to sell off the cheese counter.

“They have 26 stores here, so that would make a major difference.”

But that Willy Wonka side of his brain never seems to switch off.

“Armagh Bramley apples have just won PGI status, so we’re working on an apple biscuit for the cheeseboard, but the challenge is to get the high notes.

“Plain juice is too expensive and you can’t taste it, so we’re working with a grower to see how we can capture the taste we want.”

“After we get that sorted, there are other things I want to get on the counter. Next week, it’s brioche and after that, it’s mini Victoria sponges with proper raspberry jam and afternoon teas. We have to be innovative.

“It’s all about keeping ahead of things, coming up with new products and revising the old ones to make sure they’re as good as they can be.”

He has also recently become involved with placements at the Bakery College in Belfast. This year, there were 55 applicants for 16 places, something which Robert puts down partly to the influence of people such as Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.

“They’ve done wonders for the industry in the past 18 months, but I want to build on that,” says Robert.

4pm

In case you were thinking it is all work and no play, Robert also makes sure to take time to chat to the customers in the cafe.

“I see our shop as a place for a treat, rather than a necessity and I love to see them tucking into the buns, traybakes and cakes Northern Ireland is famous for. We just adore our sweetie stuff here.”

4.30pm

After we had our chat, Robert took me back to see one of his rediscovered passions - working with chocolate. He was working on heart-shaped lollies and truffles.

“I’ve always liked coverture, but I’d drifted away from it over the years. I really enjoy it.

“It’s very absorbing and the German chocolate I use tastes delicious; not too sweet.”

5pm

By this stage, it is late afternoon and the shelves are looking bare. It is hometime for Britain’s Best Baker, but not before he has checked everything is ready for the next morning.

“I never really switch off. Research and development is something I do 24/7, but I do like to get out into the garden and I make my own honey too. There’s so much to be done in the industry.

“Baking is my life’s work and my passion and I feel very lucky to be able to work at what I love.”

Ditty’s Craft Bakery factfile

20,000 oatcakes are made at the Castledawson Bakery every day, six days a week

They make 20,000 soda farls, pancakes and potato breads to be sold in the local area every week

1,000 yeasted breads are made daily including muesli, seeded and spelt ranges

7,000 “wee buns” are sold across the two shops every week

The Castledawson bakery was rebuilt after being destroyed by a bomb in 1976

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Food-The Real Hunger Games-How banks gamble on food-and the poor lose out

Updated: 02 Apr 2012

The real hunger games: How banks gamble on food prices – and the poor lose out

In the last decade, financiers have speculated billions of pounds in food, helping to make prices dearer and more volatile

Grace Livingstone Sunday 01 April 2012

Independent

Speculation by large investment banks is driving up food prices for the world's poorest people, tipping millions into hunger and poverty.

Investment in food commodities by banks and hedge funds has risen from $65bn to $126bn (£41bn to £79bn) in the past five years, helping to push prices to 30-year highs and causing sharp price fluctuations that have little to do with the actual supply of food, says the United Nations' leading expert on food.

Hedge funds, pension funds and investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital now dominate the food commodities markets, dwarfing the amount traded by actual food producers and buyers.

Purely financial players, for example, account for 61 per cent of investment on the wheat futures market, according to the World Development Movement report Broken Markets.

Speculative investment in agricultural commodities in 2011 was 20 times the amount spent by all countries on agricultural aid.

Goldman Sachs, the largest player in the agricultural commodities market, earned £600m from food speculation in 2009, and Barclays Capital, the world's third-largest player and largest British bank in this market, earned up to £340m in 2010, according to the report. Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital declined to comment.

Before it was deregulated in the year 2000, the agricultural commodities futures market was used mainly by farmers and food buyers seeking to insure themselves against changes in the prices of products such as wheat, maize and sugar.

When George W Bush passed the Commodities Futures Modernization Act 12 years ago, there was an influx, led by Goldman Sachs, of purely financial players who had no interest in ever buying food, but who sought solely to profit from changes in food prices, says Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food.

He added: "What we are seeing now is that these financial markets have developed massively with the arrival of these new financial investors, who are purely interested in the short-term monetary gain and are not really interested in the physical thing – they never actually buy the ton of wheat or maize; they only buy a promise to buy or to sell.

The result of this financialisation of the commodities market is that the prices of the products respond increasingly to a purely speculative logic.

This explains why in very short periods of time we see prices spiking or bubbles exploding, because prices are less and less determined by the real match between supply and demand."

Food prices reached a 30-year high in 2008, sparking food riots from Mexico to Bangladesh.

Prices rose even higher in September 2010 and, although they have dipped since, they remain above the 2008 crisis level.

This has resulted in a "silent tsunami of hunger", according to the UN World Food Programme.

High prices for basic foodstuffs, combined with the global economic slump, have pushed 115 million more people into hunger and poverty since 2008, bringing the total number of hungry people in the world today to 925 million.

High prices are "an absolute catastrophe" for poor consumers, says De Schutter, because they typically spend more than 60 per cent of their household budget on food.

It is not just the places normally associated with food crises that are feeling the effect of the speculators.

According to Oxfam, in Armenia, between September 2010 and September 2011, the prices of basic foodstuffs rose as follows: sugar 46 per cent; eggs 49 per cent; cheese 38 per cent; pork 34 per cent; milk powder 30 per cent; and butter 26 per cent.

The result was that all income groups in Armenia reduced food consumption: the poor by 14 per cent, and even middle-income groups by 5 per cent.

Karen Badishyan, from Gyumri, is an economist with a doctorate, and is married with two children.

He said: "Seventy per cent of our household budget is spent on food and so we need to save more and more and we really lack money.

We've borrowed a lot of money and we have no idea how we will pay it back.

In Armenia, even if you have a job and work hard, your salary is too low to give your family a decent standard of living."

Violet Waithira is a Kenyan, unemployed, single mother looking after her eight-year-old daughter and 83-year-old father.

When prices rose sharply in Kenya recently, the family were forced to drastically cut back:

"We stopped eating lunch, and saved the little we had to eat for supper.

We drank tea without sugar and sometimes we also missed breakfast.

I had to travel so much to wash clothes to get money for food, but sometimes I was so weak I fell down. For supper, we had one or two cups of flour mixed with water and salt. Our life was so hard."

There have been many reasons for high food prices in Kenya, including post-election violence and drought, says Njoki Njoroge Njehu of the Daughters of Mumbi Global Resource Centre, but there were also global factors: "Corporations were speculating on food and made a lot of money.

But it was done at the expense of ordinary people in Kenya, in Mexico, in Argentina and other places where there were food riots."

Experts disagree on whether speculation actually causes price rises or simply aggravates other factors such as climate shocks, the rise in world demand for food and the growth of biofuels.

Jayati Ghosh, professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, was one of 450 economists who last year called on the G20 to regulate the commodities market.

She says that, although factors such as biofuels are important, speculation is now another "driving force" behind price hikes.

She cites the example of world wheat prices doubling between June and December 2010, even though there was no fall in the global supply of wheat.

David Hallam of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization says that while he does not believe speculation is the cause of price rises, it does exacerbate swings in prices and should be regulated.

"If you have something which is amplifying price movements, then that is a terribly important issue that needs to be addressed."

The Obama administration introduced regulation of commodity trading as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, passed in 2010.

However, legal challenges by Wall Street mean the regulations have not yet come into force.

The G20 summit last June made a commitment to introduce so-called "position limits" which cap the number of agricultural commodities contracts any one investor can buy, but as yet no country, apart from the United States, has adopted these.

The one measure taken by the G20 is the creation of the Agricultural Markets Information System, which pools data about crop levels or bad harvests from around the world to try to prevent misinformation or rumours sparking panics on the markets.

The European Union is currently discussing regulation of the commodities market. Christine Haigh, a campaigner from the World Development Movement, says the EU's proposals "need more teeth", but there is "still all to play for".

The WDM is particularly concerned that Britain is advocating a weaker form of regulation known as "position management", rather than strict caps.

"The food-price spikes we have seen over the past few years have had a devastating impact on the world's poorest people and it is morally abhorrent that banks and other financial institutions are contributing to that.

It is vital that we get proper regulation of these markets," she says.

Making the market more transparent is also essential, says the UN's food rapporteur.

At present, 82 per cent of trading in the European commodities market is "over-the-counter" – private deals made between two parties that are not registered on any exchange.

This makes it impossible to see what's driving the price changes.

But introducing changes will not be easy, says De Schutter.

"There is huge lobbying going on.

These issues are so technical; lawmakers are literally running out of experts.

They can only call on experts from the financial world.

Very few legislators are well-equipped to deal with these issues, which sometimes may be too technical for them to make relevant comments. It's really a problem of democracy.

We are heading for a difficult situation: climate shocks, droughts, floods are increasingly frequent and extreme.

The predictability of crop production is more difficult, so speculation is more attractive than ever, frankly.

It is all the more important then, given this context of uncertainty, to regulate speculation to prevent things becoming even worse."

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