‘Food security’ is a phrase that keeps coming up in discussions around Westminster, with retailers and with producers – yet there appears to be quite a number of differences about how that simple set of two words is then interpreted…
It is clear from public announcements, and meetings around the periphery, that our Government simply cares about food security in the most basic way – can Joe Public buy what they want, when they want?
We have now had almost two generations who have always been able to walk into a shop and simply know that they will find what they want, irrespective of season. Historically, the UK has managed to provide this ‘service’ because we have been relatively rich and would always be able to buy it in from somewhere in the world. This last couple of years has really shown, however, that because of this short-sighted approach, we have left ourselves open to powers that are very much out of our control.
Those of us on the ground have known for quite some time, particularly since the stall ban in 1999, that this approach has also left us at the mercy of price wars, something that the big UK retailers excel in.
The UK consumer is exceedingly price conscious, to the point where they have lost the ability to really understand the value of the food they buy, and, hence, they also push the retailers to continue to engage in these price wars. Here lies a future of reduced food security for the UK, in the true interpretation of the phrase, since we will simply export more of our production to countries that have lower standards and can produce it cheaper.
So how can we really turn the tide? In my opinion, we have to get people to understand the value of the food that they are consuming – a tough gig since this will involve some big changes to the general population’s habits. This could be forced through Governmental changes to import checks and standards to ban products that are illegal to produce in the UK.
This sounds the ‘easiest’ option to us on the ground and would provide a fairer playing field, though the appetite for this from those in power is negligible, as it would increase prices (vote loser) and is subject to international agreements and therefore not a simple option.
Should we make sure people to understand more about where their food comes from instead? I would never argue that we should not be doing this, but how do we go about it without muddying the waters further?
Welfare labelling
Government has just decided not to proceed with the mandatory welfare labelling on chicken and pork, a decision that has been derided by campaign groups and some retailers as worsening welfare. Of course, the standards applicable to our pigs on farm remain the same, so this is nonsense, but I believe that we have had a lucky escape avoiding this scheme in its current form.
As a vet, welfare is my highest priority and I work to make sure this is the case on farm on a day-to-day basis. It is an exceedingly complicated topic however, with areas of objectivity and subjectivity, making it difficult to produce clear gradations from good to poor.
The initial proposals for labelling were based around production method, rather than being outcome based, demonstrating a basic, at best, understanding of welfare on farm. Slap those type of labels across food products and we would have several inadvertent outcomes on consumer behaviour, which would not result in a better understanding of the actual issues on farm.
Complicate things too far and we will push people away from buying British products towards simpler and cheaper pork from abroad.
We have an opportunity to get this right, but we have to move away from simplified production method-based assessment, and move with the science to outcome-based measures – related to the life that animal has lived and the welfare it has experienced.
We should be proud of the standards we have here in the UK and this could give us an opportunity to educate our consumers further to support our products, with the added benefit of boosting our UK food security from home-grown produce – shouldn’t we all be aiming for that?