Today's News

16 March 2010

Warning over 'low-quality' nursery food:
Concerns about the quality of food given to thousands of toddlers in England's nurseries have been raised in a report by The School Food Trust which suggests food served by child-minders and nurseries is too high in fat, sugar and salt, and lacks essential nutrients.
BBC News (16 March)
Daily Mirror (16 March)
Soil Association comment: We urge the School Food Trust to follow the recommendations of the Better Nursery Food campaign and put in place compulsory standards for the food served in all nurseries - as is now the case in schools - and make sure nursery staff have the training and support they need to provide healthy and nutritious food for children. Read full comment here

Eat less meat to save 18,000 lives, warns government's medical chief
Britons should significantly reduce the amount of meat they eat in order to save thousands of lives, the chief medical officer said yesterday. His comments come a few months after climate change guru Lord Stern called on people to go vegetarian - because methane emissions from cows and pigs were warming the atmosphere.
The Daily Mail (16 March, p.2)


Soil Association chief hails community food strategies
Soil Association director Patrick Holden has praised initiatives aimed at bringing food production closer to communities.
Horticulture Week (12 March)


Guardian Letters: Beef up our approach to food
A number of letters comment on the story about abuse of meat plant workers in yesterday’s paper including one from Patrick Mulvany of the UK Platform for Food Sovereignty and Kirtana Chandrasekaran of Friends of the Earth. They write: “It's not just workers who suffer – a race to the bottom means our food system is dependent on underpriced fossil fuels, does not recognise the limitations of water and land resources, and supports unhealthy diets. We will only be able to address these challenges successfully with a completely different approach to food and agriculture policies and practices.”
The Guardian (16 March, p.33)


‘Organic’ egg fraud
Letter from Lawrence Wood, director of The Organic Research Centre: “Sir, There is no doubt that there was a serious failure of the regulatory system (“Supermarkets tricked in ‘organic’ egg fraud”, 12 March) but we have looked at other organic poultry supply chains, both local and supermarket organic eggs, and found commendable levels of integrity.”
The Times (16 March, p.22)


Common English species face extinction
George Monbiot comments: “The rightwing think tanks that demand a further intensification of farming argue that their real concern is not the welfare of the rich but the welfare of the poor. If we were to farm with wildlife rather than only profit in mind, the decline in productivity would raise the price of food, at an intolerable cost to the poor. There is some truth in this, as far as it goes. But I have never heard these people argue on the same grounds against unregulated urban sprawl, which every year takes millions of acres of good farmland permanently out of production.”
The Guardian (16 March, p.29)


Shoots ‘forced to rely on French pheasants’
British shoots will be forced to rely on French pheasants in future following a ban on battery cages for raising game birds, it has been claimed. The Government plans to curb the intensive rearing of pheasants and partridges in small cages.
The Telegraph (16 March, p.11)


Judges uphold ban on Bayer pesticide
A federal appeals court refused to delay a ban on the sale of a pesticide that some environmental groups claim is killing honeybees. The decision prevents Bayer CropScience, from selling its pesticide, Spirotetramat, while the company appeals a lower court ruling that halted sales.
Pittsburgh Tribune (13 March)


How going green may make you mean
Ethical consumers less likely to be kind and more likely to steal, study finds.
The Guardian (17 March)


Brown unpleasant land…
Britain’s glorious fields have turned brown after the coldest winter for decades. Grass roots became waterlogged at the start of winter and were largely killed off by the prolonged cold when the water froze.  Dairy farmers will now have to feed their cattle fodder until spring gets under way and sheep will be wearing last year’s grass in the lambing season. 
Daily Express (16 March, p.29)


Farming Today
The sheep that shear themselves...well, almost! Farming Today reports in the cross bred sheep that sheds its own fleece. And a major study is launched to find ways to reduce river pollution from farm run-off.
BBC Radio 4 (listen again)


And finally… the biggest, baa none
A Suffolk cross ewe has given birth to a lamb that weighs a massive 23lb (three times the size of a normal lamb!).
Daily Mail (16 March, p.3)


Quote of the day
“Our diet is warming the planet. It is also damaging our health. Changing our diet is difficult, but doing so would both help slow climate change and bring significant health benefits.”
Sir Liam Donaldson – The Daily Mail – 16 March 2010