Food Standards, What’s All The Fuss about?
What to do with the agricultural bill? That is the question on everyone’s lips at the moment - the most pressing issue going through parliament. The hopes and dreams of a nation are riding on the government’s decision here. Okay, so maybe not everyone is talking about it, but a lot of people are thanks to the hard work of Jamie Oliver and a whole host of the nations most beloved chefs.
But what is it that they are talking about? In short, the public wants the government to write into legislation that all imported food must be produced to the same standards as UK food. It seems relatively simple, but there’s a little bit more to it than that, but I will give you some background information first.
The UK has the highest animal welfare standards in the world. According to the Animal Protection Index, our animal welfare standards are only matched by Sweden, Switzerland, and a couple of other countries. We also rank number 6 in the world in terms of environmental protection (an award bestowed upon us by the Environmental Performance Index who measure habitat vitality, water and air quality and legislative action taken to protect the environment). The laws that ensure our status here were created both by the UK government and by EU law, although in most cases the EU law was still pushed through by our MEPs.
Now that we have officially left the EU, the British government has a chance, for the first time in 40 years, to completely re-write our agricultural bill from scratch. And to be fair to them, they have really tried. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) had written a complete bill before many of the other government departments had even started looking at reviewing their policy, and for the most part, the government have listened to what the public wants.
The new bill is aimed heavily at using public money for public goods. They are increasingly focusing on providing farmers with income in return for environmental works and public right of way; with a side-line in ensuring food security, and encouraging food production.
They have even said they will dedicate time and money to fairness in the supply chain. But they have only said that. They haven’t written that into legislation. And here lies the issue. In the agricultural bill, there is no mention of upholding British food production standards while negotiating trade deals with other countries. And if the government haven’t written into law that they must ensure all food coming into the country is produced to the same standards as our food is, then realistically, will they do it?
They are currently trying desperately to get a trade deal with the US, who certainly don’t produce food to the same standards as we do. Lots of food in the US is produced to standards that would be illegal in the UK. That’s not to say it’s not good quality food; it might be, but, using chickens as an example, British farmers ensure a level of hygiene and biosecurity while the bird is still alive to ensure the meat is safe to eat. American systems rely on washing the chicken with chlorine to remove any bacteria.
Other practices follow the same pattern. For example, despite the UK banning the feeding of bone meal and meat to animals as far back as 1996, and battery cages in 2012, in many countries that we now want to trade with both of these actions are still legal. It is also illegal in this country to use antibiotics unnecessarily. In contrast, in Japan, Australia, China and Brazil (to name a few), antibiotic use is actively encouraged both to prevent disease and to increase growth. In fact, according to Which? American systems use an average of 160.7mg of antibiotic per kg of animal, compared to a measly 29.5mg in the UK.
The international production of food to these standards creates a threat to UK farmers. As we produce food to higher standards, it costs more for us to do so. To give you an idea of quite how much more it costs us, the National Farmers Union (NFU) recently revealed the figures: American beef is produced at a 20% lower cost, and producing the same joint of pork would cost 39% less in the US than the UK. We will not be able to compete with food flooding the market at such low prices. And let’s be honest, the public will buy imported food because price is a primary purchasing factor.
What makes this worse is that even if people want to buy British instead, they might not be able to make informed decisions. The US government suggested that if we’re going to do a trade deal with them, then we must ban all ‘country of origin’ labels on our foods so that American produced food won’t be subject to prejudice.
*Cue exasperated eye roll*
So why won’t the government protect the industry that they swore to safeguard when they were voted in? Because it makes it tricky for them to secure any trade deals if the country in question has to overhaul their agricultural industry to ensure all food is produced to our standards.
Following the campaign by Jamie Oliver and the NFU, the government have tried to meet us halfway. They have formed a Trade and Agriculture Commission, which will be able to advise them on how trade deals will affect agriculture. But is this enough? Only time will tell.
After the first reading of the bill, MP Neil Parish suggested an amendment to write this whole topic into legislation. The amendment has since been put before the House of Commons twice and been rejected each time. So what now? At the time of writing, it has again gone back to the House of Lords in the hope that someone will be able to come up with a compromise upon both Houses can agree.
And what can we do? I know I say it every time but buy local, buy seasonally. Buy your food from your local farmers, people you can get to know and trust, who can tell you exactly where your food has come from; people who dedicate their time to producing food in the best possible way. Also, lobby the government. If you think this is an important issue, don’t shut up about it. Keep messaging your MPs. Keep annoying them until they make trade deals that benefit our environment, our food standards and our farmers. Keep holding them accountable to the promises they were elected to uphold. It’s up to us now.
Written by Madeleine Pow
Maddie lives and works on her family farm on the outskirts of Bath. In her spare time she does a bit more farming, and a bit more. But she equally enjoys spending her evenings sitting by the telly with a glass of wine doing some knitting. Or perhaps baking some sourdough. If you want to know more about British farming you can follow her Instagram @livinginwellies