Breadcrumbs
Eat the View News Roundup
British Food Fortnight, 2004
British Food Fortnight, organised by the Rural Regeneration Unit, will be taking place from 18 September to 3 October 2004 during the Harvest Festivalhis year there will be a special focus on educating children about food. The aim is to make children aware of the diverse and delicious food that Britain produces by increasing awareness of the health benefits, and pleasures of eating quality, fresh, seasonal and regional produce. Guidance for teachers is planned for all 30,000 schools in England and 2,000 schools in Wales. A network of resources drawn from butchers, restaurants, chefs, tourism outlets and markets is being established to offer activity-based teaching and learning facilities. Shops, pubs and restaurants will again be asked to increase their stock of regional food. And the catering sector is being challenged to think 'Beyond the chicken nugget' and to place healthy, seasonal food for children on their menus. or further information about British Food Fortnight: tel: 020 7840 9292 or email: info@britishfoodfortnight.co.uk.
Foreign Product Labelling Schemes
Environmental standards are becoming more important to consumers, which in turn stimulates producers to 'add value' to their products at point of production. The Countryside Agency, under its 'Eat the View' initiative has looked at European and North American product marketing, labelling and accreditation schemes and how they might help similar initiatives in the UK. The research found that these product marketing, labelling and accreditation (PMLA) schemes offer more advantages than disadvantages, though not all the PMLA initiatives among the many hundreds in place included environmental benefits. See the Research section of this website for the full report.
Local Food: A Snapshot of the Sector
The Countryside Agency's Eat the View team has made a major contribution to work investigating the local food sector. In summer 2002, during its work towards the Strategy for Sustainable Food and Farming, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) realised that there was a need to look at the issues associated with 'local food' in its broadest sense. A cross-departmental Working Group on Local Food was established with members from Defra, The Department of Health, The Countryside Agency and The Food Standards Agency. The Working Group on Local Food considered the evidence relating to the impacts of local food initiatives and the wider issues related to local food, in order to help inform government policy. The Working Group sought to review all the available evidence and to gather as many views from stakeholders, including making visits to see examples of the local food sector in all the administrative regions of England.
Think before you buy
Nearly twice as many people are finding out how and where their food is produced compared to a year ago. This is one of the main findings from new research for the Countryside Agency’s Eat the View initiative, which works to help consumers understand the links between what they buy, how it is produced and the countryside they love. Other findings from the research, carried out by IGD, show:
- self-interest is the main driver of consumers’ purchasing decisions;
- people buy local food because it is fresh and to support local farmers;
- farmers’ markets are increasingly popular because they provide quality, local produce;
- while many consumers claim the English countryside is important to them, only a few make the links between food and the countryside when purchasing food.
For the full report, Consumer Attitudes to Eat the View, see the Research section of this website.
New local sourcing guide
HRH The Prince of Wales has launched a new guide for small businesses looking to work with large food retailers and foodservice or catering companies. The free guide is the latest part of a joint initiative between Business in the Community and food and grocery industry think tank IGD, which started in 2001 with the launch of the Guide to Local Sourcing, to raise the profile of the issue of local sourcing. It also forms part of Business in the Community's Rural Action campaign.
