The big question

The big question

Consumers are getting cannier about the food they see on offer, so the questions thrown into the ring at the annual City Food Lecture, sponsored by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), were of interest to all those attending.

Delegates ranged from retailers, food producers, scientists and nutritionists to consumer organisations, farmers and academic bodies. Also attending were the hosts - City livery companies representing farmers, cooks, poulterers, fishmongers, fruiterers, butchers and bakers.

Issues that were raised included: are we about to experience a revolution in our food culture? Are consumers suspicious of 'hidden, mysterious additives' in food? Is organic more unhealthy than conventional food? Are people buying organic because of a giant 'con-trick'?

The lecture entitled: Food and values - the organic future, was given by Peter Melchett, policy director of the Soil Association, and in his speech he said: "We're at the beginning of major changes in our food culture which will, in turn, lead to profound changes in British farming."

Research has shown that people have a deep underlying unease about modern farming and food processing, he said. "People are suspicious because they feel that much of what is done in producing food is done in secret, from the dark interior of the battery house through hidden or mysterious additives to misleading packaging. People aren't stupid."

Over the past decade there's been a huge shift in UK public policy on food and farming, he said.

"The post-war policy of cheap and plentiful food has landed us with a cheap and unhealthy diet, and a crisis of obesity and ill health. Real changes are taking place in our food culture, and these are increasingly reflected in the marketplace. While people still largely buy on price, they actually value the quality and taste of food above price.

"The rise in retail sales of organic have hit the headlines, but the growth in local and direct sales of organic food are more dramatic and may be more significant in the long run.

"The FSA is responding to this value shift by committing to integrate sustainability advice with the nutritional advice it gives to the public, and I welcome this."

It was wrong to assume that opposition to pesticides, routine use of antibiotics, or to GM, "reflects any sort of opposition to science", he added.

"I think this new phase in our food culture will be informed by public experience, particularly of the mistakes we've made over the last half century.

"Those mistakes include sudden and unexpected outbreaks of disease, like mad cow disease, as well as the slow discovery of long term but dramatic changes like the decline in farmland birds and other wildlife, or the decline in the vitamin and nutrient content of our food.

"Second, this new phase will be informed by the changes in public values I've already discussed. Third, it will be informed by science and particularly by the need to respond to the science of climate change.

"If we move towards fresh, wholesome food and tackle climate change, then it's clear what direction food and farming must take. The future of UK food is seasonal, fresh and local, produced by organic farms to minimise greenhouse gas emissions.

"We are seeing the start of a revolution in our food culture and farming practice. We don't need to wait for governments or companies to make these changes. All of us decide what we eat, so all of us can make a difference."

Points of view

Questions about organic were put to a panel of experts that included chair of the School Food Trust Prue Leith, professor of food policy at City University Tim Lang, chair of the John Lewis Partnership Sir Stuart Hampson and chief executive of dairy group Arla Foods UK Tim Smith.

Leith said she was unconvinced by the arguments that organic food was nutritionally better or that it tastes better. "Organic food may well taste better, simply because from plough to plate is a shorter distance. If you pull a carrot straight out of the ground, it does taste very different from the carrot you get five or 10 days later."

Meanwhile Lang felt the evidence about organics is much stronger on the environmental and sustainability issues than it is on the public health issues.

He said: "When I turn to organics, I see organics actually selling an awful lot of fat, and I would like to see organics making a commitment to really address the public health agenda ..."

Geoffrey Hollis, a former civil servant in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food, said the reason that people buy organic food is that they have been persudaded of benefits that don't exist.

"Consumers are buying organic food on a false premise and, in my view, it's more akin to a confidence trick."

Professor MacGregor from St George's Hospital in London said: "Most members of the public think that organic food is more healthy, and yet there is not a scrap of evidence to suggest that's true. What kills us in fact in the UK are strokes, heart attacks and cancer, and they are largely due to eating too many calories, too much fat, too little fruit and vegetables and too much salt.

"In surveys we've done of organic food there's just as much salt if not more salt in those products and often more saturated fat."

Guy Smith, a non-organic farmer, expressed concern at the possibility if subjective consumer concerns were to be taken into account unduly when considering food safety. He asked: "Where is the Food Standards Agency going to go if science is not going to be the only arbiter?"

FSA chair Deirdre Hutton emphasised that the agency would "continue as always to base what we do on good science and we are very well equipped to do that".

Tom Copas from the Worshipful Company of Farmers said that the organic movement had taught farmers one thing - that there are people who will pay more for food because it's the most expensive. He said that he had this year produced a small crop of organic turkeys and was able to sell them for a lot more money.

Farmer John De Ramsey said that "cynical slagging off of GM technology by [the Soil Association] is more a marketing ploy for organic than it is criticising GM technology. The future of subsistence sub-Saharan farmers and the well being of their communities will include - it won't rely on totally - but it will include GM technology".

- FSA chief scientist Dr Andrew Wadge talks about the City Food Lecture in his blog posting on organics. Although the event is now over, you can join in the ongoing debate on www.food.gov.uk/scienceblog

Text Sheila Eggleston Photography Macphie, M&J Seafood, Young's