Today's News

19 November 2012

 "The government must introduce mandatory higher animal welfare standards for all hospital food in England to improve its quality and taste, and guarantee that it is produced from animals living happy lives."
Alex Jackson, coordinator of the Campaign for Better Hospital Food, Farmers Weekly, 15 November 2012

Campaign to ban fluoroquinolones in poultry
Industry bodies have hit out at a pressure group after it called for a ban on an antibiotic used in poultry production, claiming it risks human health.
Farmers Weekly (16 Nov)
Listen to Soil Association Policy Advisor Richard Young discuss the issue
BBC World service, listen again 13:47 – 18:24 (16 Nov)

Hospital food welfare standards 'shocking'
Meat and eggs served in English hospitals do not meet animal welfare standards expected by the public, research shows.
Farmers Weekly (15 Nov)
Find out about the Soil Association’s work to improve hospital food

Britain in nutrition recession as food prices rise and incomes shrink
Austerity Britain is experiencing a nutritional recession, with rising food prices and shrinking incomes driving up consumption of fatty foods, reducing the amount of fruit and vegetables we buy, and condeming people on the lowest incomes to an increasingly unhealthy diet.
The Guardian (18 Nov)

Rat population will rocket if pest poisons are restricted, experts fear
Plans to restrict the use of powerful pest poisons will result in a large rise in the UK's rat population, according to environmental health experts.
The Guardian (18 Nov)

Schoolchildren celebrate with locally sourced roast dinner
Children celebrated the Food for Life Partnership Roast Dinner Day this week.
Wilmslow.co.uk (16 Nov)
Flagship for healthy eating
Mags4dorset (16 Nov)
Specialist Manager Award
Educatering (1 Nov)
Find out about the Soil Association’s work to improve school dinners

Ten Year Ban on Genetically Modified Seeds and Foods Takes Force Thursday
A 10-year ban on genetically modified foods in Peru came into effect this week, state news agency Andina reported.
Peruvian Times (17 Nov)

Corporate Giant Comes Out Against GMOs
Kaiser Permanente, the largest managed healthcare organization in the United States, has advised its members against GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in food.
Willamette Live (16 Nov)

Back to Basics
Blogger for Hartley Farm gives his report of the Soil Symposium. “Phew, I’m pooped: just got back from a two-day Soil Symposium, put on by the Soil Association, and held at Coventry’s Transport Museum.”
Grow Green @ Hartley Farm (16 Nov)

Recession’s impact on food shoppers
Price, quality and taste - in that order - remain the priorities for food shoppers.
Farmers Guardian (16 Nov)

Poultry processors treat workers better
The treatment of both British and migrant agency workers in the meat and poultry processing industry has improved markedly in the past two years, according to a report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Farmers Weekly (15 Nov)

National Poultry Show - in pictures
Thousands of people have attended the Poultry Club's 2012 national show. The club, founded in 1877, was established to safeguard all pure and traditional breeds of poultry, including chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys
The Guardian (18 Nov)

Farming Today
The dramatic decline in the UK bird population. This year's poor wheat harvest has led Ensus - a UK based biofuels refinery - to import maize from Europe to meet the shortfall. And Polly Proctor experiences the challenges facing vegetable growers during harvest. At an organic farm in Staffordshire where weeds and mud have meant leeks and beet are being left to rot in the field.
BBC Radio 4, listen again (19 Nov)

And finally… The penguins that have stayed faithful for 16 years
A pair of Magellanic penguins have remained faithful to each other for 16 years, according to researchers who have been monitoring the birds and have shown they can travel up to 10,000 miles a year in their search for food and love.
The Telegraph (18 Nov)