FOOD ADDITIVES by Guy Watson

A combination of cola and certain orange processed foods make my youngest son quite uncontrollable. It can be entertaining for a few minutes but I would hate to have to deal with him in a classroom. Mostly he is deprived of the junk he craves by a puritanical father but I sometimes relent at the cinema with the result that he once had to be physically restrained in the aisle half way through Lord of the Rings. The Food Standards Agency deserves some credit for sponsoring Southampton University to do the research that confirms beyond doubt what many parents and teachers have known for decades; certain additives in highly processed foods send certain children up the wall. Perhaps more disturbing is the finding that these foods can cause a “deterioration in behaviour in the general population”.
How can it be ok to knowingly feed our children unnecessary colourings and preservatives that radically alter their behaviour? How can we be expected to trust our government and its regulating authority the FSA when, after consultation with the food and drink industry but no one else, it refuses to act on its own research? Why has it taken thirty years for science to “prove” what many parents know from their own living experiment of raising children? Isn’t it an abdication of governmental responsibility to suggest that we make our judgements based on labels read by few and intelligible to even fewer?
Very few issues are so black and white and call so unambiguously for government action, NOW. It is all too reminiscent of tobacco and cancer, asbestos and asbestosis, BSE and CJD and more recently the continuing abuse of antibiotics in agriculture, the rise of MRSA and general antibiotic resistance. Commercial interests, protected by cynical PR and intense lobbying, have built expertise at delaying legislative action so that a profit stream can be maintained for a few more years. There is no doubt that these additives will be banned but when the evidence is so clear why does it have to be such a painstaking process, subject to delay at every turn? The FSA was set up after a collapse in public confidence in the old Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food after BSE. It was supposed to be independent of commercial interests. The problem seems to be that the name might have changed but the spineless nature of the bureaucrats hasn’t.

BATTLE IN THE SKIES

We all know that air travel is the fastest-growing source of carbon emissions, so should the Soil Association try and discourage bringing organic vegetables to the uk by air? Or even refuse to grant anything air freighted organic status? If so, what about the African farmers just starting to make a living selling the organic green beans flown in to the UK?

At Riverford we have never air freighted anything, but we know it’s a complex issue and there’s an interesting consultation document on the Soil Association website

As Anna Bradley, Chair of the Soil Association Standards Board says: “as awareness of climate change has grown, concerns have been raised about the damage caused to the environment by air freight.

However, when reducing our impact on the world’s climate, we must carefully consider the social and economic benefits of air freight for international development and growth of the organic market as a whole.”

IS ANTIBIOTIC OVER-USE CAUSING MRSA IN FARM ANIMALS?

There’s a rather scary podcast on the Soil Association website about how intensively-farmed animals are devoloping a form of MRSA, which is spreading like “wildfire” in Europe and transferring to humans.

In Dutch hospitals a terrifying 25 per cent of all MRSA cases are now caused by the farm-animal strain, and farmers are no longer permitted in general wards without prior screening.

Scientists are blaming the over-use of antibiotics for creating the drug-resistant strain, and an almost untreatable form of e-coli, which means death for 30 per cent of people who contract it.

All of which makes a powerful case for organic farming!

THE UKTV FOOD HERO AWARDS

UKTV Food Local Hero Awards are a tribute to Britain’s independent food producers. The winner will feature in a TV programme presented by the chef Gary Rhodes. There are a lot of worthy finalists, so please support your local food hero and vote with a click here:

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

The tiny leek seedlings we are out planting now will mean many tasty soups and stir-fries for you over the autumn and winter months ahead.

FINALLY!

Can it be a coincidence? Spookily, just as Rhiannon’s song ‘Umbrella’ gets knocked off the number one spot after nine weeks, suddenly the weather gets better… Who knows?

On the farm we’re certainly making the most of the change and are out planting and harvesting everything as fast as we can. Most of the winter crops are in now - so the boxes should be well supplied for the coming months - and apart from runner beans, most of the summer crops have survived ok.

THE LAND CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE

Amongst all the debate and discussion of the recent floods, there was an interesting piece in the Sunday Times pointing the finger at the unusually heavy rains - of course - but also at the way we treat our landscape.

“In our rush for cut-price diets we have created a wipe-down agricultural landscape empty of hedges and trees,” writes Richard Girling. “Where, for convenience, land is too often ploughed in the direction of the slope rather than across it. Instead of retaining water, every furrow becomes a channel that sluices it downhill.”

Girling’s call for us to think seriously about working with the landscape, rather than trying to impose our concrete will upon it, has much in common with the approach of organic farmers, who work with nature rather than against it, and it’s a compelling argument.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Boys from Landsgrove primary school dig up spuds from their patch on Riverford farm - will they make chips?

GROWING KIDS

Here at Riverford we’ve been cooking the school dinners for a local primary school since 2005, but last year we thought it would be fun to give the kids a patch of land on the farm to grow their own vegetables to put in the meals.

The results were a huge success. The children grew onions, potatoes, tomatoes and many other crops that they had chosen themselves. All the year groups got involved.

We recently had a little harvest festival so the children could show their parents what they had been up to - and you can see the results here!

CAN YOU REALLY BUY GREEN?

The debate is really hotting up about ‘green’ consumerism.

George Monbiot wrote a piece in the Guardian recently arguing that buying green is not good enough, we should be buying less, and ‘ethical’ options are becoming just another way of showing how rich you are. Now the chief executive of the National Consumer Council, Ed Mayo, has written a piece in response saying that buying green does make a difference.

Presumably the sensible middle ground is to buy less rubbish, and make sure the stuff you need - like food - is sourced as ethically as possible? Besides, it doesn’t even have to be more expensive. A Riverford box is ususally cheaper than supermarket organic food, and compares very favourably with their non-organic produce.