Robert Sturdy praises Jamie Oliver
ROBERT STURDY PRAISES JAMIE OLIVER
I would like to congratulate Jamie Oliver for his insightful Channel 4 programme “Jamie Saves Our Bacon” on pork production which highlighted the unacceptable anomalies surrounding food labelling. I know this is an issue which causes much confusion for consumers and is one I feel passionate about.
As an international trade spokesman for the European Parliament, I have actively been involved in trying to change the law so consumers are fully informed about the food they are buying. The present labelling system is often misleading and the British publish may not be aware of what they are putting in their shopping basket.
I have been very much involved with highlighting this on a global level as I co-chair the Inter-Parliamentary Word Trade Organisation Committee which has been pushing not only for country of origin, but also for region of origin in some cases, with some success. For example, a leg of lamb could state it came from Wales and turkey from Norfolk, both regions highly acclaimed for this meat and poultry. We successfully persuaded the Canadians to agree to new food labelling laws, but then the WTO Doha negotiations fell down and our progress has stalled, but I am continuing to do all I can to maintain pressure on this important topic.
If ever we needed proof to justify a reason for clear and transparent labelling, then we should think back to last December when Ireland had a major food scare and there was a recall of all domestically produced pork products because of contamination with cancer-causing dioxin. It found it was unable to trace which pork products on supermarket shelves were produced in Ireland, in the EU or imported and processed in the EU. Food producers should have nothing to hide in what they are selling and where it has been sourced.
