Britain’s food and farming industry is a powerhouse of our economy. It contributes £100 billion each year, employs 1 in 8 people, and has huge potential to deliver further jobs and growth.
Earlier this year the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) was granted powers to fine UK supermarkets breaching the Groceries Code. As the Code was intended to protect food producers from unfair practices by major supermarkets, I welcome the enhanced powers of the GCA, and believe that it offers a robust approach to ensuring greater transparency and fairness in the supply chain.
Regarding the report by Dr Peter Bonfield, ‘A Plan for Public Procurement’, published last year, this set out standards which the public sector and suppliers are encouraged to follow when buying food and catering services, which would make a further £400 million of business available for the food and farming industry. From 2017, all of central government will commit to buying fresh, locally sourced, seasonal food so that all food that can be bought locally will be.
On food labelling, from April this year, pork, lamb, and poultry products have to show the country where the animal was reared and slaughtered on the label. The Government is also pushing the EU Commission to make country of origin labelling mandatory for dairy products.
By Patrick McLoughlin on October 15, 2015