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Yorkshire councils accused over food imports
ONE of Yorkshire's most rural local authorities is importing its food from abroad rather than use local suppliers, while other councils do not even know where the food they buy comes from, the Yorkshire Post can reveal.
North Yorkshire County Council, which covers vast tracts of the Yorkshire Dales, Wolds and North York Moors, is importing half of its pork, a quarter of its poultry and a 16 per cent of its beef rather than use neighbouring farms for its internal use.
The results, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, showed that four councils did not store information on the provenance of food they used while others continued to import high volumes of meat from abroad.
Sheffield City Council claimed to source 90 per cent of its food from British farms while Leeds claimed 83 per cent. Local authorities in Hull, Ryedale and Bradford boasted 78 per cent, 80 per cent and 65 per cent in total in terms of how much of their food was British – although 100 per cent of Bradford Council's meat was from UK farms.
However, authorities in Calderdale, East Riding, Doncaster and Wakefield said they did not store information on where their food came from, many saying it was not a factor in negotiations with would-be suppliers.
The regional director of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), Dorothy Fairburn, described the results as "disappointing" and said councils should back up their support for the nation's farmers and the local economy with action, not words.
She said: "The results from North Yorkshire are deeply disappointing given the great importance of agriculture to the county. They are made worse by comparison with some of the more urban councils who have made a much greater effort to source locally produced food wherever possible.
"Consumers are showing much more interest in where their food comes from and how it is produced; it is time the public sector caught up."
The CLA runs a Just Ask campaign which encourages consumers to ask retailers, restaurateurs, suppliers and others where their food comes from when buying it.
In June the Yorkshire Post revealed that Government departments spent 60m on foreign food last year and 30 per cent of all their produce came from outside the country.
A spokeswoman for North Yorkshire County Council said: "As with its school meals service, North Yorkshire County Council intends that food served to its staff is as locally sourced as possible.
"For example, 60 per cent of all meat and poultry used in school dinners by North Yorkshire County Caterers is sourced from within the county boundary, 90 per cent from the region and all from the North of England.
"Fifty per cent of all fruit and vegetables are also sourced from within the region and there are plans to increase this percentage in the years to come."
East Riding Council said it did not ask for this level of information from suppliers but that it was being looked at for future contracts, while a spokesman for Wakefield Council said: "Although we cannot specify the exact amount of local produce used, we do encourage all our suppliers to source locally where ever possible."
Doncaster Council said it used British companies for its food supplies but could give no guarantees over whether the food it provided was British.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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