The Savvy Shopper
All You Need to Know About the Food you Buy
Rose Prince

For Jack and Lara

Table of Contents

Cover Page

Title Page

INTRODUCTION

FOOD’S BIG ISSUES

HOW TO SHOP FOR BRITISH FOOD IN SEASON

SEASONAL CHART

APPLES

ASPARAGUS

BABY FOOD AND INFANT FORMULA

BACON (AND PORK)

BANANAS

BEEF

BISCUITS

BREAD

BREAKFAST CEREAL

BROCCOLI (AND OTHER BRASSICAS)

BURGERS

BUTTER AND SPREADS

CANNED VEGETABLES AND FRUIT

CHEDDAR CHEESE

CHERRIES

CHICKEN (AND OTHER POULTRY)

CHOCOLATE

COD

COFFEE

CRAB AND LOBSTER

CREAM

CURED PORK

DRESSINGS

DRIED FRUIT

EGGS

FLOUR

FRENCH BEANS (AND OTHER FRESH BEANS)

FRUIT JUICE

HERBS

HONEY

ICE CREAM

LAMB

LARD AND DRIPPING

LETTUCE AND SALAD LEAVES

LONG GRAIN RICE

LUNCHBOX FOODS

MAYONNAISE

MILK

MUSTARD

NOODLES

NUTS

OLIVE OIL

ORANGES (AND OTHER CITRUS FRUIT)

OYSTERS, MUSSELS, SCALLOPS (AND OTHER BIVALVES)

PASTA

PEAS

PHEASANT (AND OTHER GAME)

PORK PIES

POTATO CRISPS

POTATOES AND OVEN CHIPS

PRAWNS

PULSES

READY MEALS

RISOTTO RICE

SALMON

SALT

SAUSAGES

SOFT DRINKS

SOY SAUCE

SPICES

STOCK

STRAWBERRIES

SUGAR

SUSHI

TEA

TOFU

TOMATO KETCHUP

TOMATOES

TROUT

TUNA

TURKEY (AND GOOSE)

VEGETABLE OILS

WATER (BOTTLED)

YOGHURT

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Also by Rose Prince

Copyright

About the Publisher

INTRODUCTION

The Savvy Shopper column first appeared in the Daily Telegraph’s Weekend section in October 2004. Its aim was to provide a guide not only to feeling good about the food we buy, but to also help find the food that gives the most sensory pleasure – that rare thing, a guiltfree shopping trip. The philosophy was rooted in ethical shopping, and the timing for the first column was perfect. Words and phrases like ‘organic’, ‘Fairtrade’, ‘welfare-friendly’ and ‘food miles’ were on our consciences, but there was no existing detailed guide tying food issues to a shopping directory.

The first Savvy Shopper article featured apples and must have touched a nerve. The letters began to pour in – concerned, intrigued, frustrated and curious. It was obvious that there is an army of discerning food shoppers in this country whose quest is to buy food with peace of mind and a clear conscience but also to enjoy great flavours, aromas and textures. A year and a half later, the column has developed a huge and enthusiastic following and, as so many correspondents admitted to cutting out and keeping the page, it seemed crazy not to collect it all into a book, expanding, updating and adding new suppliers and foods. Shoppers need an at-a-glance guidebook to chuck into the car, bag or pushchair when setting out to shop. And since many of the listed suppliers are also able to offer home delivery, it’s one to keep by the telephone or laptop, too.

But savvy shopping doesn’t just begin and end in your own kitchen – it has a wider influence, too. The food industry (the producers, manufacturers and retailers) has one objective: to please you. Over the eighteen months since the Savvy Shopper was born, the food industry’s bigger businesses have made some remarkable policy changes. One supermarket chain has pledged to source fish more responsibly, another has promised to remove (most) artificial additives from its ready meal range and a potato crisp giant has promised to fry in ‘healthier’ oil. As I write, mission statements are popping up all over the place. Media exposure has a great impact on food issues, it’s true, but the greatest impact on the food industry will come from us – the willing shoppers who want, and increasingly demand, to eat excellent, ethically produced food that tastes good.

FOOD’S BIG ISSUES
Food’s big issues (what on earth do they mean?)

Food miles, genetic modification, pesticide residues, vCJD, GM terminator seeds, hydrogenated fats, interesterification, transfats, stalls and tethers, specified risk material, formed meats, cheese food, modified maize starch, hormone disruptors, irradiation, mechanically recovered meats, broiler houses, batteries, FADS, aquaculture, nature identical flavourings, stabilisers, emulsifiers and over 40 colourings, many of them artificial…

A warm welcome to the food industry, and all the wiles and ways it employs to reap the most at the least cost. The words above have a connection to your kitchen. You probably bought something today that relates to at least one of them. We hear phrases like GM and food miles bandied about, but what do they really mean?

Food miles

Food miles relate to the total distance that each food travels from field or factory to our shops, and the impact they have on our environment depends on the method of transport: sea, road or air freight.

Transporting food is inefficient and depletes our supply of fossil fuels – we use more energy to transport an asparagus spear from Peru than it can give us in calories. Air freight is the least efficient, road is next; sea freight is the most economic in fuel terms.

The food that causes the greatest concern is that which travels the longest distance using the most fuel – so air-freighted Thai basil is more of a problem than sea-freighted frozen New Zealand lamb, especially as it has little nutritional importance in comparison to meat. The frustrating aspect of this for environmentalists is that both these foods can be produced in the UK; there is no real need to import them.

With year-round availability destroying seasonal eating, food miles ruin the pleasures of our gluts. Food miles, incidentally, negate the planet-saving intentions of organic farming; organic is best when it is local.

Food mile issues are not straightforward, however. While there is really no excuse for the midwinter airdrop of strawberries, a case can be made for importing nutritionally important, non-air-freighted foods that we cannot grow ourselves, such as bananas and citrus fruits. But then what about the poor African region whose economy boomed with the ability to fly green beans to the UK? If it is true that their water supply is protected, pesticide use controlled and their children are receiving an education, shouldn’t they join in the global market fun? Surely their good fortune is worth the waft of kerosene. It’s tricky stuff. Me? I eat the odd Kenyan bean, but it is not a dish for every day.

There is no question that long-distance transport has an impact on food’s simple delights. Prospecting for the lucre that can be made by sending fruit to distinctly unsunny nations like ours has the plant breeders create strains of fruit that look good yet have no squelch.

And food miles can be cruel. Livestock are still transported long distances all over Europe. In spite of rules and guidelines regarding water supply, rough handling and resting time, their suffering remains shameful.

Local food

If organic has created the biggest buzz in food over the last five years, ‘local food’ will be seen as the latest remedy to treat the ills of the food supply chain. Local means traceable, which in turn means easy access for consumers to information about what they buy. Local means short journeys, so that’s good for fuel consumption. Local means the freshest food. Local is welfare friendly – livestock are notoriously stressed by long road journeys.

Local means less dependence on a centralised food supply. So when the food chain is hit by a crisis, such as foot and mouth or another animal disease, the movement of food around the UK is minimal and easier to track.

A culture of local marketing boosts local economies. According to the New Economics Foundation (NEF), every £10 spent with a local food business, employing local people and buying ingredients locally, generates £25 for the local economy, compared with just £14 spent with a non-local food business. The NEF, among other environmental organisations, believes that if the major supermarket chains adopted local buying policies it would save the future of farming and fishing in the UK.

Local is good for regional identity, and for society. How much more distinctive for roadside cafés and motorway service stations to offer each region’s favourite pie, gooey cake, curry or apple juice? Motorway meals would for once be worth some discussion, some analysis – you can’t exactly discuss the excitement of finding yet another KFC meal deal while travelling, or yet another reheated sausage roll and can of Coke. Regional distinctiveness is also good for tourism – so that’s more cash in the tin.

Local can fall flat on its face in big cities especially, where hectic lifestyles can distract from ethical shopping, and enormous rents prevent all but the richest food chains getting a look-in on high streets – or staying on them if they are already there. But the success of farmers’ markets and food co-operatives speaks for itself, and the concept of local food is an earnest but not unusual subject for city shoppers frustrated by the dullness of food shopping.

Genetic modification (GM)

A war of technology against tradition, and public will. The majority of British consumers continue to reject the idea of genetically modified foods being sold in our shops. Supporters of genetic modification say it will remove the ills of pesticide use and create better-functioning foods that can feed greater populations. GM’s detractors say the technology is not properly tested and its health impact not thoroughly monitored (some approved GM crops such as maize and soya are in use outside Europe). They also question the long-term benefits of GM as the answer to world food shortages, and whether it can bring the promised wealth so desperately needed by farmers in poorer countries or simply make a few seed-manufacturing biotech companies rich beyond their dreams. Opponents to GM suspect that the development of terminator seeds, plants modified so their seeds cannot be used after flowering, is also a ruse to make money and will never bring wealth to the farmers that grow them.

The functional aspects of GM foods remain uncertain. For example, one biotech company’s early promises to bring vitamin-enriched ‘golden’ rice to India (for free) have yet to take off.

While the pro-GM sector fights anti-GM voices, GM ‘contamination’ is spreading anyway. It is now hard for UK farmers to avoid giving GM feed to animals unless they are in an organic system that polices the source of feed or a traditional system in which all food for livestock is produced only by the farm. (It is argued that because feed passes through an animal, only nutrients are absorbed and not genetic material, but opponents to GM say that there is some evidence of GM DNA material remaining and passing through the gut of animals. They add that testing the effects of GM feed is not adequate, and that labels should indicate when livestock have been given GM feed.) In the case of crops, GM trials can let seeds ‘loose’ on the environment and it is known that bees can carry pollen from a GM crop trial on to a conventional crop for some unofficial crossbreeding. It is also a fact that the organic sector would be damaged, if not destroyed, by the arrival of GM in the UK. After a time, it would be impossible for them to guarantee their food as GM free.

GM has an image problem. Few of us are at ease with the concept of enormous salmon, growing so fast you can almost watch them do it; moreover we fear the unconventional combinations of human with animal or animal with plant genes. But what consumers and environment groups are most fed up with is the arrogance of GM big business. The swagger of the biotech firms and their closeness to those in power is disturbing. Their apparent refusal to listen to the arguments against them, painting their detractors as muck-spreading hippies, provokes cries that they will eventually get their way and permission will be given for genetic modification to come into general use.

As it stands in the UK, seven plants that could be used in animal feed have Part C approvals from the EU, meaning that they are licensed to be sold. Two of these are herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant maize varieties (made by the biotech firm Syngenta); two are herbicide-tolerant maizes (made by Bayer and Monsanto); there is an insect-resistant maize and a herbicide-tolerant soya bean (both made by Monsanto) and finally a herbicide-tolerant oilseed rape (made by Bayer). Three of the maize crops are licensed for cultivation in the EU, although none has yet been grown here. A larger number of GM crops are licensed to be grown outside the EU, in North and South America, South Africa, China, India and other parts of the Far East.

The US Department of Agriculture estimates that 46 per cent of the US maize crop and 93 per cent of the soya bean crop is genetically modified., More than 98 per cent of soya and 55 per cent of maize grown in Argentina is GM.

But can you tell if food is GM or has GM ingredients? In 2004 the EU established new rules for GM labelling: any food sold in the EU that is genetically modified or contains GMOs (genetically modified organisms) must carry this information on the label (or immediately next to non-packaged food). The presence of GM ingredients in ready-made foods (e.g. flour, oil, glucose syrup) must be shown on labels, but products made using GM technology (cheese produced with GM enzymes, for example) do not have to be labelled. Meat, milk and eggs from animals given GM feed also do not need to be labelled. Food that accidentally contains less than 0.9 per cent approved (by the EU) GM ingredients or 0.5 per cent non-approved GM ingredients need not be labelled. You can see why detractors of GM insist that gradual GM contamination of our food is taking place.

In January 2006 the organic sector reacted with horror when the EU announced plans to allow food to be labelled organic even when it contains 0.9 per cent of GM ingredients. The Soil Association says that any more than 0.1 per cent is unacceptable. They and the other environmental organisations are now campaigning against the EU plans.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) tests GM foods on a case-by-case basis, deciding whether to permit them to be sold in Europe after public consultation and referring to the various relevant food safety and agricultural authorities in member states. In the UK this means the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Both the FSA and DEFRA have not exactly spoken out against GM, so it is no wonder its opponents are concerned. Shoppers are quite justified in opposing GM. To take part in public consultations regarding the licensing of GM crops, keep an eye on the EFSA website, www.efsa.eu.int.

Pesticides and other chemicals

For descriptive ease, I have used the word pesticide in this book as a cover-all term for agricultural chemicals, which include weed killers (herbicides) and fungicides.

In September 2004 the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) issued a serious warning about the effects of pesticides and our government’s failure to tackle the issue. The RCEP report covered health risks to bystanders and residents exposed to the use of pesticides on land near their homes. Its recommendations included a re-think of how risk itself is measured, making it clear that current risk assessment is inadequate. The lobby against pesticides is understandably elated at the report, but its concerns about pesticides are much wider. It alludes to the dangers farmers all over the world face when handling pesticides, the pollution of the environment, depletion of the ozone layer and the long-term effects of hormone- and endocrine-disrupting chemicals on human and animal reproductive systems.

In 2005 agricultural chemical watchdog, the Pesticides Action Network UK (PAN UK), published the List of Lists, detailing all the hundreds of dangerous pesticides in use around the world and how they can affect us. This list, which is too long to be included here, can be obtained from PAN UK, www.pan-uk.org. Thanks to the campaigns of environmental organisations including PAN UK, various worldwide conventions on pesticide use have ruled that many on the list (including the better-known poisons, DDT and lindane) can now be used only with prior consent between the importing/exporting countries. However, three on the list, namely aldicarb, DBCP and paraquat are not yet internationally regulated.

In the UK the government-backed Pesticide Residues Committee tests samples of food from various groups four times a year, and publishes the findings on the internet. For each pesticide it has established a Maximum Residue Level (MRL) to enable it to measure the safe use of pesticides. Council-funded local trading standards offices also test for pesticides. Anti-pesticide voices claim that MRLs are not low enough and pesticide residues are found on far too many everyday fruits and vegetables. They also say that the ‘cocktail effect’ of multiple residues poses the real danger.

The Soil Association, which operates the most stringent standards in the UK organic farming sector, permits its members in special cases to use six agricultural chemicals on crops: copper, sulphur, rotenone, soft soap, paraffin oil and potassium permanganate. They may use pyrethroids in insect traps. Those that defend the use of pesticides as a whole will always leap on this fact when attacking organic standards to weaken the position of the organic sector. It is a slim argument, taking into account the 450 or more chemicals available to conventional farmers and the fact that each individual organic farmer must go through hell and high water to get permission to use one of the six on a crop. The Soil Association argues that the pesticides they permit are either of natural origin or simple chemical compounds compared to the complex chemicals used in conventional farming.

As far as savvy shoppers should be concerned, the traceability of organic food and its comparative freedom from residues is a standard to chase. Farmers who strive to reduce pesticide use and reintroduce wildlife to farms, like those signing up for the environmentally concerned farming scheme, LEAF, should be encouraged – if not quite celebrated. But while no ideal system is in wide use, buying seasonally and locally boosts trust and is good value for money. Viewed another way, it is easier to check up on the tomato grower down the road than the one in Brazil.

Organic versus conventional

Organic is a great standard, especially when a producer has Soil Association accreditation, the most stringent in Europe. But conventional can mean high standards, too. It depends on the producer, and that is why buying food is a confusing business. A farmer might produce food responsibly but prefer not to go through organic conversion, which can be an expensive investment.

The organic movement (specifically the Soil Association in the UK) was founded on the principle of the holistic benefits of ‘soil health’. It recognises a connection between human health and that of the soil. Organic crops grow in healthy soil fertilised with natural manures. Organically reared livestock are naturally fed on organically grown feed and standards of welfare are exceptionally high. But is this better than a responsible conventional farmer?

I have visited farms where enormous care is taken to prevent animal and plant disease through good husbandry, but which are not organic. They keep hedgerows, leave buffer zones between crops and hedges and, like organic farmers, will not spray unless absolutely necessary. I know farmers who care for their livestock, stock them loosely, give them proper shelter and plenty of water, and grow all their feed. Their animals are rarely ill or stressed and are totally traceable – but they are not organic. Some of the best cheeses, hams and even potato crisps in the UK are made by responsible, non-organic farmers.

Other conventional farmers blindly use every pesticide available to them, intensively rear animals in cruel systems and think only of the margins at the end of the day. The problem is that both types of conventional farmer dislike being put down as a bad farmer, even though only one has some justification in feeling this way. So organic standards get attacked – particularly, to my amazement, by the authorities. The Food Standards Agency, of all people, does not accept that the organic standard is one to strive for.

For shoppers, the problem is not how to choose organic food – if it has a Soil Association or other British organic logo, you can more or less rest assured – the real task is picking good conventional food out from the bad.

Organic always costs more. This is related to higher labour costs, slower growth rate of both livestock and plants, lower yields and the higher cost of ingredients in naturally processed foods. The only time I am wary of the pricing is when farm-gate prices of organic food match that of the same food in London shops. Sales at the farm gate should be cheaper than those that have gone through any middle man.

Animal welfare and disease

Animal welfare and disease should be grouped together because the latter is often a consequence of low standards in the former. Good animal welfare practice should include:

• Natural feed with a low protein content for slow growth, plus plenty of forage.

• Room to move – what is known in the business as low stocking density.

• Free access to outdoors in daylight.

• Good deep bedding, preferably straw.

• Access to plenty of water.

• Natural lighting.

• Freedom to behave naturally.

• No long road journeys.

• Low stress at slaughter, a rest beforehand and low noise levels.

The majority of farm animals never know a stress-free existence like this. As you will find out in this book, pig and poultry farms are especially intensive. With low stress, the incidence of disease is minimal. Viruses and bacteria spread in intensive rearing systems, and trucking livestock around the country does not help – as proven by the 2001 foot and mouth epidemic.

Eating meat is a big deal, and much respect is due to an animal that has been reared for food. With the emphasis on plentiful and cheap – a mantra followed in food supply for the last 50 years – the welfare of animals has somehow become unimportant to those who eat them. We have picked up some nasty habits: eating only the fillets and prime cuts as if the rest of the animal did not exist; eating a burger or chicken breast a day for just a few pennies; but, worst of all, a lack of curiosity. No one asks, so nothing changes.

Over the last decade, much time has been invested in debating how a fox should be killed, yet the majority of chickens we eat eke out their wretched existence in a broiler house, in conditions that should shame meat eaters. And animal welfare is a problem for vegetarians, too. Milk and egg production still see some of the cruellest practice in the food business. Dairy cows can spend their entire lives being unable to graze, going through lactation after lactation with all the inherent health problems that such a system can create.

Just a few questions when shopping for meat will make an enormous difference. There is much that shoppers can and should ask butchers and retailers before they buy. That is how free-range eggs found their way into supermarkets.

Finally it is worth bearing in mind that British animal welfare standards, while not good enough in the intensive farming sector, are still a vast improvement on welfare standards in Europe and elsewhere.

Country of origin

When shopping, keep one labelling legal loophole to the front of your mind: if a food has been grown or reared in, say, Holland but packed or processed in the UK, it can call itself British. So a side of pork that is cured in Holland and then packed in Britain is British bacon. EU competition laws prevent the real truth coming out on the pack, but responsible shops will often stick a Union Jack or recognisable British mark on the pack. Having said that, plenty of imported meat slips into ready meals and is never labelled as such. This matters mainly because animal welfare systems are even worse abroad than here, and some practices are still legal in other countries – even in EU member states – when they are banned in the UK. Food manufacturers do not always have to state the country of origin for fresh or processed foods, except in the case of controversial foods such as beef. The rule of thumb is this: if the country of origin is not stated, the food is probably not British. This is particularly so with fresh fruit and vegetables. Apples are plastered with Union Jacks when British are in season: otherwise they tend to be sold just as ‘apples’.

The free market and fair trade

Love it or hate it, the Western world is more or less open to trade, although the term free trade is an interesting two-way street, with different rules in each carriageway. Whether free trade is right or wrong, one thing is certain: aspects of it are grossly unfair both to us and to exporting countries. We import what are, in our terms, cheap goods with abandon; the exporting countries pay through the nose to do so via export levies.

Aid agencies campaign for trade barriers to be lifted between the West and developing or ‘third’ countries as a cure for poverty. If barriers were lifted on both sides, however, all hell would break loose. Under our current system, the West could ‘get there first’, meaning it would flood the poorer countries’ food supply chains with dumped goods grown under our subsidy system – it already does to an extent – negating the developing countries’ need to grow their own. It would also move in and set up business for export, which would likely make the few, rather than the many, rich.

But if, as aid agencies want, the trade barrier is lifted to favour only the developing countries, then – in terms of food – we may find ourselves unwittingly buying goods made to a standard that would not be permitted in the UK. This is already happening, between the UK and other EU member states, which are permitted to use production methods denied to us for food safety and animal welfare reasons.

British farmers operate under the most stringent food production rules in the world, and yet we are importing food that could not legally be sold if it had been made here. Because the majority of shoppers buy purely on price, lifting trade barriers to allow more cheap imports could spell the end of British farming and food production. Close the free market? No, we would put an end to centuries of culinary curiosity.

This is a case for shoppers to be circumspect about what they buy – and when they buy it. The sensible choice is to support British food production where standards are higher, as with meat; buy into our gluts of fruits and vegetables when they are in – avoiding the cheaper Spanish equivalent sitting beside it; and always buy with a mind to support small food businesses.

The worldwide commodity exchange has been held responsible for some of the appalling poverty among farmers in the developing world. When oversupply pushes prices down, farmers fall quickly into debt. In 1992 the Fairtrade Foundation was formed by CAFOD, Christian Aid, Oxfam, New Consumer, Traidcraft and the World Development Movement. They were later joined by the Women’s Institute. The idea of fair trade is for retailers to deal directly with farmers’ co-operatives or producer groups, committing to a minimum price in spite of supply. The stories emerging about fairly traded foods are encouraging – a case where changing shopping habits has had a positive effect on the lives of Windward Island banana farmers, Rwandan coffee growers and Palestinian olive oil producers. Beware, however, the attempts currently being made by giant food conglomerates to jump on the Fairtrade bandwagon and gain certification for one product while they continue to trade less ethically with the producers of all their other foods.

It’s not wholly offensive to mention in the same breath that it would be nice if some fair trading went on at home. Dairy and other livestock farms will become extinct in the UK unless a fair price is paid for milk by the main dairies and the supermarkets that buy from them. If there were no livestock farms in the UK, we would end up with a landscape that was a mixture between a national park and a weed-infested wilderness, and a diet of 100 per cent imported meat.

The workforce and other people

When travelling around fruit and vegetable farms in the UK, it is impossible to miss the flexible workforce – the pickers and labourers without whom weeding and hand harvesting would be impossible. But it is also clear that the farms that are happy for a journalist to tour their premises and talk to their staff are unlikely to have much to be ashamed of. There are some excellent schemes for students, and in Jersey the relationship between the Madeira workers and the potato growers is good: living conditions are warm, in substantially built cottages, and the families earn enough from January to June to sustain their lives on the island of Madeira during the rest of the year.

But there are gangmasters who break every rule, exploiting the desperation of workers who want a life in Britain. They pay below the minimum wage and operate no limits to working hours. As a shopper, it is difficult to know who picked your carrots. Supermarkets say they try to keep track, but in practice this is hard to do. The new gangmaster laws that came in after the drowning of the cockle pickers at Morecambe Bay in 2004 are yet to be properly tested.

The tragic reality is that the children of today’s farmers are less and less likely to follow their parents into the business; indeed many are actively discouraged by their parents, and the workforce of the future is likely to be more and more made up of immigrant workers who will work for lower wages. The same workers are employed in processing plants and abattoirs, and as usual they are doing the filthy, tedious jobs. So we have a conundrum. We want to buy British, but buying British may encourage poor practice. If there is a solution, it is to seek out the vegetable box scheme or the farm that opens its doors to scrutiny. Food from such places will cost more, so it is a case of eating the cheaper-to-grow produce, choosing seasonally to get the best value from gluts, and perhaps deciding that pulses are going to play a greater part in your diet.

In exporting countries, the workforce question is also a serious matter, along with the wider impact of food production on populations. Poor monitoring of pesticide use is a much greater problem outside the UK and large numbers of people can be affected, including children – and child labour. Water supplies can be hijacked or polluted by unscrupulous industries; land is acquired from tribal populations who have only a few historical rights to it, their natural habitat subsequently flattened to make way for industrial farming. Information about such practice does filter back, however, and shoppers have a chance to boycott foods whose production causes people suffering.

Additives

Artificial additives do not turn up in food because shoppers need them but because the food industry needs them for economic reasons. While it is understandable that manufacturers should want to profit from their business, the liberal use of colourings, flavourings and preservatives has gone too far. Additives are in much of the food targeted at children. They warp the concept of natural taste, inducing ignorance of the real thing. They have been proven to alter behaviour, and some are known allergens.

Additives are divided into various categories. The largest groups are colours, preservatives, antioxidants, sweeteners, emulsifiers, gelling agents, stabilisers and thickeners. Then there is a smaller number each of acids, acidity regulators, anti-caking agents, anti-foaming agents, bulking agents, carriers and carrier solvents, emulsifying salts, firming agents, flavour enhancers, flour treatment agents, glazing agents, humectants, modified starches, packaging gases, propellants, raising agents and sequestrants.

The food industry is preoccupied with using appearance to attract customers, and also with the stability of food and its shelf life. It is unfair to blame only the manufacturers when retailers are after the same thing. Shoppers do not ask, however, for the plethora of innovations that appear on shelves on a daily basis. The food industry will always say it is supplying demand, identifying what shoppers want. I think this is rubbish. Supermarkets in particular have created a demand, identifying a weakness for novelty in bored supermarket shoppers (and especially their children), and have risen to it with some alarming imaginings. ‘Meal solutions’, they call them – but have you ever heard someone say, ‘What I really need is a Thai spiced shepherd’s pie topped with a feta cheese and ginger parsnip mash’?

Ready-made food can be great – if it is made with good-quality ingredients and nothing else. Even a sausage needs no more than salt as a preservative. However, it will have a shorter shelf life, and buying additive-free food means shopping more frequently – although I make good use of a small chest freezer for bread, sausages and baked things.

Additives are listed on labels, either in code as E numbers, with their industry name, or – if permitted – a common name. This can be confusing. For example, a label can show monosodium glutamate, flavour enhancer or E621 – these are all the same additive.

Manufacturers use different names for additives such as monosodium glutamate because they are controversial. Flavour enhancer sounds so great, don’t you think? The flavour of your food has been enhanced. Terrific, you think, just what it needs. But it doesn’t – or it wouldn’t if the manufacturers used ingredients with real flavour. A ready-meal maker’s greatest ambition is to put as much water and other cheap ingredients such as modified maize starch as possible into a recipe, and they get away with it by tipping in salt, flavourings, colour, gelling agents, stabilisers, emulsifiers, in fact anything that will hide the fact that these bulk ingredients have no texture or flavour.

The organic sector uses some additives, although nothing like as many as conventional manufacturers. Under the Soil Association’s standard, organic producers can use 30 additives (the EU permits 35) including gum fillers, emulsifiers, preservatives and one colour (annatto).

There is a gaping discrepancy between parents’ anecdotes about the effect of additives on their children and the constant reassurance from the industry that these additives are non-toxic. But the point is missed. The kind of reactions seen in children to certain colours, flavourings, sweeteners and preservatives are allergic reactions, and food additives are tested only for toxicity. In 2002 a government-sponsored study monitored 277 three-year-olds from the Isle of Wight for the effects of additives, which were given in orange juice along with placebos. Many parents of children given additives reported significant changes in mood and behaviour. The additives tested included the artificial food colourings tartrazine (E102), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), and ponceau 4R (E124), plus the preservative sodium benzoate (E211). Test doses were well below the levels permitted in children’s foods and drinks yet still the allergic reaction certain children showed was significant. But while the authorities commissioned another report, insisting this one was inconclusive, it is noticeable that manufacturers have mostly removed the ‘Filthy Five’ from children’s food.

Not all E-numbered additives are bad. Some, such as ascorbic acid (E300), are simply vitamin C. E-numbers are additives approved by the EU and their effects on our bodies vary.

With the exception of the glutamate family (E621–633), flavourings do not need ‘E’ approval. With natural flavouring, this is fine but flavourings fall into three interesting categories:

• Artificial – chemical imitations of real flavours.

• Nature identical – nice euphemism, where the actual chemicals present in real flavours are extracted to make flavourings.

• Natural – real essences and dried flavours.

When shopping, bear the following in mind as you read labels: if a manufacturer has added flavourings and colourings, the other ingredients are substandard. Avoid such foods if you can.

Labels and logos

Read the labels of everything you buy. They tell you nothing and they tell you a lot. When they say little, that says a great deal; missing information is an indication of poor production standards or dubious origins. Ingredients must be listed on labels by law, in descending order of quantity, and most labels also include nutritional information – the place to spot the presence of salt, saturated fat, sugar and sometimes hydrogenated fat.

Logos say something about the food. Watch for the five British organic logos (the Soil Association one is the best known). The Demeter logo indicates biodynamic food – delightful stuff that has been grown in accordance with lunar cycles but which is basically organic. The red Lion Quality mark stamped on eggs means they came from hens that have been vaccinated against salmonella. The Fairtrade logo tells you the producer received a fair price, and the fishy-patterned Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) mark is a sign of fish from a certified sustainable source.

Other logos are more ambiguous in what they say about the food in the pack. The Red Tractor covers a wide range of production assurance but allows for intensive production. The same can be said for ‘Farm Assured’ and the British Quality marks for beef, pork and lamb. LEAF allows pesticide use (though under stricter controls, but I have visited LEAF farms and been impressed with successful schemes boosting wildlife). The RSPCA’s Freedom Food logo indicates a vast improvement in animal welfare in intensive farming, but it does not come anywhere near the Soil Association standard of animal welfare.

I hate logos, but we need them. I would prefer to read an epistle on a label that tells me all there is to know about the food in a pack, linked through to websites with contact details. But none of this would be necessary if shops employed knowledgeable staff and trained them to talk to you about the food they sell.

Retailers

There are four main supermarket chains in the UK: Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and Morrisons. Then there are smaller chains, such as The Co-op, Waitrose, Budgens and Booths. Much has been said about the buying power of the big chains. This book focuses on how shoppers’ habits can make demands on the retailers, who have no choice but to respond to them.

I sent a detailed questionnaire to the supermarkets, asking how they source or produce most of the foods mentioned in this book. They were given a four-week period in which to reply. Of the Big Four, Morrisons declined to answer shortly after receiving the questionnaire, while Asda did not meet the deadline, pleading time poverty (they were given one month, then a further two months in all). Tesco sent only part of the questionnaire back to me, just inside the extended deadline of three months, again pleading lack of time. That these big retailers cannot put their hands on an up-to-date database in the computer age is an embarrassment on their part. The information should be available, so it appears they chose not to give it. They do have customer service lines (see below), where you can obtain lists of ingredients and sometimes information on the country of origin, but details are hard to obtain from these sources.

The results of the questionnaire are included in most sections and I have tried where possible to mention ethical options sold by supermarkets (e.g. Fairtrade bananas, organic chicken, cod from a sustainable source…). If information from supermarkets who did respond to the questionnaire is missing, it may be because they did not answer clearly or didn’t answer at all.

For up-to-date information about products, the supermarkets can be contacted on the following numbers:

Asda: 0500 100055

Booths: 01772 251701

Budgens: 0870 526002

Co-op: 0800 0686 727

Morrisons: 01924 870 000

Safeway: 01622 712 987

Sainsbury: 0800 636262

Somerfield: 0117 935 9359

Tesco: 0800 5055 5555

Waitrose: 0800 188884

But however many pounds in every ten we spend at Tesco, small shops still exist. Great butcher’s shops, cheese shops, specialist food shops, bakeries, fishmonger’s and even a few greengrocer’s cling on in the high streets – please seek them out. They actually have shop assistants who can talk knowledgeably to you, and may even help carry bags and give cooking advice. Yep, pinch yourself, you’re having a pleasant shopping experience.

Farm shops are my favourite, partly because they make superb meat and just-picked organic produce affordable. No high-street rents and no middle men mean lower prices. And you can take the car – very eco-unfriendly, but you can hardly tramp across fields with your shopping.

Low prices for fresh food are promoted by the supermarkets but before you rush to buy the free-range chicken or English asparagus at Tesco, check the price at your farm shop, butcher’s or local produce stalls. Three experiments carried out by my husband, Dominic Prince, in 2004/2005, in the Evening Standard, the Spectator Magazine and on ‘Tonight with Trevor McDonald’ (ITV), revealed certain prices at the small shops to be up to 40 per cent lower than those at Tesco – a considerable margin.

Online shopping for home-delivered food is another way to buy the best-quality food at the right price. I still find the worldwide web a weird shop. I am unable quite to complete the transaction without phoning the online shop about something quite unnecessary, just to make sure that there are people and not Martians running the place. But mail order is great. Don’t be put off by the home-delivery practicalities. Most online or mail-order companies will organise a delivery time to suit you, or bring it to your office if that helps, or give the delivery to a neighbour or hide it in the garden shed in your absence. Once you have dealt successfully with a home-delivery supplier for the first time, it’s a good idea to add the clause ‘leave unsigned’ to the order, particularly if you have a good hiding place. Small companies are flexible about this, although some will not do it for safety reasons.

The higher price of good food

The cost of naturally reared meat, organic vegetables and good-quality, additive-free ready-made foods will always be higher than budget-priced, intensively produced, additive-heavy foods. One of the most off-putting elements in changing shopping habits, when we are so used to paying less, is the higher price. But by balancing the ratio of luxury foods to cheap, everyday items and finding out how to use cheap cuts of meat, using up leftovers so we don’t waste a thing, and buying into gluts when they are at their cheapest (and most delicious), it is possible to keep the bill close to the old one. This kind of latter-day household management was the subject of my first book, The New English Kitchen (Fourth Estate, 2005). Many of its recipes show how the finest food will fit inside a tight budget. Think twice, for example, before you throw away the chicken carcass. Remember that stock can be made from its bones and used to make a risotto, so in the end it contributes to two meals.

Health, nutrition and functional food

In the past twenty years obesity rates in the UK have trebled, to 20 per cent of adults and 10 per cent of children. The food industry is – rightly – under fire for manufacturing and promoting unhealthy food. The industry responds by saying that, if we all took more exercise, it would not matter that we consume too many fats and sugars. I predict that the industry will wish it had not ignored its responsibility for so long. Some food manufacturers are reducing fat, salt and sugar content in the food they make; a time may even come when we laugh at the way we gave children sugar-coated breakfast cereals, in the same way our parents giggle at how their GP once offered a cigarette during a consultation. The authorities are trying to catch up on the situation, again far too late. The Food Standards Agency’s suggested proposal of a red –amber–green ‘Traffic Light’ warning logo on food was trounced in early 2006 by the announcement that some of the biggest players in the industry plan voluntarily to change the nutritional information on their packaging, giving the RDA (recommended daily allowance) of each particular food. That the daily allowance of any particular food will be decided by the manufacturer is laughable – but it could also be seriously confusing to the consumer.

It may be true that all food is nourishment to a degree, but what we put in our bodies is now a major preoccupation. The food industry – no slouch when it comes to fashion – has responded with ‘functional foods’, foods with added beneficial ingredients, such as pro-biotic yoghurt drinks (said to aid digestion) and chickens with added essential omega-3 fatty acids (for heart and tissue health). Before you throw these things in the trolley, bear in mind that, unlike those made by pharmaceutical companies or even herbal remedies, the health claims on food labelling need not be backed up. The functional food industry is also expecting that these rules will be relaxed further in the near future. Take omega-3: there is no doubt that these fatty acids are heart-healthy, but I’m sorry to say that there is just not enough evidence to prove they boost brain power except in premature babies. The food industry is set to make billions out of gullibility. Nutritionists all say the same thing: stick to eating, or feeding your kids, a varied diet made up of fresh foods, freshly cooked.

Packaging

Try to picture one and a half billion dustbins full of waste, inside them 12 billion carrier bags, at least one billion emblazoned with the names of our major supermarkets. Add to this a few billion glass jars, bottles and cans that missed the recycling bin. And then imagine burying the whole lot. Choose a spot. The Lake District? The Norfolk Broads? The Wiltshire Downs? It has to go somewhere and much of it, sad to say, is the debris of our dinners.

Waste Watch, a government-funded agency, reports that 28 million tonnes of waste are generated by UK households annually, of which only 11 per cent is recycled; 81 per cent is dumped in landfill sites and space is running out without more recycling. The government has said that the food and drink industry is a major source of waste, accounting for 10 per cent of all industrial and commercial waste, ‘notably packaging’.

The figures for recycled waste have gone up encouragingly but there is still a problem with packaging. Most irritating is the pass-the-parcel package: cardboard cartons containing 12 boxes of cellophane-wrapped biscuits are typical. Chocolate packaging can be outrageous. Have you ever scrabbled desperately through cellophane wrapping and a triple-thickness cardboard box, then removed a sticker from a waxed paper layer to reveal another of corrugated paper, under which 12 chocolates are sitting, wrapped in foil? Some suppliers use recycled, biodegradable packaging, but less is better. Brown paper bags are a great wrapping for vegetables and fruit, newsprint good for meat and fish and, if you shop by car, it is good to take boxes from supermarkets, not carrier bags. Or use baskets. Feel superior at the checkout, putting your hand up to say ‘no’ to the carrier bag.

Building the Savvy Shopper directory

There is a shopping guide for each food featured in this book. Many of the suppliers were found when I was writing the Savvy Shopper articles for the Daily Telegraph in 2004–5 but I have also found many new sources of good food that you can buy with a clear conscience. There isn’t room to feature every food, and taste is a subjective thing, so feedback from readers and suggestions for any future updates are most welcome.

I should add that I live in the south of England, so there will be a disproportionate number of suppliers from that region in the directory. Many of them, however, offer home delivery services and will bring the shopping to your door, wherever you live. Telephone numbers are provided so that each supplier can be contacted for information about stockists and mail order.

Many of the food producers included in this book can do home delivery; if home delivery isn’t mentioned, contact them for details of stockists. I have not been able to include every small food shop on every high street, or farm shop in the countryside – but do keep an eye out for good independent shops. Nothing is more welcome to a shopper than a shop filled with good food, beautifully kept, run by knowledgeable assistants who are sympathetic to the needs of the shopper. With the creeping dominance of the chain retailers, these shops – and all those other food producers selling food with real integrity – need your loyalty and support. So be a savvy shopper and decide what the future of food shopping should be. There is considerable power in your wallet; put it to the best possible use.

HOW TO SHOP FOR BRITISH FOOD IN SEASON
UK-grown vegetables and fruit

New breeds, modern storage and the wider (and controversial) use of polytunnels and glasshouses mean that the season for UK-grown produce is now greatly extended. British tomatoes, for example, are available from February onwards. Supermarkets sometimes stock UK produce in preference to imports (e.g. apples, strawberries and raspberries) but unless they can buy in large quantities throughout the whole UK season for a particular vegetable or fruit, they tend to source imports, which are often cheaper. For this reason there is more chance of buying a wider variety of UK-grown produce through ‘box schemes’, which are more economical if bought direct from the farm where they are grown. Best value is to be had during the ‘glut’ – the natural window when outdoor-grown produce peaks and is at its most abundant.

Fish and shellfish

There is an optimum time to buy fish and shellfish, namely outside the spawning period of each species. This gives the fish a chance to reproduce and reduces the catch of egg-bound females. But a seasonal approach is not all a shopper needs to adopt when buying fish. Always choose large, mature fish and ask the fishmonger about the catch method: ‘line caught’ is preferable to trawled, for example. Fish from UK inshore fisheries, which tend to fish for shorter periods in smaller boats by more sustainable means, are the best choice.

Game

The season for game birds is short, but take advantage. Some species, such as grouse and woodcock, are rare and expensive but during the height of the pheasant shooting season there is a glut well worth buying into. Other, naturally wild game such as rabbit and wood pigeon are available fresh for most of the year. Wild venison has ‘close’ seasons when it can be shot but not sold; these differ between Scotland and England and Wales. The open seasons are marked on the chart that follows.

Seasonal meat and dairy produce

While most fresh meat and cheeses are now available all year round, there are still a few festive and traditional specialities that have a short season. Lamb deserves special attention. We could reduce our dependence on imports of New Zealand lamb by tapping into the supplies of the light ‘upland’ lamb and mutton available direct from farms and traditional butchers throughout the autumn and winter.

SEASONAL CHART
UK-GROWN VEGETABLES AND FRUIT

Apples (August to March)

Asparagus (May to June)

Aubergine (May to September)

Cabbages (all year round)

Carrots (June to April)

Cauliflowers (all year round)

Celeriac (October to February)

Cherries (June to July)

Courgettes (June to October)

Cucumber (February to September)

Curly kale (all year round)

Farmed blackberries (July to October or until the first frost)

Fenland celery (November to January)

Fennel (May to October)

Forced rhubarb (December to March)

French beans (July to October)

Fresh herbs (April to November)

Garlic (August to December)

Gooseberries (June to July)

Grapes (September to October)

Green celery (March to November)

Jersey Royal and Cornish Early new potatoes (February to June)

Jerusalem artichokes (October to March)

Kentish cobnuts (September to October)

Leeks (August to April)

Lettuce and salad leaves (January to November)

Mangetout (May to September)

Marrows (August to October)

Morels (March to April)

Mushrooms (all year round)

New potatoes (May to September)

Onions (July to May)

Oyster mushrooms (May to June)

Parsnips (July to March)

Pea shoots (May to August)

Pears (September to April)

Peas (June to September)

Plums (August to September)

Potatoes (all year round)

Puffballs, chanterelles, ceps, fairy ring and other wild mushrooms (September to October)

Pumpkin and squash (September to February)

Purple sprouting broccoli (November to April)

Quince (September to October)

Radishes (January to November)

Raspberries (June to October or until the first frost)

Red, white and black currants (July to August)

Runner beans (August to November)

Seakale (January to February/March)

Sloes (September)

Spinach (all year round)

Stinging nettles (March to April)

Strawberries (April to October or until the first frost)

Summer rhubarb (April to October)

Swede (November to March)

Sweet chestnuts (October to January)

Sweetcorn (August to October)

Tomatoes (February to December)

Turnips (July to April)

Walnuts (October)

Watercress (February to November but can run on in a frost-free winter)

Wild blackberries (August to October)

Wild garlic (March to May)

FISH AND SHELLFISH

Anchovies (September to May)

Brill (October to May)

Brown crab (February to November)

Brown shrimp (February to October)

Brown trout (March to October)

Cockles (September to May)

Cod, line-caught from Bristol and English Channel (May to January)

Dover sole (August to May)

Gilthead bream (January to October)

Haddock (August to February)

John Dory (May to February)

Langoustines/Dublin Bay prawns (October to April)

Lemon sole (September to March)

Lobster (April to September)

Mackerel from Bristol and English Channel (August to February)

Megrim sole (May to December)

Monkfish (July to March)

Native oysters (September to April)

Plaice (April to December)

Red gurnard (September to April)

Red mullet (August to April)

Sardines/pilchards (August to March)

Sea bass (July to February)

Sea bream (June)

Sea trout (April to October)

Spider crab (August to March)

Sprats (September to April)

Squid (April to November)

Turbot (September to March)

Venus clams (July to April)

Whelks (February to August)

Whiting (May to February)

Wild Atlantic salmon (February to October)

Witch (October to April)

SEASONAL MEAT

Christmas goose (December)

Christmas turkey (December)

Light lamb or hill lamb (September to December)

Michaelmas goose (September)

Milk-fed lamb (March)

Native grass-fed beef (December)

Salt marsh lamb (July)

Spring lamb (March)

Suckling pig (December)

GAME

Black game (12th August to 10th December)

Capercaillie (1st October to 31st January)

English and Welsh hind (doe) venison, red, fallow, roe and sika (1st November to 30th April)

English and Welsh red stag venison (1st August to 30th April)

English and Welsh roebuck venison (1st April to 31st October)

Grouse (12th August to 10th December)

Hare (August to February)

Mallard and other wildfowl (1st September to 31st January)

Partridge (1st September to 31st January)

Pheasant (1st October to 31st January)

Scottish fallow stag (buck) venison (1st August to 30th April)

Scottish hind (or doe) venison, red, fallow and sika (21st October to 15th February)

Scottish red and sika stag venison (1st July to 20th October)

Scottish roe doe venison (21st October to 31st March)

Scottish roebuck venison (1st April to 20th October)

Snipe (1st September to 31st January)

Woodcock (1st September to 31st January)

APPLES

Eating apples should feel only good but now presents the conscientious shopper with myriad anxieties. On the one hand, eating fruit, any fruit, is undeniably beneficial to health; and an apple is a definite candidate for the recommended five-a-day the Food Standards Agency asks consumers to eat. But with reports that this perishable orchard fruit could be contaminated with agricultural chemicals, or that the crunchy southern hemisphere varieties snapped up eagerly by British shoppers have gobbled up an astonishing number of food miles, that oh-so-good-for-you apple can stick in your throat. Then there’s the question of which apple to buy, given no ready British supply. For some, preference for, perhaps, US fruit over French, or New Zealand over Chilean, comes down to old and new loyalties; a case where the wallet becomes a voting slip.

Are there chemical residues on apples?

Yes. First, be aware that while it is in the interests of supermarkets to control the level of pesticide and post-harvest fungicide drenches applied to apples from the ‘dedicated’ British farms that supply them, they are less able to monitor all imports. In 2005 the government-backed Pesticides Residues Committee sampled 63 apples, finding chemical residues on all but seven. No residues were found on the four organic samples taken. Residues were found on all EU-originated apple samples. Two samples contained residues at levels unacceptably high for children. Many apples are waxed to protect them and enhance their appearance; this wax may contain fungicides, so wipe off as much as possible before eating. Concerned parents should peel imported apples before giving them to children.

Are organic apples the right choice?

Not always. Organic apples from supermarkets, organic food shops and even box schemes are often imported, and the food miles they clock up negate any environmental gain. Buying British-grown organic apples is ideal but you will have to look hard for them. Growing a disease-free, good-looking apple without pesticides is a tough task in the British climate. Old trees that have never been treated with agricultural chemicals tend to produce abundantly without problems, but organic farmers say that new orchards can develop disease/pest problems after just a few years, which are very hard to control.

When are apples at their best?

Apples are at their best eaten just a few weeks after picking, when the sugars have developed yet the fruit is still juicy and crunchy.

Is it true that apples in shops can be up to a year old?

After picking, British apples are stored for up to six months at 2–3°C in a ‘controlled atmosphere’ with nitrogen gas and ammonia to reduce oxygen levels. But not all apples are stored this way. In 2005 the chemical 1-methylcyclopropene was approved for use in Europe, a gas that when pumped into cold rooms or shipping containers halts the release of ethylene, the natural hormone in fruit that ripens it. This means the apple you buy can be up to one year old. 1-methylcyclopropene is music to the ears of long-distance exporters (such as the US and New Zealand), because the apples retain their ‘just-picked’ looks, flavour and juice. Previous storage techniques would see the apples mellow in flavour and become drier in texture during storage. So that’s great – crispy apples all round? Well, no. While this development could pay high dividends for exporters and retailers, there is little in it for us consumers. There is evidence that the chemical is carcinogenic in very high doses and its use is a threat to the survival of our own orchards and to the seasons themselves.

When are British apples in season?

The season for apple growing in northern hemisphere countries runs from August to March but, with the exception of a few varieties, the more unusual ones are available for only some of this time. This is either because they are in short supply or because they do not store well. Our cooler summers delay the arrival of British apples in the shops, with little but Discovery available in August and the first Cox’s Orange Pippins hitting the shelves in late September. Thanks to ‘controlled atmosphere’ storage methods, British apples are available until March (although the supply is limited). The southern hemisphere season kicks in neatly in April, lasting through the British summer and into autumn. Savvy shoppers beware – it can encroach on the start of the British season, the time when loyalty to British farms is paramount. New Zealand apples are in shops until November.

How can I know where an apple comes from?

By law, labels on bags, trays or boxes and the shelf-edge information must carry a country-of-origin sticker. Information on those annoying individual stickers is provided voluntarily but they typically identify the apple type and, in the case of British apples, will often helpfully show a Union Jack symbol.

Is a red, shiny apple bound to be a good apple?

No! A tight, shining skin may belie woolly flesh underneath. Smell the apple – a fusty, wet-cardboard aroma is an indication of this.

Where should I buy apples?

Buy British in season, to support growers competing against lower-priced imports. The UK could be self-sufficient from the Cox harvest and supplies Bramley apples year round, but continued demand for popular imports, among them Golden Delicious, Braeburn, Gala and Granny Smith, inhibits loyalty to British orchards. Meanwhile, new nations join the fray: apples from Chile, the Czech Republic and Poland are here; the Fuji variety from China in the northern hemisphere is a particular threat to our growers. Outside the British season, it is best to choose apples that have travelled the least distance and have been shipped rather than air freighted. Customer service departments at supermarkets should supply this information if asked.

What the supermarkets say

Waitrose has a commitment to selling 70 per cent British produce when in season and stocks Cox’s apples in all stores from October to March, grown on their own Leckford Farm in Hampshire. During the autumn months Waitrose sells heritage varieties from the Brogdale Horticultural Trust, plus organic apples. Leckford Farm also sells apples at the ‘farm gate’ in autumn – the farm is located on the A30 between Stockbridge and Sutton Scotney.

Booths sells as many British apples as it can possibly find in season and has a policy to source locally where possible. Willington Fruit Farm in Cheshire supplies specialist varieties to this northern supermarket chain and the stores host occasional apple tastings.

Budgens banned all French apples from their stores when the French stopped importing British beef after the BSE crisis and has never reintroduced them. In the British season, it buys 65 per cent British apples and no imported variety that can be grown in the UK. It also sells a number of traditional varieties, including Worcester Pearmain, Egremont and a North American-bred apple, Cameo, from a longstanding Kent supplier.

Sainsbury claims to prioritise English produce if it deems the quality acceptable. It also imports, and therefore transports by air, apples from all over the world. However, it states that it only imports apple varieties that are not grown in the UK, according to customer demand. It does offer an organic supply of apples.

Marks & Spencer imports apples from five different continents but states that it has a preference for UK-grown fruit when the quality meets customer expectation.

The Co-op sources its apples primarily from Europe and is working with UK growers to use crops whenever they are in season. The packaging is biodegradable and compostable. All apples are delivered by road and sea freight

Tesco sources apples from the UK, US, New Zealand, China, Australia and South America but states it prefers to buy UK produce if it meets their specifications. It claims to buy more UK apples than any other retailer (but this is probably due to its size). It sells organic and also claims to sell a fairly traded apple ‘when available’.

Where to buy British apples

Farmers’ markets are a good source of apples during autumn, and the place to find those elusive British organic ones. For details of your nearest market, check www.farmersmarkets.net (tel: 0845 458 8420), or www.lfm.org.uk (tel: 0207 833 0338) for London. Alternatively, find a source of local apples through www.bigbarn.co.uk – put in your postcode and apples and suppliers will be displayed on a map.

Broomfield’s Apples, School Plantation, Holt Heath,Worcester WR6 6NFTel: 01905 620233www.broomfieldsfarmshop.co.uk

Grower Colin Broomfield will send a 5-kilo box of apples anywhere in the mainland UK. Unusual varieties include Winter Gem, Crispin, Lord Lambourn and Jupiter.

Charlton Orchards, Charlton Road, Creech St Michael,Taunton, Somerset TA3 5PFTel: 01823 412959sally@charlton-orchards.co.uk

Traditional good keeping types include Orleans Reinette, Ashmead’s Kernel, Adam’s Pearmain and Egremont Russet. They will send out a 56-apple crate (four varieties).

Crapes Fruit Farm, Rectory Road, Aldham,Colchester, Essex C06 3RRTel: 01206 212375

150 different apple varieties, available at different times throughout the season. Home delivery available.

Park Fruit Farm, Pork Lane, Great Holland,Nr Frinton-on-Sea, Essex CO13 OESTel: 01255 674621www.parkfruitfarm.co.uk

Choose from 40 apple varieties, including D’Arcy Spice, George Cave and King of the Pippins, packed carefully in layered boxes. Mail order available.

Yorkshire Orchards, White House Farm, Bolton Lane,Wilberfoss, York YO41 5NXTel: 01759 305079www.yorkshireorchards.co.uk

A new orchard with over 60 apple types, both traditional and modern. The website includes an Apple Chooser, which selects alternative varieties to favourite supermarket ones. Farmer Richard Borrie recommends Rajka, a new red apple developed in the Czech Republic that has a hint of strawberry in it; also Topaz, an extra crisp and juicy James Grieve. Apples can be posted to most UK locations. Apple tree rental available – a treat for the apple-passionate who do not want to tend their own tree. An annual fee will guarantee home delivery of all the fruit from one well-tended mature tree or three years of fruit from a young tree.

ASPARAGUS

Sometimes the British climate has its benefits. Our spring emerges out of winter so slowly that plants struggle to get going, battling against unexpected droughts, frosts or freak torrential rainfall. With asparagus, the outcome of growing in such crazy conditions is a vegetable with a feistier flavour than its southern European rival. But that’s not the only reason to buy British…

Why should I buy British asparagus?

Before our season begins, the majority of our spring asparagus comes from an earlier growing season in Spain. Spanish asparagus is also grown outdoors but, while some can be very good indeed, it grows faster in Spain’s warmer climate and its taste will never be as intense as that of British asparagus. All asparagus must be cooked as soon as possible after picking or the stems will become tough, so imports, which of course take time to travel to the UK shops, are at a disadvantage. Asparagus from Spain can have several centimetres of tough, inedible stalk.

Air miles can be a serious problem for exported asparagus. Spanish asparagus is transported by lorry but asparagus from other exporting countries, including Thailand and Peru, is air freighted. Environmentalists point out that this is a high fuel–oil cost for a low-calorie food – meaning is it worth the environmental cost to ship a nonessential food? I’d argue that there is more justification in shipping bananas or citrus fruit. The best line to take is to choose imported – preferably outdoor-grown Spanish – as an occasional luxury.

When does the British season begin?

Usually around the end of April, running to a cut-off point in the third week of June. Growers must leave enough stalks in the ground to ‘go to seed’ and so provide a good crop for the following year.

Why is boiling now better than steaming?

Newly developed breeds of asparagus have a uniform tenderness along the stalk that allows them to be snapped at the base during harvest, not cut. It was the case that the old breeds were cut, just under the ground, so the stalks were sold with a tougher end to them. Asparagus steamers were created so that the whole stalk would cook evenly.

What is the best way to prepare asparagus?

The modern breeds can be boiled for five to seven minutes, until just tender when pierced with a knife, then lifted out and laid on a tea towel to drain thoroughly (do not bruise them by throwing them into a colander). Chefs often pare away the outer skin on the lower end of the stalk to guarantee even cooking. This is a good idea that also yields extra-green cooked stalks.

Are chemicals used to grow asparagus?

It is hard to track chemical use in importing countries but Spanish growers who supply UK supermarkets may not use any more than their UK counterparts. Chemical use in the UK varies; if you want to avoid all but the organic sector’s few approved chemicals, then buy organic, where all weeding is done by hand. But there are conventional suppliers – even large-scale ones – who measure the impact they have on the environment: carrying out ornithological surveys and encouraging beneficial predatory insects on crops to replace pesticides. Members of the Asparagus Growers Association (see page 40) are refreshingly transparent about pesticide use. Responsible growers are reluctant to use sprays because almost the whole plant is eaten.

The big problem for growers is weeds, so in the UK a limited number of herbicides is conventionally used before the shoots appear. After that, growers should weed by hand, but there is no rule that guarantees this. Fungicides are sometimes used during a harvest in wet weather. The point about asparagus is that the stalks are above ground for no more than 11 days, so with decent weather conditions and no pest attacks they stand a good chance of being chemical free.

Reports recording pesticide residues comfort a little. Both British and imported asparagus were tested for residues in spring 2004. Residues were found on one out of 47 samples. The sample – from Peru – contained residues of the pesticide cypermethrin below UK maximum residue levels, but obviously if other growers can produce residue-free asparagus, we do not want to see any at all.

Is asparagus good for you?

It is classed as a ‘superfood’, especially for pregnant women, because it contains particularly high levels of natural folic acid, plus vitamins A, C and E. It is also a good source of potassium and fibre – so eat lots during the glut.

But what about that smell?

The smell in urine after eating asparagus comes from sulphur-containing degradation products that are created as the body metabolises the asparagus. The odour, which can be nasty, gave the asparagus its old reputation, ‘chambermaid’s nightmare’. It is said that healthy kidney function will produce that smelly ‘pee’ within 15 minutes of eating the stalks, but it is also true that some people are totally unable to detect the smell, so don’t panic if you eat asparagus and the air in the loo appears, er, as sweet as ever.

What other varieties are there, apart from green?

White asparagus is very popular in Belgium, France and Italy but imported stalks can be flavourless and tough. Red asparagus, which crops at the same time as green, is making a comeback in the UK and is available in May. Asparagus ‘sprue’ is not another breed, just thin stalks, and is very good stir-fried or cooked quickly and added to a risotto.

How do I choose asparagus?

Green asparagus is sold in two thicknesses, ‘jumbo’ and ‘kitchen’. There is little difference in flavour; it is always the freshness that counts. Sniff the tips, which should smell fresh and fruity, not of compost. Inspect the stalks for damage and look out for very dry ends, which probably mean that the asparagus has been hanging about a bit.

Supermarkets tend to buy direct from farms, but nevertheless you need to scrutinise their asparagus for signs of age. It is possible that it has been held in a warehouse for up to three days before distribution.

For the freshest asparagus, buy direct from farms, produce markets or from local greengrocers who go to regional wholesale markets that take delivery of freshly picked asparagus from local farms every night.

What the supermarkets say

Sainsbury claims to take all the British produce that is available to it during the UK season but says that demand outstrips supply. In these cases it imports produce, from countries in Asia, the Americas, and Africa. All of this produce is transported by road and air freight. Sainsbury also stocks organic asparagus.

Tesco’s asparagus is grown in Peru and Guatemala. Tesco states that it sources British when quality is at its best. It also sells an organic variety.

Marks & Spencer sources its asparagus from Peru, the UK and South Africa. It says that it has extended the selling period of British asparagus, now selling it out of season for two months longer – to great success (obviously). The asparagus is usually transported by air and road freight.

The Co-op sources its asparagus from the UK, Peru and Thailand. There is no organic option. The asparagus is transported via road and air freight.

Budgens’ asparagus is sourced from the UK when in season, Peru and Spain at other times. It does not sell an organic variety.

Where to buy British asparagus

Pick-your-own farms and farm shops are the best source of asparagus during the season, and very good value. Buying from them also supports the local economy. The Asparagus Growers Association has a list of all suppliers who sell at the farm gate: look at www.british-asparagus.co.uk or phone 01507 602427.

Mail-order asparagus is available from the following suppliers:

C. W. Cave (Terrington) Ltd, Hall Farm, West Rudham,Kings Lynn, Norfolk PE31 8TETel: 01485 528238

Mr and Mrs J. M. Harlow, I Westenhanger Cottage,Maidstone Road, Horsmonden, Tonbridge, Kent TN12 8DDTel: 01892 722533www.easyasparagus.com

A. H. and H. A. Pattullo, Eassie Farm, By Glamis,Angus DD8 ISGTel: 01307 840303

BABY FOOD AND INFANT FORMULA

While breast milk is the best possible baby’s tipple, it appears that you are never too young to be green. The buzzword in the baby food and formula market barely needs saying, but organic it is. Ten years ago organic baby food and formula companies could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Now there are at least a dozen. Once weaned, you can be a green gourmet, too. Forget slimy purée—baby gets a menu worthy of an entry in the Michelin Guide. But just before you dash off to buy these Lilliputian ready meals, remember that is exactly what they are and, just like milk from the breast, freshly cooked food from fresh ingredients is always best.

Does organic mean pesticide free when
it comes to baby food?

Yes, and interestingly under UK law conventional baby food is free of pesticides, too. The maximum limit for pesticides in milk formula and baby food is set at 0.01mg per kilo, a level so low it effectively means no residues are present. This is not to say there is not a problem. In 2002, when cereal-based baby foods were tested for the organophosphate, pirimiphos methyl, two out of 71 samples had detectable levels. Later that year three out of 73 samples were found to contain the same pesticide – they were withdrawn, but inexplicably cereal-based baby food was not tested the following year.

So is buying vegetable ready meals for babies a wiser buy
than a fresh carrot or squash?

In terms of pesticide residues, it could provide a guarantee of safety from them, but the benefits of cooking fresh food for a baby or child are greater. It should be said that pesticide manufacturers and conventional farmers continue to argue that agricultural chemicals are safe, but there is still much debate about the so-called cocktail effect of more than one residue on one vegetable. You can always buy organic produce and make baby food with that. Organic growers and producers are permitted to use very few agricultural chemicals, whereas hundreds can be used in conventional farming.

Where do the meat, dairy and eggs in baby
food come from?

Unless the label has Soil Association organic certification, or carries a statement on animal welfare and feed, the meat, dairy or egg content could derive from intensively reared livestock. Other organic marks are a good sign but Soil Association animal welfare standards are the most stringent.

Is the milk base of formula milk from cows
kept in intensive farms?

Non-organic formula will have come from conventional farms, though not all conventional farms are intensive. Again, a reputable organic certificate is a sign of good husbandry. Be aware that conventional, large-scale milk production is bad for the environment (see page 247) and that animal welfare can be compromised. It is not, however, an unsafe food.

What’s added to conventional formula milk?

The basis of formula milk is protein, whey and casein in a ratio as close as the manufacturer can get to that in breast milk. Fat is added, usually a mix of animal and vegetable fat, but increasingly long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPs) are added too. These include fish-oil-based omega-3 and plant-based omega-6, which are known to benefit the heart and stimulate brain function. Vitamins and minerals are also added, along with amino acids and sometimes proteins called nucleotides, which occur naturally in breast milk and can boost immunity.

Are non-dairy (cow’s milk) formulas available?

There are formulas based on goat’s milk and soy for babies with a family history of allergy-based illnesses. They also contain added nutrients. If you think your child is intolerant or allergic to dairy milk, it is important to seek the advice of a paediatrician or nutrition expert before choosing any alternative.

What’s the difference between conventional
formula and organic?

There is little difference in the basic ingredients, but with each formula the proportions of each may vary. In organic formula, the food-based ingredients must be organically sourced.

Are the recipes for infant formulas tested?

Formulation of infant milks is under the control of UK and EU legislation. The law is designed to stop the use of untested novel substances in the manufacture of infant formulas and changes cannot be made to formula milks without proper trials.

Why are free samples of formula milk
given to new mothers?

For loyalty and profit – the manufacturers want their business. It is very tempting for mothers who are struggling in the early breastfeeding days to top up with formula or even switch over to it. The same practice takes on a more sinister role in developing countries with water cleanliness problems. In 2002 Unicef estimated that 1.5 million babies would die a year from unsafe bottlefeeding. The food corporation, Nestlé, was singled out for aggressively marketing formula milk in developing countries and a worldwide boycott of their products began in 1978. In May 1999 a ruling was published against Nestlé by the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). In an anti-boycott advert, Nestlé had claimed that it marketed infant formula ‘ethically and responsibly’. The ASA found that the corporation could not support this or other claims in the face of evidence provided by the campaigning group, Baby Milk Action.

Can baby food and formula be contaminated with GMOs?

Livestock that produce milk, meat or eggs for the baby food and formula market may be given GM feed, unless they are only grass fed. The authorities say that since the feed passes through the gut, there will be no contamination. GM watchdogs argue that there is some evidence that DNA from GM material remains in and passes through the gut of animals. They also insist that testing and labelling of GM foods is not adequate. Organic baby food producers police for GM contamination very effectively, and the smaller producers provide exceptionally clear traceability.

Do baby foods contain colourings or other additives?

Yes. The only colours permitted are riboflavin and beta-carotene, which are vitamins with a natural colour. The government complies with EU law and ‘restricts’ the use of other non-natural additives. Keep an eye out for starch-based ‘fillers’, such as modified maize starch (corn starch) and maltodextrin, which are added to bulk out food, thus reducing the ingredient cost (water can be added for the same reason). They make food tasteless, necessitating the use of flavourings. Maltodextrin has no nutritional use. Read the labels, choosing only foods that are 100 per cent natural.

Do baby foods contain added sugar?

Yes. A survey by the Food Commission found 50 per cent sugar in Nestlé Fruit Stick and 37 per cent in Boots Teddy Bear biscuits, compared with 36 per cent in a jam tart. Traditional Farley’s Rusks (29 per cent) have more sugar than a chocolate digestive (27 per cent). And so-called ‘reduced-sugar’ products from Farley’s (21 per cent) and Hipp (21 per cent) had more sugar than a jam doughnut (19 per cent sugar). These are biscuits for children who are just getting their first teeth! Check the ingredients list for added sugar, including any mention of dextrose, glucose, corn syrup and other types of sugar.

Do baby foods contain salt?

There should not be any salt in baby food. Babies up to 12 months need lg or less salt a day, which they will get naturally from their milk and meals without adding extra. Never add salt to food for a baby or a child under five.

Where to buy trustworthy baby foods

It is always better to wean a baby on to home-made foods prepared from good-quality fresh ingredients. Only feed ready-made foods when there is a genuine time constraint, in which case look out for the following brands:

All Good Stuff, Chadwick House, Birchwood Park,Warrington WA3 6AETel: 01925 830500www.allgoodstuff.com

Not so much ready meals as simple fruit and vegetable purées, frozen in individual portions. Very good for newly weaned babies. Home delivery available.

Baby Organix, Knapp Mill, Mill Road,Christchurch, Dorset BH23 2LUTel: 0800 39351 Iwww.babyorganix.co.uk

Baby Organix was among the first British mainstream organic baby food manufacturers. The recipes are based on traditional home cooking. Available from most supermarkets, as well as independent shops.

Daylesford Organic Farm Shop, Daylesford, Nr Kingham,Gloucestershire GL56 0YGTel: 01608 731700www.daylesfordorganic.com

Organic fruit and vegetable purées for babies, cooked for a short time to retain nutrients, and free from additives, salt and sugar. Home delivery available.

Goodness Direct, South March, Daventry,Northamptonshire NN11 4PHTel: 0871 871 6611www.goodnessdirect.co.uk

Goodness Direct stocks some established imported brands, including Nanny Goat Milk Infant Nutrition and follow-on milk from New Zealand, BabyNat organic infant formula and bottled purées, Familia Swiss Baby muesli and the Hipp organic range. Home delivery available.

Hipp, 165 Main Street, New Greenham Park,Newbury, Berkshire RG 19 6HNTel: 0845 050 1351www.hipp.co.uk

Hipp converted its range to organic in 1995 and sells food, infant formula milks and follow-on milks. Available from all major supermarkets, or direct from the website.

Mini Scoff, Scoff Central, Unit 3a Midlands Industrial Estate,Holt, Wiltshire BA14 6RUTel: 01225 783221www.miniscoff.co.uk

Good ideas, including organic vegetable and pasta dishes, meat recipes, and even a dish with very mild chilli to galvanise young taste buds. Home delivery available.

Mums4 (by Mothers for Children), 58 Clarendon Street,Leamington Spa CV32 4PETel: 01926 771285www.mums4.com

Organic yoghurt sweetened only by the fruit and milk, the equivalent of one teaspoon of natural sugar as opposed to the 2–3 teaspoons of sugar added to conventional children’s yoghurt. Available from Tesco, Waitrose and home delivery from Ocado.

Plum Baby, PO Box 283, Lyndhurst, Hampshire S043 7WZTel: 0845 389 0061www.plumbabysuperfoods.com

Susie Willis’s new company makes Fairtrade-accredited mango and banana purée with quinoa; spinach, parsnip and basil; and blueberry banana and vanilla.

Truuuly Scrumptious Organic Baby Food,Charmborough Farm, Charlton Road, Holcombe,Radstock, Somerset BA3 5EXTel: 01761 239300www.bathorganicbabyfood.co.uk

Imaginative recipes, frozen in microwavable pots to retain the goodness in the organic raw materials. Puréed sweet potato or apple and raisin for young babies; sweetcorn chowder, salmon and broccoli for older ones. Home delivery available.

BACON (AND PORK)

It should be so simple. Cover a fresh pork back or belly with salt and a little sugar, leave it to cure, then mature it in a cold, dry room and you have bacon. But simple it isn’t. Traditionally cured bacon is still available but the majority of commercial bacon is produced very differently – and much of it is imported from other European countries, a long way from our breakfast tables. The same issues apply to bacon’s raw material, fresh pork. This ranges from slow-grown traditional breeds with sublime flavour and superb cooking qualities (meaning less shrinkage and no seeping white paste during cooking) to characterless, pale, fatless joints that are as disappointing as they are cheap. It is worth bearing in mind that, due to the poor cooking quality of such pork, the cheapest pork is not always the best value.

What methods are used to make commercially
cured bacon?

Commercially made bacon is wet cured in brine with either phosphates or a derivative. Injected into the meat, phosphates encourage the absorption of water, which boosts the weight of the meat. This is the milky liquid that seeps from the bacon as it fries. Bacon cured this way will retain a higher level of salt – a matter of concern to anyone watchful of their diet.

How is traditional bacon made?

It can be wet or dry cured. The former is placed in a brine tub with salt, sodium nitrite (E250 – note nitrite not nitrate) and potassium nitrate (E252, otherwise known as saltpetre), plus the spices, sugar or seasoning that give it its character. Dry-cured bacon is placed in a mixture of dry salt, sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate, seasonings and/ or spices. Nitrates give bacon its pink colour. Ordinary salt produces very unappealing grey bacon. Organic production permits the use of both. After curing, it is hung to dry and mature. With no injections of phosphates, traditional cures are less salty and the flavour of the meat more obvious. These two methods are well suited to traditional, slow-growing pig breeds.

Should I be concerned about the preservatives in bacon?

Obviously excessive salt in bacon is not healthy but it is much better to eat bacon that has been dry cured or traditionally brined (the Wiltshire cure) than injected with brine and phosphates, as is sometimes the case with commercial cured pork. The preservative with the greater problem is potassium nitrite (E249), which is not permitted in food specifically made for infants and small children because it can affect the body’s ability to carry oxygen and is therefore a danger to asthma sufferers or those with respiratory illness. Just to confuse matters further, sodium nitrate (E251) and sodium nitrite (E250) can also be used in the curing process. The latter is controversial and some retailers will not permit its use because it is potentially harmful to children.

Who makes bacon?

Britain, Holland and Denmark are major producers but bacon is also made in the Irish Republic, France, Germany and Spain. The majority of bacon eaten in the UK is imported, mainly from Holland and Denmark, and the figure is on the increase. Recently it was reported that imports have increased by 38 per cent to 300,000 tonnes, and that excludes fresh pork that is imported and cured in the UK.

Why not eat imports?

It is largely a moral choice. Welfare for British pigs, especially breeding sows, is of a higher standard. It is estimated that two-thirds of breeding sows in other EU countries (apart from Sweden, whose welfare standards are more on a par with UK ones) are kept indoors, confined individually in small stalls all their lives. In the UK, indoor-farmed breeding sows are confined during birth and for four weeks after the birth in ‘farrowing crates’, which measure six feet by four feet (the pigs weigh about 250 kilos). The reason given is to protect the piglets, and British pig farmers say they are trying to design a larger, more welfare-friendly crate. Once the sows have mated again – about five weeks after the last litter – they are moved to pens where they are kept in groups for the duration of the pregnancy – about five months. They may be on straw bedding, which is good, but could be on slatted floors – not good. Young indoor-reared British pigs are loose housed in pens, about half of them on deep litter straw.

In all European countries (apart from Sweden) pigs are kept in groups. Tail docking is permitted in Europe and the UK, but only under veterinary supervision, so at least farmers are not routinely carrying it out. Nose rings are permitted, but rare in the UK.

Is all British pork welfare friendly?

No. Welfare experts say standards for 70 per cent of pigs (reared indoors) could be improved. The other 30 per cent are reared outdoors, where they can behave more naturally, but they must have some sort of shelter.

What do pigs eat?

In spite of being omnivores, British and European pigs are now, in the most part, vegetarians. Meat and bone meal feed are banned (due to BSE), and so is pigswill (which by definition contains meat waste) because it is thought it can spread diseases such as foot and mouth. Pigs are permitted some fishmeal, but it must constitute no more than three per cent of their feed. Pigs can eat dairy waste, such as whey from cheese making, but this is sadly rare (the whole Parma ham/ Parmesan business was founded on feeding pigs whey). Whether or not this enforced vegetarian diet affects their growth is not yet known – will the pig of the future evolve with no meat-eating teeth?

Pigs are now fed dried concentrates of cereals including soya (which can be GM derived); co-product feed from the food industry, such as biscuits (so they are snacking on lots of sugar, salt and hydrogenated fat!); or waste from the non-meat ready-meal business. Farmers can also choose to ‘wet feed’ a sort of nice porridge with cereals and, best of all, Greenwich Gold, the leftover ‘mash’ from London gin making. If I were a pig I know what I would choose from the menu. Roots are the correct natural feed for outdoor pigs, who love turnips, but best of all is the acorn and apple diet of woodland- or orchard-reared pigs. Ideally some common sense regarding pig feed needs to be applied; a return to eating fat from butchery or poultry waste could be a good thing.

Look at it this way – if the science was right, feeding meat and bone meal to vegetarians (cattle) caused a disaster; should we now be depriving natural omnivores of the small amount of flesh they would naturally eat in the wild?

When is British bacon not British?

In theory a side of Danish- or Dutch-reared pork could be cured, sliced and packed in Britain and then be labelled British (the country of origin on the pack will read ‘UK’). Beware of packaging dressed up to look ‘olde’ – the bacon may be nothing of the sort. It must be said that supermarkets often differentiate between British and, say, Danish because consumers enjoy the taste and size of the Danish rashers. Well and good, but for me welfare remains a big issue. It is a perfect example of how uneven the playing field can be among the European member states when it comes to food production.

What’s in a bacon sandwich?

It’s hard to tell, but 85 per cent of bacon sold through catering outlets – such as restaurants, takeaways, cafés, motorway service stations, schools, hospitals and office canteens – is imported. No need for a label makes it easy to hide.

What the supermarkets say

None of the ‘Big Four’ supermarkets would reveal what percentage of British bacon they sell. Waitrose says 82 per cent of its bacon is British and Budgens’ own label is 100 per cent British. Some supermarkets sell speciality bacon (including organic – look for Soil Association for ultra-high welfare standards for the pigs), which is cured in the traditional manner (seek out British bacon made from British-reared pork).

Artisan-made bacon by post

Traditionally made bacon stores well, so it makes sense to buy in large quantities to justify the price of home delivery. All the producers listed below offer a mail-order service.

Blackface.co.uk, Weatherall Foods Ltd, Crochmore House,Irongray, Dumfries DG2 9SFTel: 01387 730326www.blackface.co.uk

Pork from ‘Iron Age’ pigs (a cross between Tamworth and wild boar), with a darker, fuller-flavoured meat.

Bleiker’s Smoke House Ltd, Glasshouses Mill, Glasshouses,Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG3 5QHTel: 01423 71141 Iwww.bleikers.co.uk

Smoked food experts, Jurg and Jane Bleiker, dry cure and smoke backs of 100 per cent British free-range pork, deep in the Yorkshire Dales.

Brampton Wild Boar, Blue Tile Farm, Lock’s Road, Brampton,Beccles, Suffolk NR34 8DXTel: 01502 575246

Deep-flavoured bacon from fourth-generation purebred boar.

Denhay Farms Ltd, Broadoak, Bridport, Dorset DT6 5NPTel: 01308 422717www.denhay.co.uk

Bacon from free-range pigs fed a natural diet. Denhay also make the excellent organic Duchy Originals bacon, which is widely available in supermarkets. Denhay bacon is available through mail order.

Heal Farm Meats, Heal Farm, Kings Nympton, Devon EX37 9TBTel: 01769 574341www.healfarm.co.uk

Organic bacon made using traditional breeds, reared in exceptional conditions: British Lop, Tamworth, Welsh and more.

Maynards Farm Bacon, Weston-under-Redcastle, Shrewsbury,Shropshire SY4 5LRTel: 01948 840252www.maynardsfarm.co.uk

Various traditionally cured styles of bacon, made with the interesting addition of spices in the cure such as ginger and caraway.

Richard Woodall Ltd, Lane End, Waberthwaite, Nr Millom,Cumbria LA 19 5YJTel: 01229 717237www.richardwoodall.com

Award-winning bacon from a closed herd of Landrace and Large White pigs.

Sillfield Farm, Endmoor, Kendal, Cumbria LA8 0HZTel: 015395 67609www.sillfield.co.uk

Peter Gott’s skilfully made bacon is produced from beautifully cared-for pigs that roam almost wild.

Slacks, Newlands Farm, Raisbeck, Orton, Penrith,Cumbria CA10 3SGTel: 01539 624667www.edirectory.co.uk/slacks

Air-dried bacon from locally sourced, free-range, dairy-fed pigs.

BANANAS

A banana is all the more enjoyable when you are sure the growers received a fair sum, so it is well worth paying the extra 40 pence or so per kilo for Fairtrade fruit – it is a low price for a highly nutritious food. However, as the Fairtrade phenomenon gathers pace and our supermarkets commit themselves to selling some fairly traded food, concern about the production methods for conventional bananas grows. Meanwhile, a trade war is brewing that could change the banana map forever, narrowing consumer choice.

What’s behind the incredible popularity of bananas?

In the first place, bananas are a ‘superfood’, like papaya and broccoli. They have high levels of fibre (good for the gut), vitamin C (to protect against disease) and potassium, which, apart from slashing the risk of heart disease, is an excellent hangover cure. We love them, too, as we do eggs, for their naturally built-in hygienic wrapping.

Why are bananas such an important fruit to the UK?

They’ve long been part of our culture, tied in with our loyalty to the once-colonised countries who supply us with them. The same countries used to be chiefly sugarcane growers, but that market began to collapse in the 1930s and 1940s, when northern European farmers started growing sugar beet (later sustained by some tasty subsidies). In other words, we wiped out the sugar business in the Caribbean, causing social unrest. To compensate, we set up Geest, a company whose name became synonymous with exporting bananas.

Do long, straight bananas come from a different plant
from the small, curvy ones?

Almost every banana on sale, indeed 98 per cent of world export, is the Cavendish variety. Cavendish is high yielding and travels well, lasting up to four weeks after picking. But growing one type of banana creates a monoculture, reducing biodiversity and attracting disease even to the reasonably disease-resistant Cavendish. Banana ‘shape’ comes down to the farming method; small, curvy bananas tend to be Caribbean, where they use less expensive fertilisers and pick early. A London market importer likened the Caribbean banana to ‘a small hungry hand’ – with good reason.

Why is there a banana trade war?

Because the US companies with huge banana business interests in South America protested that under WTO (World Trade Organisation) law the Europeans can no longer offer favourable trade conditions to Caribbean exporters. The EU has now ruled that all countries should pay a single tariff, or tax. The Caribbean growers say that, due to poorer growing conditions, banana production is more costly there and with a single tariff they cannot compete. They say the US complaint was about corporate greed, and will not bring fairness. The EU stands accused of making rules without evaluating the outcome. No study has been done to check how even the playing field will become and the Caribbean countries say the future of banana growing is under threat. Around 80 per cent of the banana market is controlled by corporations, including Dole, Del Monte, Bonito and Chiquita.

Are bananas sprayed?

Bananas rank second on the ‘most sprayed’ list (cotton ranks first), especially on large-scale plantations that can afford the expense of agricultural chemicals. Some of these pesticides and fungicides are hazardous to growers. Workers in Honduras have just persuaded a multinational corporation to stop using chlorpyriphos after a study showed it caused skin allergies, appetite loss and fertility problems. There are compensation cases pending in Nicaragua over similar claims of horrific damage to workers’ health.

Are bananas artificially ripened?

All bananas, including organic ones, need a trigger for ripening. Most producers use ethylene, a gas that is permitted even under Soil Association rules. Ethylene is naturally produced by fruit, but for commercial purposes it is manufactured, a by-product of industry. Remember that you can ripen bananas, tomatoes and avocados by putting them in a paper bag and letting the natural ethylene enclosed get to work. Ethylene is not that harmful and the Soil Association argues that it must permit this treatment or we can forget the availability of organic bananas.

Are organic bananas more eco-friendly?

Bananas travel several thousand miles, organic or not. But both conventional and organic bananas travel by boat, not plane, and leaving the banana out of the fruit bowl would have a devastating sociological impact on producing countries so it is a worthwhile exception to make, even for those aiming to keep food miles to a minimum. Bananas are also very nutritious. Soil Association-certified bananas hail from the Windward Isles, Costa Rica and Ecuador.

Which is the ideal banana to buy?

It is best to buy organic or Fairtrade bananas; the extra is worth paying and they are still a remarkably cheap food. Be aware, however, that Fairtrade does not necessarily mean organic, and Fairtrade bananas could have been treated with agricultural chemicals unless the pack also says organic. Having said that, it is also the case that Faitrade bananas tend to be grown by producer groups of small-scale farmers who cannot afford the expense of pesticides and fertilisers, so minimise their use. Likewise a premium should be paid to organic banana farms, boosting their income, so there is an element of fair trade, too.

Sales of Fairtrade bananas are growing at an astonishing rate of 43 per cent per annum, increasing from sales of 18 million kilos in 2003 to 25 million kilos in 2004. Some countries need more help than others. The Windward Islands are the most needy and fairly traded bananas from there are the ones to buy. Look for the ‘Windwards’ label, but also for Caribbean bananas in general.

What the supermarkets say

Sainsbury sells both a Fairtrade and an organic supply of bananas. Marks & Spencer and the Co-op import their bananas from the Caribbean and sell an additional Fairtrade supply and an organic supply. Budgens sells bananas sourced from all over the Caribbean, including a Fairtrade and an organic variety. Waitrose sells Fairtrade bananas from the Windward Isles and Tesco sells them from the Caribbean.

It is interesting to note that at the time of writing the price of conventional bananas in the ‘Big Four’ supermarkets was a standard 85 pence per kilo. Could they be ‘price fixing’, which is illegal? No – the price is too low to accuse the stores of this. Supermarkets rate bananas as a KVI – a ‘known value item’. This means they lower the price as far as it can possibly go, which works out the same for each of the Big Four. No wonder fair trade is needed.

BEEF

Burnished and juicily rich, a roast forerib of beef is as magnificent on the Christmas table as turkey or goose, and just as seasonal. Traditionally December is the time to slaughter adult cattle still fat from grazing, then slowly mature the beef, hanging it in cool winter temperatures. But while a margin of this culture continues, the beef industry in general has been turned on its head by modern farming methods, technology and, in the last decade, by consumer uncertainty over BSE.

The implementation of the Over Thirty Month (OTM) age-limit rule, a measure brought in at the height of the BSE scandal, had a devastating impact on our native breeds. Farmers crossbred purebred ‘native’ cattle with larger Continental types so they would grow to full size within the allowed time. While this beef is safe and nutritious, it does not measure up to the great flavour and texture of the British pedigree breeds so suitable for roasting. With the lifting of the OTM rule in November 2005, it is hoped that farmers will be able to afford to revive and maintain the pure native breeds and British beef will be 100 per cent British again.

What is – or was – the Over Thirty Month rule?

The OTM rule was introduced in March 1996 to restore shoppers’ confidence. Under the rule, all British beef or dairy animals must be slaughtered before the age of 30 months. There is much argument about the science behind the introduction of the OTM rule, with government scientific advisors insisting that the measure would eradicate the disease and keep cattle BSE free. Farmers complained it was simply a PR initiative, there to placate consumers, and I agree with them. It led to the slaughter of over five million older animals at a huge cost to the taxpayer. The rule was implemented in the dairy industry, too. But numbers of animals with BSE in the UK have dropped to equal levels with other EU countries and the scheme is now to be scrapped. This means that the slower-growing traditional breeds will have the four or more years they sometimes need to reach optimum maturity and a return to traditional flavour and texture.

But how can we be sure British beef is risk free?

The UK will change to a testing regime once the OTM rule is dropped: any animal suspected of having the disease will be slaughtered, then tested. Meat and bonemeal feed, the suspected catalyst for BSE infection, is banned and so-called ‘specified risk material’ (SRM), such as heads, some offal, most of the vertebrae and all spinal cords, is not permitted for sale. With no proof that nvCJD (the human form of the disease) is spread by eating meat from cattle with the disease, the risk can never be fully assessed. The best way to be sure that beef is safe is to have a full history of the herd from which it was supplied. The new beef labelling laws provide full traceability, but there is nothing like buying from a herd that has always been closed, i.e. one where animals are never bought in.

Where’s the benefit in removing the OTM rule?

Nearly a million British cattle will return to the food chain over the next two years, pushing up the percentage of beef available in shops so we can move towards eradicating the need for imported beef, specifically the forequarter beef used in cheaper burgers. This will obviously boost the incomes of British livestock farmers.

What’s wrong with imported beef?

Problems with imported meat include lack of traceability and lower safety standards. Imported meat has been found to contain spinal cord, and SRM banned throughout Europe. Some beef is imported from South America, Africa and EU countries. Shops do not like to advertise this fact so it tends to find its way into the catering trade or ready meals. There are always welfare and feed issues with imported meat; most countries do not have our stricter rules on welfare and especially feed. Incidentally, beef sold by breed name can be a product of another country. Dutch Aberdeen Angus is frequently sold in the UK and is often the ‘Aberdeen Angus’ steak on menus.

Is all the Aberdeen Angus in shops 100 per cent
Aberdeen Angus?

No – and the industry is very protective of this information. Cross breeding results in a high ratio of meat to bone, quickly – hence its appeal after the OTM rule was introduced, which saw slower-growing native breeds being slaughtered before reaching their full potential. Also, be aware that beef called ‘Scottish’ may be native-Continental cross. This is not so much a taste issue (the beef can be delicious if kindly reared, well fed and hung for the correct time) but it is a breed heritage and especially a welfare problem. The cross breeding of Continental cattle such as Limousin and Charentais with Aberdeen Angus is rife but the resulting meat can be called Aberdeen Angus. I have visited farms in Scotland where this practice takes place, where farmers have complained to me that mixing the breeds can cause the calves to be too big for the native-bred mothers and they can have trouble giving birth. Lastly, in my view, the larger-grained meat of fast-growing native–Continental crossbreeds is ill suited to British cooking, especially as roasting joints, and far better, I’m afraid to say, for the Continental veal market. Connoisseurs of beef prefer the small joints of tight-grained native beef. Given the choice, I would go for pure-bred native beef.

What information is on the label of beef packs in
supermarkets?

Labels on beef sold in supermarkets must comply with the new labelling regulations, and butchers must display somewhere in the shop notices showing the origin of their beef. The labels or notices should show the name of the country or countries in which the animal was born, reared, slaughtered and cut. Beef labelled ‘British’ must come from animals born, reared and slaughtered entirely within the UK. Supermarket labels rarely carry more information; suppliers must seek approval for additional information on labels, such as ‘grass fed’, ‘Farm Assured’, or astonishingly, ‘English’.

How can I be sure of buying the best beef?

• Ask about breed – beef from native breeds has tight-grained flesh best suited to roasting; native breeds include pedigree Aberdeen Angus, Hereford, South Devon, Welsh Black, Lincoln Red, Longhorn, Belted Galloway, Highland and White Park.

• Ask about feed – meat from animals grown slowly on a mainly grass/silage diet with some cereal in winter has the most flavour. Non-organically reared animals can be fed GM cereals in the UK.

• Ask about welfare – stress caused by long journeys to abattoirs, and thereafter overcrowded pens (lairage), and noise has been proved to change PH levels in meat, affecting tenderness and flavour.

• Ask about hanging – a side or quarter of beef should be hung for between three and five weeks, uncovered, at a temperature of 2-3°C.

What the supermarkets say

The Co-op sources its beef from the UK and Ireland and 95 per cent of the animals are reared outdoors, feeding on natural pasture, silage and some concentrates, as required. Although the Co-op operates a strictly non-GM policy, it states that these concentrates may contain soya that is not specified as non-GM. Journey time to the abattoir is approximately six hours.

Sainsbury sells a range of organic beef and well-hung conventional beef. It cannot guarantee the latter is not given GM feed.

Marks & Spencer sources its beef from England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Animals are fed a forage-based diet with at least one season grazing at grass and no GM feed. The journey to the abattoir takes no longer than four hours.

Budgens’ beef is reared in England. The cattle are fed on grass, silage and meal, which, although free from fishmeal and growth promoters, may contain some GM substances. The abattoir is less than 100 miles away.

Waitrose sources all its beef in the UK. The mixed breed animals are reared 95 per cent of the time outdoors on a GM-free diet that is 75 per cent forage based (grass, silage), the rest wheat, barley and soya. Journey times to slaughterhouse average nearly four hours.

Tesco beef is sourced from the UK, Ireland, Argentina and Brazil (country of origin is always labelled, so look for the small print; even if the label says Aberdeen Angus, the country of origin could be food-mile-heavy South America). The cattle are fed a forage-based diet with other cereals (‘not generally soya bean’). Tesco did not state whether the feed was GM free.

Where to buy British beef

We taste-tested beef from the farms below and, without exception, the meat was outstanding: tight grained, full flavoured and beautifully tender. Salt was never an option. Meat from these farms is produced from slowly grown cattle fed a natural, predominantly grass diet, then killed locally and traditionally matured. All the farms offer home delivery.

Barkers, Mid Torrie Farm, Callander, Perthshire FK17 8JLTel: 01877 330203www.barkershighlandbeef.co.uk

Breed: Highland

Baylham House Rare Breeds Farm, Mill Lane, Baylham,Needham Market, Suffolk IP6 8LGTel: 01473 830264www.baylham-house-farm.co.uk

Breed: White Park

Blackface.co.uk, Weatherall Foods Ltd, Crochmore House,Irongray, Dumfries DG2 9SFTel: 01387 730326www.blackface.co.uk

Breed: Scottish Galloway (now aged up to four years)

Brown Cow Organics, Perridge Farm, Pilton, Shepton Mallet,Somerset BA4 4EWTel: 01749 890298www.browncoworganics.co.uk

Breed: Guernsey (beef animals are from this family farm’s dairy herd)

Donald Russell Direct, Harlaw Road, Inverurie,Aberdeenshire AB51 4FRTel: 01467 629666www.donaldrusselldirect.com

Experts in butchery (Continental and British cuts) and hanging meat.

Edwards of Conwy, 18 High Street, Conwy,North Wales LL32 8DETel: 01492 592443www.edwardsofconwy.co.uk

Breed: Welsh Black

Gellynen Lodge, Cwmbach Llechrhyd, Builth Wells,Powys LD2 3RPTel: 01982 551242

Breed: Welsh Black

Gilchesters Organic Farm, Hawkwell,Northumberland NE18 0QLTel: 01661 886119www.gilchesters.com

Breed: White Galloway (organic)

Hereford Prime Direct, Mains of Airies Farm, Stranraer,Wigtownshire DG9 0RDTel: 01776 853516www.herefordprimedirect.co.uk

Breed: Hereford

Long Ghyll Farms, Brock Close, Bleasdale, Preston,Lancashire PR3 1UZTel: 01995 61799www.farmhousedirect.com

Breed: Highland

Lower Hurst Farm, Hartington, Nr Buxton, Derbyshire SK 17 0HJTel: 01298 84900www.lowerhurstfarms.co.uk

Breed: Hereford (organic)

Pipers Farm, Cullompton, Devon EX15 ISDTel: 01392 881380www.pipersfarm.com

Breed: Devon Ruby

The Somerset Meat Company, Marshalls Elm, Street,Somerset BA16 0TYTel: 01458 448990www.meatontheweb.co.uk

Breed: Red Devon Ruby

The Well Hung Meat Company, Tordean Farm, Dean Prior,Buckfastleigh, Devon TQ11 0LYTel: 0845 230 3131www.wellhungmeat.com

Breed: Aberdeen Angus and South Devon (organic)

West Country Water Buffalo, Lower Oakley Farm,Chilthorne Domer, Yeovil, Somerset BA22 8RQTel: 01935 940567

Breed: Water Buffalo

West Hembury Farm, Askerswell, Dorchester, Dorset DT2 9ENTel: 01308 485289www.westhembury.com

Breed: White Park

Woodlands Farm, Kirton House, Kirton, Boston,Lincolnshire PE20 IJDTel: 01205 722491www.woodlandsfarm.co.uk

Breed: Lincoln Red

Wootton Organic, Ramshorn Farley Oakamoor,Staffordshire ST 10 3BZTel: 0800 652 9469www.woottonorganic.com

Breed: Aberdeen Angus

Welfare-friendly British veal

Veal is a by-product of the dairy industry, because obviously only females are needed for milk production and male calves are therefore unwanted. The cruel practice of confining veal calves to crates and feeding them milk only (calves need straw roughage) that is permitted in EU countries is banned in the UK. In March 2006 the EU voted to lift the 10-year ban on live cattle exports, which means that farmers can now send unwanted calves for veal production to Europe again. The more milk-fed British veal you consume, the less farmers will be encouraged in this inhumane practice. The farms below produce humanely reared veal.

Helen Browning Organics, Eastbrook Farm, The Calf House,Cues Lane, Bishopstone, Swindon, Wiltshire SN6 8PLTel: 01793 790460www.helenbrowningorganics.co.uk

Innovative system in which calves are left a long time with their mothers. The emphasis at this farm is on the humane treatment of livestock. Also produces beef.

Little Warren Farm, Fletching Common, Newick,East Sussex BN8 4JHTel: 01825 722545

Specialist small-scale farm producing organic veal and beef. All calves are reared naturally and humanely and suckled on Jersey cows for six months.

Welfare Friendly Veal, Higher Stavordale Farm,Charlton Musgrove, Wincanton, Somerset BA9 8HJTel: 01963 33177

The veal calves on this farm are reared the kind way, loose in small groups in open barns with deep straw bedding, fed on a mixture of milk, straw and grains. The farm sells several cuts of meat, which is pink with a sweet, buttery flavour.

BISCUITS

Tea and biscuits being a national pastime, it comes as no surprise that the crunchy one of the duo escapes much scrutiny. In any case, the very longevity of some brands suggests that our biscuit habits are hard to break. Who, for example, remembers a time when Bourbon Creams did not exist?

However, the biscuit world may be about to change. In January 2006 new labelling laws came into play in the US that will send shock-waves through Britain’s biscuit makers. The issue is the transfats in hydrogenated fat, a prime ingredient in mass-produced biscuits (and snack food) that is linked to a host of health troubles. From January packs must state the presence of transfats, a move that the American Food and Drug Administration believes will save lives. There are no plans yet for such labelling in the UK, but that may change.

Manufacturers maintain that hydrogenated fat helps biscuits store well, but the low price of the stuff is really the big attraction. However, in a nation where childhood obesity and type-2 diabetes are on the rampage, should we eat more, cheaper biscuits or relish the luxury of the occasional one packed with butter (which has fewer of the negative health implications of hydrogenated fats)? And is fat the tip of the iceberg in the biscuit debate? What else is added to biscuits in the name of innovation?

What ingredients should be in a biscuit?

A plain sweet biscuit, like shortbread, should be just butter, sugar and flour. Varying the ratio of these ingredients affects the texture: a high butter content makes the biscuit crumbly and rich – and more expensive; a greater ratio of starch (from flour) delivers a harder, drier biscuit. But it’s unusual to see butter on a pack’s ingredients list at all. In its place will be the dreaded hydrogenated fat and a wealth of other additives designed to colour, flavour and preserve.

What’s wrong with hydrogenated fat?

Plenty, and the authorities agree, though there are no plans yet in the UK to label the transfat content in foods containing hydrogenated fat. Transfats are created when fat is hydrogenated, which means that the fat is hardened and the melting temperature raised by a chemical process. Transfats raise cholesterol, reduce the nutritional value of breast milk and are linked with low birth weight. They also reduce the immune response, affect fertility, disrupt enzymes that metabolise chemical carcinogens and drugs, and increase the formation of free radicals that cause tissue damage. Transfats also raise blood insulin, a factor in the development of diabetes. In the UK, biscuits containing hydrogenated fat must mention it in the ingredients list. It will usually appear as ‘hydrogenated vegetable oil’. The oil itself is often mixed and can be derived from various plants, including rapeseed, sunflower, soya, maize, coconut and palm kernel oils. Some of these oils are saturated.

Surely butter is no healthier than hydrogenated fat?

On the contrary, evidence is emerging that butter is by far the more nutritious of the two. The fat in butter is saturated, so it is not recommended that we eat large quantities of it, but it does have many benefits. It contains ‘true’ vitamins that are fat soluble, therefore easily absorbed and more potent. The saturated fat in butter is antiviral and antimicrobial and is burned rapidly for energy – faster than unsaturated vegetable oils, which are more readily stored by the body. It aids digestion and the lauric acid in butter helps prevent tooth decay. Butter may even help you lose weight. The calories from butter are more rapidly burned than those found in corn or olive oil. Butter from grass-fed animals contains conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a potent anti-cancer agent that also aids weight loss and promotes lean muscle tissue. Butter contains only a fraction of the transfat found in hydrogenated fats.

What other fats or oils are used to make biscuits?

As concern about transfats increases, the industry has turned to other technology. Some labels will read ‘vegetable oil and vegetable fat’, which means the manufacturer has combined ordinary vegetable oils (refined palm, rapeseed or oil from another plant) or vegetable oils that have been hardened by another means. Fractionation is popular with bakers; this process separates (using a centrifuge) the saturated fat in vegetable oils from the unsaturated fat. The saturated fat, which has a higher melting point, will have the firmness that is desirable for baking. Remember, however, that you will be consuming a higher proportion of saturated fat. Lower-fat vegetable oils can be hardened using ‘interestification’, a more complex process in which the fatty acid molecules are altered and rearranged using enzymes. All this technology – you ask yourself, on the basis that we are not meant to stuff ourselves with biscuits anyway, why not just eat the odd butter biscuit?

What else is in a biscuit?

There’s sugar, often plenty of it, and if it is refined beet sugar (see Sugar, page 388) it consists of so-called empty calories – in other words, it has no nutritional value at all. Buy biscuits made with pure unrefined cane sugar or fruit sugars; there is little nutritional value in either but the process by which they are made is environmentally sounder. Check the salt content; this may be marked as sodium, which is nearly three times the strength of salt. The recommended salt intake for adults is 6g per day – that’s approximately 20 digestives. Beware innovations: wacky-flavoured biscuits will have their fair share of artificial additives and there will be industry trickery, including using plum-based jams and adding raspberry flavouring (Jammie Dodgers, for example, although the manufacturer, Burton’s, has removed the unpleasant red colouring and say that plum jam makes it stretchier).

Should biscuits contain salt?

Not if they contain good-quality ingredients. Almost all manufactured biscuits contain salt, sometimes too much.

Are there genetically modified ingredients in biscuits?

The Food Standards Agency admits that if soya or maize appears on the ingredients list, a non-organic biscuit could contain up to 0.9 per cent genetically modified material – if that material exceeds 0.9 per cent of the biscuit, its presence must be stated on the label.

Which mass-market biscuits should I buy?

Read labels, looking for mention of hydrogenated vegetable oil, and do not be reassured by the words ‘partly hydrogenated’ – it means much the same thing. Do not be taken in by words such as ‘farmhouse’ and ‘made to a traditional recipe’, especially when there are sulphate preservatives and hydrogenated fat in the ingredients list. Refreshingly, McVitie’s uses no hydrogenated fat in popular biscuits such as HobNobs and Chocolate Digestives, nor does it use artificial colour or flavour in either. Scottish shortbread is also a good choice, often being made with just butter, sugar and flour.

Where to buy biscuits

Blue Mango, 7 Lemon Market, Lemon Street, Truro,Cornwall TR21 2PNTel: 01872 277116

Delicious cheese biscuits made with unsalted Cornish butter, Doves Farm flour, Greens of Glastonbury Cheddar and a pinch of cayenne, rolled with sesame and celery seeds. Mail order, or visit the shop in Truro, where sweet biscuits are available.

Doves Farm Foods, Salisbury Road, Hungerford,Berkshire RG17 0RFTel: 01488 684880www.dovesfarm-organic.co.uk

Organic chocolate chip cookies and other biscuits, including raisin and honey, Cheddar cheese, lemon zest, and very good digestives.

Duchy Originals, The Old Ryde House, 393 Richmond Road,East Twickenham TW1 2EFTel: 020 8831 6800www.duchyoriginals.com

Rich butter biscuits, both sweet and savoury, made with traditionally grown oats and grains.

Frank’s Biscuits, Unit 12a, Holmer Trading Estate, Hereford,Herefordshire HRI IJSTel: 01432 376729www.franksluxurybiscuits.co.uk

Frank Cornthwaite bakes shortbread with pure Somerset butter and flour – so good he has succeeded in selling it to Scotland in true coals-to-Newcastle style. Mail order available.

The Gingerbread Shop, Church Cottage, Grasmere, Ambleside,Cumbria LA22 9SWTel: 015394 35428www.grasmeregingerbread.co.uk

Extraordinary chewy gingerbread with no equal. Mail order available.

Honeybuns, Naish Farm, Stony Lane, Holwell, Sherborne,Dorset DT9 5LJTel: 01963 23597www.honeybuns.co.uk

Made on a Dorset farm, these biscuits are highly popular with children. Baked by the appropriately named Goss Custard family, they are made with local eggs, butter and gluten-free grain. Mail order available.

Island Bakery Organics, Tobermory, Isle of Mull PA75 6PYTel: 01688 302223www.islandbakery.co.uk

Prize-winning biscuits hand baked by Joseph Reade on the Isle of Mull, using vegetable oils but never hydrogenated ones. Available online from www.realfooddirect.co.uk.

Konditor and Cook, 22 Cornwall Road, London SEI 8TWTel: 020 7261 0456www.konditorandcook.com

This small chain of four London shops uses superb ingredients (free-range eggs, pure butter) in its beautifully made biscuits. Try the lemon moons, made with ground almonds and topped with a thin layer of meringue.

Lavender Blue, I Sandway Cottage, Bourton, Gillingham,Dorset SP8 5BHTel: 01747 821333

Somerset butter is used in these grown-up biscuits: white chocolate and lavender, cranberry and walnut, orange and cardamom. Mail order available.

Macgregors Original Oatcakes, Highland Avenue,Dunoon, Argyll PA23 8PBTel: 01369 704858www.macgregorsoatcakes.co.uk

Very thin, high-baked biscuits – the best biscuits for cheese on the market. Mail order available.

Popina, Unit 3, Sleaford Industrial Estate, Sleaford Street,London SW8 5ABTel: 020 7622 3444www.popina.co.uk

Isadora Popovic’s biscuits are made with entirely natural ingredients, using imaginative recipes from all over Europe.

BREAD

Shop for bread and the choice is clear. There are the unmistakable sliced loaves in their wrappers or the crusty, slowly made ‘craft’ loaves of old. I cannot dwell on the thousand or so different types of bread sold all over Europe but a comparison between sliced and wrapped bread and craft bread is inevitable. Bread became adulterated so that baking could be mechanised. The industry will argue that it has brought cheap bread to millions, and it has, but this has been at the cost of the integrity of traditionally made bread from wholesome flour. Interestingly, over the last 40 years we have almost halved the amount of bread we eat at home, while the sandwich market has grown 50 per cent. So, if we cannot be bothered to make our own sandwiches, will we ever again make our own bread?

Who makes our bread?

In the UK, 81 per cent of bread sold is made by 11 large ‘plant’ bakeries, 17 per cent by supermarket in-store bakeries and the remaining 2 per cent by smaller ‘craft’ bakeries. Over half the bread is produced by two companies, Allied Bakeries and British Bakeries. There are approximately 3,500 craft bakeries in the UK, compared to nearly ten times that in France.

How is most of our bread made?

The majority of bread sold in the UK is ‘sliced and wrapped’, a soft bread that keeps for up to seven days, but there is a trend towards craft breads. Most bread is made using a high-speed process known as the Chorleywood Process, with the usual base of flour, yeast, water and salt but also plenty of additives. The dough is made within three minutes, using intense, high-speed mixing. Yeast levels of up to 1.75 per cent are used in high-speed bread making, compared to 0.5 per cent used in commercial bread before World War II. The wheat gluten network in bread differs when bread has been made at high speed, a factor that many suspect contributes to wheat intolerance.

Is our bread too salty?

Yes, a slice can contain up to 0.5g of salt and, with the average daily salt allowance for adults at 6g and for four to six year olds at 3g, that’s too high. More flavoursome, stoneground flour would negate the need for so much salt.

Which artificial additives are used to make sliced and
wrapped bread?

By law, the flour in sliced and wrapped bread must have minerals and vitamins added to it to replace the nutrients lost in the milling process. One of them, calcium carbonate, is derived from chalk. Ascorbic acid, E300 (vitamin C), is added to ‘improve’ the flour, strengthening it so it rises well. There will be preservatives, either vinegar (acetic acid, E260) or calcium propionate (E282), which it is claimed prevent the absorption of added calcium in the bread. Emulsifiers (E471 and E472) stabilise the dough, improve the crumb structure and keep the bread soft.

Are all the additives listed on labels?

No. Sliced and wrapped bread may have amylase enzymes added, which soften the loaf, but as they are destroyed during baking they do not need to be listed on the label.

Does bread contain fat?

Yes. Bakers have found that fats, too, give bread a long shelf life (as if there were not enough other additives in there to keep the stuff going until next year). The fats are either fractionated (processed using centrifugal force) or hydrogenated (which contain transfats, see page 222).

Are there GM ingredients in bread?

Bakeries, even the big guys, do their best to keep any GM ingredients out of bread because they know shoppers hate the idea of it. Soya, which is widely used in sliced and wrapped bread to whiten it, and soya lethicin, an emulsifier, are also used. Soya lethicin could be GM contaminated but the quantity in the bread will not exceed the set limit for ingredients in food, so you will not see it on the label. By law, labels must indicate if a product contains more than 0.9 per cent GM ingredients. Not reassuring, but the bread companies would be crazy not to track the soya content in their bread for fear of being caught.

What is sourdough bread?

Any bread that has been made using a slow fermentation process, where slow-acting wild yeasts are used, can claim to be a sourdough. Even baguettes and ciabatta are sourdoughs but it is more pronounced in breads such as Poilâne (see page 79). Beware fakes. Olive oil is sometimes used to darken ciabatta to the greyish colour associated with sourdoughs. You can always tell by the taste, which should be rounded and ripe.

Is yeast a natural product?

Not exactly. Yeast for the commercial bread industry is ‘grown’ on non-organic molasses (a by-product of sugar production). The yeast itself is natural but environmental campaigners say the production process pollutes the environment. The waste products from yeast production include sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid, magnesium sulphate, cleaning agents and disinfectants – all pollutants if released into the water supply. Organic bakers are permitted to use this yeast but many craft bakers now use ‘wild’ yeasts, grown on bases of flour and fruit, which do not leave a by-product. Wild yeast gives bread a ripe, nutty flavour – hence sourdough bread.

How can I avoid bread with additives?

That’s easy – choose bread that is made with the original basic ingredients: flour, water, yeast and salt. A little vegetable oil or butter is fine, a little sugar gets the bubbles going. Read labels.

Are there additives in organic bread?

Yes – organic bakers can add vinegar and ascorbic acid flour improvers, but not all do.

Are there pesticide residues on bread?

In surveys in 2002, residues were found on over 50 per cent of loaves tested (although stated to be at safe levels). Residues were found on 26 per cent of speciality breads. No residues were found on organic loaves.

But surely sliced and wrapped bread is a victim of snobbery?
After all it is cheap and long lasting?

It is true that plenty of cheap bread will feed and nourish, even if it is adulterated. But if sociological change is the job of the baking business, why not reopen the thousands of small bakeries that once kept high streets alive? Regional distinctiveness would be revived – which has proved excellent for local economies.

Is the bread business good for the environment?

Not great. It is said that 50 million polythene wrappers are used each week to wrap bread, and that carbon emissions from the bread factories are high. How this compares to the days of the local bakeries is not known.

What is the difference between the bread from
supermarket in-store bakeries and other commercially
made bread?

At least 20 per cent of our bread comes from supermarket in-store bakeries. These bakeries are owned by the supermarkets or franchised out to larger bakeries. Either the loaves are baked from bread mixes that are made into dough on site, or frozen unbaked or semi-baked loaves are delivered to the in-store bakery and finished off in the oven. Many of these bakeries add dough conditioner to the bread mix. This is known as activated dough development and gets the dough rising at a faster rate than normal fermentation. The styles of bread made in the part-cooked culture tend to be Continental in appearance (baguettes etc) but in fact taste nothing like the crisp-crusted sourdough bread made traditionally in France. As to the comparison between this and craft-made bread – there isn’t one. It is a wasted opportunity, though.

Where to buy good Dread

Artisan Bread, Unit 16/17, John Wilson Business Park,Whitstable, Kent CT5 3QJTel: 01227 771881www.artisanbread.ltd.uk

Several varieties of hand-crafted bread made using traditional grains and wild yeast. Products include rye and spelt bread; spelt pizza bases and pumpkin bread. Mail order or contact for stockists.

Baker and Spice, 75 Salisbury Road, London NW6 6NHTel: 020 7604 3636www.bakerandspice.com

Choose from a long list of hand-made breads that includes various naturally leavened ‘levain’-style loaves, pain de mie (a soft white that children love), caramelised garlic and poppy linseed.

The Celtic Bakers, 42b Waterloo Road, London NW2 7UHTel: 020 8452 4390www.thecelticbakers.co.uk

Extra-environmentally friendly bread made with traditional flours.

Ditty’s Home Bakery, 44 Main Street, Castledawson,Northern Ireland BT45 8ABTel: 02879 468243www.dittysbakery.com

Typical Northern Irish griddle-cooked potato farls.

The Flour Station Bakery & Confectionery Supplies,22-34 Gwynne Road, Battersea, London SWII 3UWTel: 020 7223 5656

Artisan breads made with traditionally milled flour at this wholesale bakery, established by Jamie Oliver.

Hobbs House Bakery Ltd, Unit 6, Chipping Edge Industrial Estate,Hatters Lane, Chipping Sodbury, Bristol BS37 6AATel: 01454 321629www.hobbshousebakery.co.uk

Award-winning bakery specialising in organic breads. Mail order available.

Judges Bakery, 51 High Street, Hastings Old Town,East Sussex TN34 3ENTel: 01424 722588

Josephine Fairley and Craig Sams (the founders of Green & Black chocolate), together with an award-winning baker, recently opened this bakery specialising in slow, overnight-leavened breads of every type from rough Granary to French baguettes.

Lighthouse Bakery, 64 Northcote Road, London SWII 6QLwww.lighthousebakery.co.ukTel: 0207 228 4537

Small, traditional bakery run by Rachel Duffield and Elizabeth Weisberg (who bakes the bread). Several speciality loaves, including an outstanding sourdough and interesting breads from all over Europe.

Long Crichel Bakery Ltd, Long Crichel, Wimborne,Dorset BH21 5JUTel: 01258 830852www.longcrichelbakery.co.uk

Organic breads and cakes baked in a specially built wood-fired oven in a converted stable. Sourdough breads and English breads using traditional craft skills are specialities.

McPhies Bakery, 1527 Shettleston Road, Glasgow,Strathclyde G32 9ASTel: 0141 778 4732

Traditional craft breads made with stoneground flour.

Neal’s Yard Bakery, 6 Neal’s Yard, London WC2H 9DPTel: 020 7836 5199

Wonderful sourdough breads to match the amazing Neal’s Yard cheeses.

Poilâne, 46 Elizabeth Street, London WIW 9PATel: 020 7808 4910www.poilane.fr

The London branch of a Parisian bakery started by Pierre Poilâne in 1932. Signature breads are their huge wheels of stoneground wheat sourdough, rye bread and dense fruit bread. The large loaves can be sliced or cut and bought by weight. Mail order available.

St John Bread and Wine, Spitalfields, 94-96 Commercial Street,London EI 6LZTel: 020 7247 8724www.stjohnbreadandwine.com

Huge, truly rustic, traditionally made loaves from Fergus Henderson’s charismatic bakery.

Staff of Life Bakery, 2 Berrys Yard, off Finkle Street,Kendal LA9 4ABTel: 01539 738606

Artisan breads made by a true craft-bread enthusiast using local, traditionally milled flour. During the season there is a damson sourdough using the fermented yeast of the fruit, sourced from the Lyth Valley. Also, ask for his snail-decorated loaves. Home delivery available.

True Loaf Bakery, Mount Pleasant Windmill, Kirton-in-Lindsey,North Lincolnshire DN2I 4NHTel: 01652 640177www.trueloafbakery.co.uk

Thirty different breads made from organic wheat flour, wheat seed and malt flours traditionally milled on the premises.

BREAKFAST CEREAL

So what would you and the rest of the family like for breakfast? A tablespoon of refined white sugar, a few vitamin pills, a couple of grams of salt—oh yes, and some milled grain? The latter on its own would be better. A bowl of oats needs little embellishment but this great and simple idea has given birth to an extended family of hybrid cereal breakfasts: quick to prepare, easy to store and supposedly good for you. But are they? Why do they need added vitamins and salt and why so much sugar? Packaging that is super attractive to children, free gifts and chocolate-coated goodies inside have made some cereals the X-rated, top-shelf mag of food. One to keep out of the reach of children…

When I buy breakfast cereal, am I buying a health food?

Don’t be dazzled by the ‘fortified with vitamins’ statement on the pack; it is spin. The vitamins are added because much of the goodness is lost when milling the grain (see Flour, page 181).

Is muesli a better option?

The original Bircher muesli is a great option. Soak oats and almond slivers in a mixture of water, milk and lemon juice overnight, then in the morning add grated apple (or other fresh fruit) and serve with honey. Substitute yoghurt for the milk, if you wish. Be wary of some modern commercial mueslis, though, which can contain added sugar, and even chocolate. Those packed with masses of nuts and dried fruits can also have quite a high calorie count. They are at least wholefoods, though, and are a better option than many of the sugary milled cereals on offer.

Why is salt added to breakfast cereals?

Because many of those grains have no flavour, thanks to the total removal during milling of the outer layers of grains that provide their fibre and their flavour – the germ in wheat, for example. Grains such as maize have very little flavour anyway. Kellogg’s cornflakes were judged by the National Food Alliance to be nearly as salty as seawater and to contain 0.87g of salt per serving, which is nearly a third of a three-year-old’s daily allowance. A high-salt diet is said to be a cause of high blood pressure, heart attacks and kidney failure and has even been linked to stomach cancer, asthma and osteoporosis.

Why so much sugar?

It is inexplicable why some cereals need to be coated or glued together with something as pointless as refined white sugar but most brands contain between 30 and 50 per cent. Take Quaker Sugar Puffs: the box says ‘nutritious’ and ‘fortified with vitamins and iron’, but this breakfast cereal contains 35 per cent sugar, nearly two teaspoons of sugar in every 30g serving. Surely the manufacturers are not trying to lure children into pestering parents for sugary breakfasts rather than wholefood ones? Sugary cereals give the breakfaster a burst of energy, which quickly diminishes, leaving no other nutritional benefit.

Which breakfast cereals are low in sugar?

Of course, pure oats and bran don’t contain any sugar. Of the manufactured brands, Shredded Wheat has no added sugar and Weetabix and Rice Krispies are low in sugar. While sugar is an obvious addition to cereals such as Frosties and Frosted Shreddies, it is also added to some of the more ‘natural-looking’ cereals, including Kellogg’s cornflakes and Cheerios. The Food Commission has criticised Nestlé for the high sugar and salt content of most of its cereals.

Are there chemicals in my breakfast?

In some cereals, yes. The worrying aspect of this is that in spite of the intensive milling of the grain, pesticide residues are regularly detected in 10—30 per cent of conventional corn-based cereals. Residues of fumigants, which are used to keep pests away from cereals while in storage, have also been found on breakfast cereal.

Could there be GM ingredients in cereal?

Not at present but contamination remains a risk while GM technology is supported in the US and some South American countries. Kellogg’s products in Europe are reportedly free from proteins from GM soya or maize. Nestlé, whilst it doesn’t use GM ingredients in the UK, is not unsupportive of the use of gene technology. Weetabix Ltd stated that no GM ingredients, additives or derivatives are used in any of its processes. Quaker Oats Ltd says it does not use ingredients containing GM material in any Quaker product. The company tests all soya-based lecithin (E322), an emulsifier used in its products, to ensure freedom from GM material.

Which cereals are GM free?

Apart from the brands mentioned above, organic cereal manufacturers best police the ingredients in their cereals for GM material.

Are cereal bars as wholesome as they look?

Check the labels. Despite their earthy wrapping, they can contain a lot of sugar, salt and flavourings. According to the Food Commission, some cereal bars are very unhealthy. For example, a Kellogg’s Coco-Pops bar was found to contain a greater proportion of calories from sugar than milk chocolate, and there were saturated fats in a Kellogg’s Rice Krispies bar forming 29 per cent of its calories. The Food Commission concluded that many breakfast cereal bars had higher levels of sugar than nutritionists recommend for a healthy breakfast such as a bowl of cereal with semi-skimmed milk. Ten had higher fat levels.

You would imagine, given that cereal bars are popular with children, that pesticide levels would be carefully monitored. In 2001 cereal bars were tested for residues for the first time and they were found in over 70 per cent of them.

How environmentally friendly are breakfast cereals?

The packaging is often mainly recycled but it is a problem nonetheless. There’s too much of it, with too little inside. It is possible to buy known brands of cereal loose by the kilo from ‘weigh’ shops. This is a good and inexpensive avenue to take, providing you trust the source.

Where to buy good breakfast cereals

Perhaps, given the above information, it would be better if we all ate porridge, but the following sell good-quality breakfast cereal. Do read labels, however. These companies usually sell a range and there may be salt and sugar added to some of their products and not to others.

Alara Wholefoods, 110-112 Camley Street, London NWI OPFTel: 020 7387 9303www.alara.co.uk

Imaginative organic muesli-based breakfast cereals, including a fairly traded muesli and a range specially designed for the needs of certain age groups: children (‘Growing’), expectant mothers (‘Blooming’) and older people (‘Prime’—forgive the pet-food connotations, this one is very good). The company has a strong ethical policy, sourcing locally (British) where possible. Home delivery available.

Dorset Cereals, Beverill Avenue East, Poundbury,Dorchester DTI 3WETel: 01305 751000www.dorset-cereals.co.uk

Mueslis made with good-quality cereals and fruit, most of which contain no added sugar. All but one of the mueslis contain no added salt. The high-fibre muesli is recommended.

Jordans Ltd, Holme Mills, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire SGI8 9JYTel: 0800 587 8901www.jordans-cereals.co.uk

Good organic porridge oats and multigrain (non-organic) porridge oats.

Nature’s Path, Community Foods, Brent Terrace,London NW2 ILTTel: 020 8450 941 Iwww.naturespath.com

Excellent range of organic cereals from an ethically minded Canadian company, including Heritage Bites and Heritage Flakes (made with traditional grain breeds) and puffed millet rice. For children there is the Envirokidz range, including Gorilla Munch, cinnamon-flavoured Orangutan ‘O’s and cocoa-dusted Koala Crisps. The only sweetener used in the children’s range is evaporated cane juice.

Sharpham Park, Glastonbury, Somerset BAI6 9SATel: 01458 844080www.sharphamparkshop.com

Launched in 2005, a range of breakfast cereals made from spelt, one of the world’s most ancient cereal plants. Puffed spelt, plus five types of muesli. Mail order available.

Southern Alps Ltd, Unit 14, West Yoke Farm, Michael’s Lane,Ash, Near Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 7HTTel: 01474 871275www.southern-alps.co.uk

Delicious hand-made mueslis prepared from excellent-quality ingredients.

Whole Earth, Combe Lane, Wormley, Godalming,Surrey GU8 5SZTel: 01428 685100www.wholeearthfoods.com

Cornflakes sweetened with cane sugar and no added salt.

BROCCOLI (AND OTHER BRASSICAS)

With its long British growing season and high nutrient content, broccoli has become an essential in almost every shop, and, for a vegetable that comes with the flower attached, it stores well too. Then to add to its merits, there is the beauty of green broccoli’s more sophisticated cousin, purple sprouting broccoli – a vegetable that when eaten freshly picked has as much quality as asparagus. Best of all, broccoli’s sweetness and lack of sulphur flavour mean that children do not wrinkle their noses at it as they traditionally do with unfairly maligned cabbage and Brussels sprouts. So is broccoli all good news for shoppers? Not quite—chief among concerns are the use of pesticides on the crop and a suggestion that this oh-so-healthy vegetable is not quite as good for you as it used to be…

Is broccoli in season all year round?

It may always be on shop shelves but the British season for green broccoli ends with the first frosts of October or November. Most of our broccoli is grown outdoors in Lincolnshire, with the first crops harvested in May. November sees the first harvest of cold-loving purple sprouting broccoli, which should be available until early April, so in theory, if you switch from one to the other you can eat British-grown broccoli all year round.

If it’s not British, who else grows it?

Out-of-season green broccoli is imported from Spain, France and Italy. The broccoli is packed in ice boxes, which keep it ‘fresh’ but the nutrient value is reduced. Broccoli from southern Spain clocks up a weighty 900 food miles. The Spanish also make heavier use of agricultural chemicals. In 2000 the government reported that 14 per cent of sampled imported broccoli contained pesticide residues and half of these were over the maximum recommended level. One sample of British broccoli, however, contained residues of a pesticide banned in the UK. Broccoli was tested again in 2005 but so far results have been published only for broccoli grown in southern European countries. In this instance, residues of the pesticide, chlorothalonil, were found on one sample. Chlorothalonil is permitted in the UK but pesticide watchdogs, the Pesticide Action Network (PAN UK), have listed this agricultural chemical as a ‘bad actor’ – a pesticide that is a probable carcinogen. The reduction in residues found on all the samples is generally to be welcomed, though broccoli’s popularity should see it tested more frequently than every five years.

Why is broccoli described as a ‘superfood’?

It contains high levels of sulforaphane, a cancer-fighting antioxidant. These nutrients were found occurring naturally in a Sicilian wild relative of the plant, which was then crossbred with commercial species, giving modern broccoli an increased nutritional value with 100 times the level of sulforaphane. Broccoli also contains high levels of calcium, although according to scientists its calcium levels have dropped by 75 per cent since 1940. In his book We Want Real Food (Constable, 2006) Graham Harvey explains that not just broccoli but all vegetables have lost vitamins and minerals. Explanations for this include the over use of fertilisers on crops and, conversely, the breeding of modern hybrids that crop early, resist disease and have a long shelf life. You cannot, therefore, go too wrong if you eat lots more broccoli.

How can I be sure of choosing pesticide-free broccoli?

Of the samples tested for residues in 2005, seven were organic and none of these contained a single residue, making organic the best choice. Organic farms are permitted to use six agricultural chemicals, while conventional farmers have hundreds at their disposal.

Should I buy loose or wrapped broccoli?

The wide expanse of the flower head on broccoli means it oxidises quickly, giving unwrapped broccoli a short shelf life of three days. Wrapped and refrigerated, it will keep for five days or more. If you prefer to buy vegetables without packaging, you must buy fresher broccoli more frequently (or buy it unwrapped and wrap it in cling film before storing).

Is a hole in the stalk a bad sign?

Not in nutritional terms. British broccoli often has holes – a sign of erratic growth caused by our climate. Holey broccoli deteriorates quicker than broccoli with a solid stalk, but it is still worth buying rather than imported for its freshness, low food-mile scale and high nutrient value.

Does GM broccoli exist?

Yes, but it is not yet permitted for sale. Scientists are developing a super-broccoli with 80 times more cancer-fighting ability (not to be confused with the one crossbred with a Sicilian wild plant, above). The plant is expected to be ready in three years’ time and will raise tricky questions about where the line should be drawn between food and preventative medicine.

What is calabrese?

Calabrese is an Italian brassica similar to broccoli but with a pale green, pointed, looser-packed flower head. It is grown in the UK but, since it is a more tender plant, you are unlikely to find those not grown under glass before their season in August and September.

Do the other brassicas share similar issues with broccoli?

Yes. Cauliflowers and cabbages can be grown in the UK all year round, so it is always best to ask for British if you want the freshest produce. Cauliflower is a precarious crop for farmers, who are unable to sell it during hot weather, when the sun turns the white flower yellow. At this time, acre upon acre of crop can be grubbed and wasted because apparently neither supermarkets nor their customers want a yellowed cauliflower, even though the taste and nutrient quality are the same as for pure white ones. So don’t turn your noise up at hot-weather cauliflowers: eaten raw, thinly sliced, with a dressing, they are a revelation. Cabbages and cauliflowers have similar pesticide issues to broccoli, so you may prefer to choose organic. Brussels sprouts have recently undergone quite a change in flavour. New breeds taste much less sulphurous than those in my Seventies’ childhood and they – and sprout tops—now join purple sprouting broccoli as a seasonal winter vegetable to look forward to.

What’s in the supermarkets?

All chains, large and small, should sell UK-grown green broccoli and purple sprouting in season. If there is no indication on the price tag, look at the side of the packing cases (if it is not in those green plastic ones) for evidence of country of origin. If no UK-grown broccoli is available during the season, don’t be afraid to ask a manager or customer services; your demands will be noted. Organic broccoli is available in some supermarkets.

Where to buy British broccoli in season

Fresh, locally sourced broccoli can usually be bought at farmers’ markets and farm shops. To find the ones nearest to you, check www.farmersmarkets.net (tel: 0845 458 8420), or www.lfm.org.uk (tel: 020 7833 0338) for London. For details of farm shops, look at www.farma.org.uk or www.bigbarn.co.uk.

Box schemes can deliver both green and purple sprouting broccoli to your door. They are listed in the directory on the Soil Association website (www.soilassociation.org) or your nearest local scheme can be found on the local food network (www.localfoodworks.org).

The following retailers specialise in organic vegetables:

Abel & Cole, 8-15 MGI Estate, Milkwood Road, London SE24 OJFTel: 0845 262 6262www.abel-cole.co.uk

Home delivery nationwide.

Farmaround Organic, Office BI43, New Covent Garden Market,Nine Elms Lane, London SW8 5PATel: 020 7627 8066 (home delivery in London)Tel: 01748 821 I 16 (home delivery in the north of England)www.farmaround.co.uk

Fresh Food Company, The Orchard, 50 Wormholt Road,London W12 OLSTel: 020 8749 8778www.freshfood.co.uk

Home delivery nationwide.

Growing Communities, The Old Fire Station, 61 Leswin Road,London N16 7NYTel: 020 7502 7588www.growingcommunities.org

Collection only, reducing the price for London customers. There are three collection points, including this one; call to find the nearest.

Organic Connections, Riverdale, Town Street, Upwell, Wisbech,Cambridgeshire PEI4 9AFTel: 01945 773374www.organic-connections.co.uk

Home delivery nationwide.

Riverford Organic Vegetables Ltd, Wash Barn, Buckfastleigh,Devon TQ11 OLDTel: 0845 600 2311www.riverford.co.uk

Home delivery in London, Midlands and the Southwest.

Solstice Home, Unit 851-2, New Covent Garden Market,London SW8 5EETel: 020 7498 7700www.solstice.co.uk

Home delivery nationwide.

Sunnyfields Organic, Jacobs Gutter Lane, Totton,Southampton SO40 9FXTel: 02380 861266www.sunnyfields.co.uk

Home delivery in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey and Central London.

BURGERS

Burgers are almost synonymous with the BSE cattle disease scandal, yet there’s no denting our passion for them. A rough estimate reports that we consume nearly a million tonnes of burgers a year, yet in spite of new labelling laws that tell us more about the burger in the shop than ever, many commercial burgers are only partially beef (or other meat) and in some types of burger, only part of that need actually be muscle. The rest? Well, well, try fat, gristle and mechanically recovered meat…

Is the burger in the shop a bargain?

No! Frequently the price of lean minced beef is below that of ready-made burgers, which may contain added ingredients.

What do the various burger names on the packs mean?

UK regulations governing the labelling of burgers divides them into three types:

• Burgers – must contain at least 80 per cent of the meat or food named in the title, e.g. beef or chicken. Some 65 per cent of the meat must be lean.

• Economy burgers – must contain at least 60 per cent of the meat or food named in the title. Some 65 per cent of the meat must be lean.

• Hamburgers—the meat used must be pork, beef or a mixture and the burger must contain at least 80 per cent meat, with 65 per cent of that being lean meat.

So what else is in burgers?

Fat can be added, and you will know it is there because much will run, or render, during cooking, leaving a very thin burger. If offal is added, it must be itemised on the label, but you are unlikely to find it in shop-bought burgers. Mechanically recovered meat (MRM) may be present. This is a deeply unpleasant paste made up of meat scraps recovered by suction from the carcasses of beef, lamb and pork. However, public revulsion for products like MRM makes it a more likely ingredient in caterers’ burgers. Until 1996 MRM could contain beef spinal cord but since BSE any material that could pose a risk to humans is removed.

Where does the beef in the burger come from?

Most burgers are made from beef, although lamb, venison and pork burgers are also available, often from specialist butchers. The beef in commercial burgers is likely to be from the 50 per cent consumed in the UK that is derived from the dairy industry. Male calves, clearly unwanted at dairy farms, are reared for beef, although they will never match the specialist beef breeds in quality. They will often be reared indoors or in yards, and grow quickly on a diet containing high levels of concentrated feeds and silage. They are finished (fattened up) as quickly as possible. Transport to slaughter may well involve long journeys in close confinement, increasing stress and the risk of infectious diseases such as pneumonia.

Does the welfare of livestock affect the flavour of
beef burgers?

It is nothing like as important as it is with beef that is reared to be the Sunday roast, because the beef is minced, doing away with the need to take steps to ensure tenderness, a good ‘marbling’ of fat or good-sized roasting joints. It has been proven, however, that poor standards of welfare and increased stress levels in livestock alter the PH balance in the meat, which affects both flavour and tenderness.

Can I tell from the label how the animal was reared?

Beef labelled ‘naturally reared’, ‘free range’, ‘grass fed’ or ‘organic’ should hail from welfare-friendly systems. If no information of this kind is given on labels (or on posters and leaflets in butcher’s shops) you can surmise by their omission that the burger you are buying has come from an intensive bull-beef system. All shops need to provide more information at the point where beef is sold. The Soil Association logo is a guarantee of good welfare but conventional farms can have excellent systems, too.

Is the beef in the burger British?

It is good to know that it usually is, because intensive systems in exporting countries fall short of our standards. Beef labelling laws insist that the country of origin is marked on packs—but watch out for some clever marketing. Some exporting countries are rearing British breeds such as Aberdeen Angus and mark this on labels to make the burgers look British. Turn the pack over and you will see the words ‘Britain, Ireland and South America’ in the country of origin box on the official label, indicating that the Aberdeen Angus breed was reared abroad.

Where does imported beef for burgers come from?

We import about a third of the beef we eat, including beef from Ireland, which most UK consumers feel is British. But we also import from other European countries, especially Holland. Outside the EU, the main exporting countries are Brazil and Argentina, plus some African countries. They have to pay a levy to export, so the economics do not always work well for them, and supply is erratic.

Burgers can contain a mixture of British and imported meat. In 2005, inspectors from Quality Meat Scotland (a trade organisation that promotes Scottish meat—it must be said) found traces of low-grade beef in burger samples taken from retailers. They also DNA-tested samples on sale in Scotland, revealing that all contained Zebu genetics—meaning the beef is from Bos Indicus cattle, which are specially bred for tropical climates but whose meat has a low eating quality.

Are there GMOs in beef burgers?

UK-reared livestock can be given GM feed and this does not need to be declared on the label. The manufacturers argue that the GM feed travels through the body of the animal and no genetic material is absorbed. The environmental sector remains very uncomfortable with this.

What else is in burgers?

All burgers, especially economy burgers (see above) can be bulked out with cereal. There would be nothing wrong with adding a pure cereal—in the Middle East, lamb patties are made more delicious with the addition of cracked bulgar wheat—but the cereal bulk in most burgers is either tasteless rusk or breadcrumbs, and both contain additives. These include yeast extract (very popular among burger makers) as a flavouring, wheat protein, wheat flour, pea fibre, onion powder, soya protein isolate, fat (usually beef), plus sodium metabisulphite (E223), sodium sulphite (E221), neither of which is recommended for children, and the stabiliser sodium phosphate (E339) (which can be used as a laxative). Burgers may also contain hydrolised vegetable protein (HVP), a plant-based flavouring (usually soya) that has been chemically altered to imitate the flavour of meat. HVP has been found to contain the carcinogen chloropropanol, sometimes called 3MCPD.

What the supermarkets say

Waitrose stocks both organic and conventional burgers, both made using forequarter cuts of meat sourced from the UK. The beef content of each product varies from 92 to 99 per cent. The cattle that supply the beef are fed a GM-free diet.

Tesco’s beef burgers are 82 per cent beef and made from forequarter trim cuts from beef sourced from the UK and the Republic of Ireland. It did not indicate if the cattle are fed GM material. Tesco does not sell an organic range.

Marks & Spencer sells burgers made from forequarter beef sourced from Scotland, England and Northern Ireland. Their burgers are 94 per cent beef. The meat comes from suckler herds naturally reared on their mothers for six months, then fed on a forage-based diet.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.