Italian Kids get organic whilst ours get Horsemeat

An interesting contrast between the values placed on the food we serve our children in schools.

In the UK the media reported last Friday that school meals in Lancashire had tested positive for horse DNA whilst in Milan school children will be served organic fruit thanks to a new partnership between Milano Ristorazione, who produce school meals in the city of Milan and the marketing co-op, Garanzia AIAB.  Starting with oranges the intention is that organic apples will also be served once the supply chain has been established.

This reflects the importance placed on providing high quality food to schoolchildren and engaging them in the production and supply of their food and improving their understanding of the environmental issues around food supply.

The statement below from the Garanzia AIAB does not mention price but focuses on health and environment.  Again a contrast from the comments made by Iceland boss, Malcolm Walker suggesting that  local authority buying policies for schools and hospitals were responsible for driving down quality and therefore indirectly responsible for the horse-meat scandal.

"Adoption of organic food in the school canteen has a fundamental significance to the health of children and the quality of food offered, without residues of chemicals used in conventional agriculture-added Catherine Santori, vice president AIAB -. The food offered in the cafeteria to children and teenagers can be, therefore, a means through which to provide the basics of a healthy diet and to understand the environmental impact of agricultural methods of production, processing, transportation and food preparation. Knowledge of the environmental burden of food may influence, therefore, today's children and tomorrow's adults to make informed choices in the future for their food, eating seasonal produce from organic farming. " 

It seems clear that the majority of our food retailers do not value our food production and see the least cost model as the predominant model governing the food industry.  Perhaps we need to re-evaluate our current food supply chains, take a leaf from the Italians' book and as producers take responsibility for supplying our products to our customers.  We can then explain to them the values behind high quality food production rather than leaving that to those whose values focus on least cost and little else.