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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2017/aug/11/the-guardian-view-on-food-safety-the-price-of-eggs
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| The Guardian view on food safety: the price of eggs | The Guardian view on food safety: the price of eggs |
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| Because it offers so many opportunities for cheating, buying food requires a basic act of trust. There have been laws protecting food standards since Magna Carta first prescribed weights and measures for grain and wine. Yet food fraud has never gone away; and food crime, defined as deliberately acting against the public interest, is thought to cost the British food industry £11bn a year. | Because it offers so many opportunities for cheating, buying food requires a basic act of trust. There have been laws protecting food standards since Magna Carta first prescribed weights and measures for grain and wine. Yet food fraud has never gone away; and food crime, defined as deliberately acting against the public interest, is thought to cost the British food industry £11bn a year. |
| In Victorian times, adulterated flour led to malnutrition. Now it might be honey sweetened with corn syrup. Recently, it has been a great deal worse: barely a fortnight ago, two men were sent to prison for their part in a conspiracy to bulk out minced beef with horsemeat in a conspiracy that stretched across Europe, from Ireland to Poland and Spain to British supermarkets’ cut-price burger offers. This week, millions of eggs and egg products have been withdrawn from sale across Europe and as far afield as Hong Kong for fear that they may have been contaminated with a banned pesticide. The everyday saga of your lunchtime egg mayo sandwich suddenly becomes a cautionary tale of greed, squeezed suppliers, lax regulation and underfunded safeguarding. | In Victorian times, adulterated flour led to malnutrition. Now it might be honey sweetened with corn syrup. Recently, it has been a great deal worse: barely a fortnight ago, two men were sent to prison for their part in a conspiracy to bulk out minced beef with horsemeat in a conspiracy that stretched across Europe, from Ireland to Poland and Spain to British supermarkets’ cut-price burger offers. This week, millions of eggs and egg products have been withdrawn from sale across Europe and as far afield as Hong Kong for fear that they may have been contaminated with a banned pesticide. The everyday saga of your lunchtime egg mayo sandwich suddenly becomes a cautionary tale of greed, squeezed suppliers, lax regulation and underfunded safeguarding. |
| Two men have been arrested in the Netherlands, Europe’s largest producer of eggs and egg products, on suspicion of supplying a banned agent, fipronil, to kill lice infestations. In the UK, in a pattern repeated across Europe, at least 700,000 Dutch eggs that were potentially contaminated have been destroyed and millions of products that might contain them are now being withdrawn. The industry will hope that is the end of this particular egg saga. But it will not be the end of the risk of food fraud. | Two men have been arrested in the Netherlands, Europe’s largest producer of eggs and egg products, on suspicion of supplying a banned agent, fipronil, to kill lice infestations. In the UK, in a pattern repeated across Europe, at least 700,000 Dutch eggs that were potentially contaminated have been destroyed and millions of products that might contain them are now being withdrawn. The industry will hope that is the end of this particular egg saga. But it will not be the end of the risk of food fraud. |
| The structure of the UK food retail industry might have been designed to incentivise bad behaviour. The buying power of the grocery giants, dominated by Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons – under extreme pressure from discount newcomers Aldi and Lidl – both allows and encourages them to squeeze suppliers’ prices. Suppliers respond by paring their own costs to the minimum so that they can still make a profit. Food processors come under pressure, and while packaging is required to show each ingredient of every ready meal and sandwich, it does not have to give the country of origin. So even stores that boast of stocking only British meat can use ingredients in their lasagne and chicken tikka sourced from anywhere in the world at a fraction of the cost, and regardless of animal welfare or food purity issues. So-called Spanish chorizo might not come from Spain, the avocado in your guacamole might be padded out with apple or pear, and as for extra virgin olive oil, such is the premium on the label it is best to try before you buy. | The structure of the UK food retail industry might have been designed to incentivise bad behaviour. The buying power of the grocery giants, dominated by Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons – under extreme pressure from discount newcomers Aldi and Lidl – both allows and encourages them to squeeze suppliers’ prices. Suppliers respond by paring their own costs to the minimum so that they can still make a profit. Food processors come under pressure, and while packaging is required to show each ingredient of every ready meal and sandwich, it does not have to give the country of origin. So even stores that boast of stocking only British meat can use ingredients in their lasagne and chicken tikka sourced from anywhere in the world at a fraction of the cost, and regardless of animal welfare or food purity issues. So-called Spanish chorizo might not come from Spain, the avocado in your guacamole might be padded out with apple or pear, and as for extra virgin olive oil, such is the premium on the label it is best to try before you buy. |
| Professor Chris Elliott, the Belfast food scientist who investigated food safety for the government after the horsemeat scandal, says that the longer and more complex the supply chain, the more opportunities there are for fraud. But the business of policing the industry is dispersed across agencies, and at a local level many cash-starved town halls have put other services ahead of food safety. Underfunded and patchy systems of regulation are one structural weakness. But the one that matters most is the way we consumers care more for price than for value. Downward pressure on what we pay in shop or takeaway discourages inquiry about the real costs of supply. In the horsemeat scandal, adulterated beef sold for little more than half the price of pure mince. There was no penalty on the retailers for stocking it and taking the profit. Until they have to bear more than the embarrassment, there will be a link missing from the chain of trust between the shopper and the shop. | Professor Chris Elliott, the Belfast food scientist who investigated food safety for the government after the horsemeat scandal, says that the longer and more complex the supply chain, the more opportunities there are for fraud. But the business of policing the industry is dispersed across agencies, and at a local level many cash-starved town halls have put other services ahead of food safety. Underfunded and patchy systems of regulation are one structural weakness. But the one that matters most is the way we consumers care more for price than for value. Downward pressure on what we pay in shop or takeaway discourages inquiry about the real costs of supply. In the horsemeat scandal, adulterated beef sold for little more than half the price of pure mince. There was no penalty on the retailers for stocking it and taking the profit. Until they have to bear more than the embarrassment, there will be a link missing from the chain of trust between the shopper and the shop. |
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