Elizabeth Attridge who was in charge of food safety in Whitehall in the 1980s told the Government inquiry into BSE
Elizabeth Attridge, who was in charge of food safety in Whitehall in the 1980s, told the Government inquiry into BSE in 1999 how civil servants feared that “food safety was at risk” because manufacturers were reducing the amount of preservatives in their products and the supermarkets didn’t possess enough refrigerator space to keep the food fresh.Food additives are no new thing, of course. Adding sawdust to bread and brick dust to cocoa are ancient dodges. But regulators such as the Government’s Food Standards Agency, require strong scientific evidence before they feel able to take on the food industry and ban additives. Slowly that evidence is emerging.A recent study by Southampton University fed 300 three-year-olds alternate diets with and without artificial food colourings. They try to keep information about the additives they are using off their product labels by using a loophole that allows them to identify “compound ingredients”. Clever manufacturers, says Sams, buy in ready-made “compound ingredients” that can be declared simply as Worcester sauce or raspberry jam or just “natural flavouring”.”Worcester sauce has become a dustbin for ingredients that manufacturers don’t want to declare,” Sams says.
Things are getting better, says the ex-hippy founder of macrobiotic foods in Britain and now chairman of the Soil Association. “There is an emerging market place democracy that is forcing artificial additives out of our foods.”
Craig Sams is in no doubt that the quality of what we eat is improving. In fact, now they have little potential to further expand their markets, the supermarkets want to go for quality They want people to spend more on food. They are becoming a force for good.”It’s an unexpected message from a man who has fought the mainstream food industry for 40 years — ever since he set up a macrobiotic restaurant in north-west London where the likes of Marc Bolan, John Lennon and Yoko Ono sat cross-legged on the floor to eat brown rice and vegetables.But some food manufacturers are fighting the consumer tide.
“The advice they trust tells them that they should eat less sugar and avoid things like hydrogenated fats. They have seen the TV programmes on how colourings, like tartrazine, make their children hyperactive.”And at the end of the day, he says, “Tesco and Sainsbury’s have no vested interest in junk food. It is a shortcut to having the peace of mind that you want.”So there you have it: local is better than foreign; organic is better than non; fair trade is better than rampant capitalism, and organic hens do range freer than free range ones And utilitarianism can be left on the shelf.. Craig Sams is in no doubt that the quality of what we eat is improving. “It worries me that people get so worried about it!” she says “These labels make your shopping easier, not harder. All you have to do to buy conscientiously is to look for the mark.
