If you are interested in good food, then it is pretty difficult to ignore the fact that what we eat and how we eat it has been subverted over many years to build the fortunes of some at the expense of the health and satisfaction of the rest of us. On this page I am listing various campaigns which have attracted my interest. If you wish to support them simply go to their website and decide for your self.

I do try, however, to avoid contentious issues that owe nothing to scientific sence. So I have not listed the Freinds of the Earth campaign against GM food, since their interpretation of the science is dodgy to say the least.

I am more interested in campaigns that address the way food is marketed, what we are told about it and, ultimately, being able to choose the best food locally.

This is my list:

The Children’s Food Campaign wants to improve young people’s health and well-being through better food – and food teaching – in schools and by protecting children from junk food marketing.  We are supported by over 300 organisations and 12,000 members of the public.

The Children’s Food Campaign wants:

• Better food in schools
• To protect children from junk food advertising
• Clear food labelling that everyone can understand, including children

Click Here for their Website

 

Focus on Food is a campaign whcih raises teh profile and importance of food education and hwlps secure, sustain and strengthen the satus of food in primary and secondary schools.

At the heart of the Campaign is the drive to:

• Ensure cooking is at the core of food education;
• Improve food teacher training;
• Improve food teaching facilities in schools;
• Implement a whole-school approach to food in all schools;
• Make food education compulsory in all primary and secondary schools.
• Support cooking in the wider community.

 Click here for their website

The RSPCA has launched a campaign supported by their Freedom Foods label. This campaigns monitors and approves animal welfare conditions within farms.

Freedom Food is the only UK farm assurance scheme dedicated to improving farm animal welfare. As a consumer you can show your support by choosing products with the Freedom Food logo.

They are also running a petition highlighting the problems of chicken in particular. This is not about taste, but about welfare and caring, and from an organisation that has the power to get noticed. 

 Click here for their website

Do you know about the life your fresh supermarket chickens led before they reached the table?

Few people know about the conditions suffered by most broiler chickens - those reared for meat.

95% of the chicken eaten in the UK has been intensively farmed.

Farmers are under pressure to produce poultry as quickly and cheaply as possible - which means birds live short lives, in cramped conditions, without ever seeing natural daylight.   They commonly develop severe injuries and disabilities, associated with unnaturally fast weight gain and restricted movement. 

See the Chicken Out website for more details 

From their website:

Do you care about what you eat?
The Food Commission cares about the food we eat and is committed to ensuring good quality food for all. The Food Commission is a national non-profit organisation campaigning for the right to safe, wholesome food.

The food commision also publishes the quarterly Food Magazine.

Click here to find out more

The Soil Association has grown more and more into the public conciousness as the arbiter of what is "organic" in our shops. But their influence stretches far further now:

"The Soil Association exists to research, develop and promote sustainable relationships between the soil, plants, animals, people and the biosphere, in order to produce healthy food and other products while protecting and enhancing the environment."

Click here for their website 

Tags: food campaigns supermarkets children health advertising
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