Caroline Allen, Green Party Animal Welfare Spokesperson, says that given the multiple crises affecting our food supply chains it is not surprising that cheap filler ingredients make their way onto supermarket shelves.
“The relentless rise of food prices- including feed price for animals -means that processors will have to be increasingly inventive to continue to provide the cheap food the supermarkets require.
“Increasingly unpredictable weather patterns mean that recent price rises are probably the beginning of a long term trend. At the same time massive cuts at the Food Standards Agency have left it hardly able to provide its most basic duties regarding food safety and traceability. The work they carried out on issues such as food labelling and nutrition has all but ceased, at a time when it is most desperately needed.
“With inadequate policing of this massive industry these scandals will continue. It is surely time for a regulator of the supermarkets and food processors with real powers, a well funded body properly monitoring what is being placed in processed food. But more importantly we need to relocalise the food chain; reducing waste, improving traceability and supporting our farmers- creating a system of food production with resilience in face of the challenges of a changing climate.”