Assurance schemes (all of them) will fail to achieve consumer confidence, they will get customer credibility in the short term, but that that is not the object of the exercise. Farm audit's for environmental compliance are needed, but don't fool yourself, they will do nothing towards curing the real problem.

The need for trace-ability has only become a requirement since the supermarkets started selling "OWN BRAND" products, anyone who walks through any supermarket on a regular basis knows that branded products are disappearing. Stop thinking of farm produce for a moment, think of the proportion of food that is processed in one form or another, it all starts from a farm, but what or who has handled it since. Who was the processor/packer?. An obscure code is the best that you will find, it means nothing to the consumer and very little to anyone else.

The supermarkets need leaning on to provided every packet with the minimum of:-

PREPARED BY:- W.E DIDIT &Co Ltd. OUTER MONGOLIA (if prepared product)

PACKED BY:- W.E SENTIT. ALONGWAY (if handled by a third party)

PRODUCED BY:- I GREWIT FARMS Ltd. NOTIN YOURAREA (if farm produce)

BATCH No:- (to prove the item has an identity)

and it may just get the consumers asking why Cornish cauliflower is sold in Thanet etc.

If farmers wish to take on the sins of the food industry, so be it, but is not going to cure the problem.

Trace-ability must be seen by the consumer.

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VIEWS OF THE FOOD INDUSTRY

I would to ask your views on the food industry, starting from the source (usually a farm) through the packing/processing/cooking/freezing to the transport/sale/price/quality. In your opinion what is right or wrong (if anything), who is controlling it and for what reason.

There are a lot of widespread misconceptions on all sides on what the other parties think/do/want, yet nobody seems to try and sort out/explain or even meet in the middle.

Farmers on the defensive through being screwed left right and center.

The scientists are producing figures proving what they recommended 15/20 years ago was wrong (but won't admit it), producing evidence that butter/beef is bad for you, and then it's good for you.

The government/bureaucrats have been doing the usual job of ducking the flying *!?#. The media doing what they are good at, blowing everything out of proportion.

The supermarkets are getting fat at everyone's expense, and the consumer (yes, I am one too) is stuck some where in never-never land wondering what the hell is going on.

INDEX

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