'Stop wasting food', urges Brown

Article supplied by the Soil Association on 7 July 2008

The PM recommends a hands-on approach to checking for freshness and firmness

Britons must stop wasting food in an effort to help combat rising living costs, Gordon Brown has said as he travelled to the G8 summit in Japan. The PM said "unnecessary" purchases were contributing to price rises, and urged people to plan meals in advance and store food properly.

According to the 10-month Cabinet Office report, due to be published later today, British families are throwing away a total of 4.1m tonnes of perfectly good food every year, costing each about £420 annually. The study claims that up to 40% of food harvested in developing countries can be lost before it is consumed, due to the inadequacies of processing, storage and transport. It also concludes more research is needed into whether the production of biofuels will cause food prices to increase further.

Rising prices and the world economy are due to dominate the annual G8 summit. Speaking to reporters, Gordon Brown said the G8 needed to agree a "global plan" to tackle the issue.

UK Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said: "What we are trying to get across is there is this complex relationship between what we buy, the amount, waste, the impact on climate change and the impact on our health."

BBC News online (7 July)
Hilary Benn was interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme, listen again (7 July, from 7.50am)
'Government sets out 21st century challenges for food in the UK' Defra press release (7 July)
The Financial Times (front page, p.6 and G8 Summit Special Report)
The Times (front page, p.6)
The Independent (front page, p.2)
Daily Mail (front page, p.4)
The Guardian (front page, p.2, p.24, p.28)
Sunday Telegraph (6 July, p.33)
Independent on Sunday, 6 July, p.4)