Call for ‘Fast-Food Fruit and Veg’ Carts

STREET vendors selling fruit and vegetables should get priority over fast food stands for pitches in towns and cities to encourage people to eat their five-a-day portions, the Government says.

Councils are being urged to give stalls selling healthy food first option on existing pitches and should consider setting up new sites to catch commuters to cut the 70,000 UK deaths blamed on poor diets each year.

The idea is based on a New York scheme, where specially-branded “Green Carts” are being set up in areas with high rates

of obesity and diabetes, while new standards will also be

introduced to improve the quality of food served in hospitals, prisons and other public buildings.

It comes as Gordon Brown urged families to eat prudently, store food properly and plan meals ahead to cut the amount of food they waste to help tackle food shortages which are forcing up prices.

Yesterday’s Food Matters study by the Cabinet Office revealed the average home wastes Pounds 420 a year throwing away food, causing unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions equal to 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

As Mr Brown arrived in Japan for the G8 meeting where global food prices were high on the agenda, the report, which covered climate change, safer food, healthier diets and fair prices, said rising agricultural prices and higher energy costs have “put a brake on the long-term trend of food becoming ever more affordable”.

In the UK the poor are being hit hardest, with the poorest 10 per cent of families spending 15 per cent of their expenditure on food in 2005-2006, compared to the richest 10 per cent of households which spent just seven per cent, the study said.

Mr Brown said: “Recent food price increases are a powerful reminder that access to ever more affordable food cannot be taken for granted, and it is the family finances of the poorest in our society that are hit hardest when food prices rise.”

He added: “It is right to remind people how Pounds 8 a week is wasted in our food consumption and then we can do better at home as well.”

The report said councils could encourage fruit and vegetable stalls by giving priority to vendors selling healthy food, and suggests extra pitches could be created near bus and train stations. Councils are also urged to back farmers’ markets and allotments.

A new kite mark will encourage firms who provide the public sector to create “nutritionally-balanced” menus, sourcing healthier foods which could also mean more local produce being used.

Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said: “Our ultimate aim is for healthy food to be the norm across England – in hospitals, care homes, prisons and in all public workplaces across the country and to ensure that patients are well fed.”

Mr Brown’s comments on waste were backed by Friends of the Earth, but the Tories were critical, claiming the Department for Communities and Local Government alone wastes 20 tonnes of food each year.

“While the Government is telling households to reduce food waste it has no idea how much food it is throwing away itself. This is yet again a clear case of the Government saying ‘do as we say not as we do’,” Shadow Environment Secretary Peter Ainsworth said.

Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Steve Webb said: “The problem of food waste has been made worse by the Government’s failure to get tough with supermarkets. Supermarkets make it harder for householders to avoid food waste, while throwing away large quantities of edible food through poor stock management.”

Kath Dalmeny, policy director of food and farming alliance Sustain, said: “Gordon Brown is right to say that wasting good food also wastes money. But he appears to point the finger of blame only at individuals, rather than telling supermarkets that they need to sharpen up their practices.”

(c) 2008 Yorkshire Post. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.