Ah just throw it in the bin

Foodwaste! God how it bugs us all but yet we keep throwing out food.
We don´t mean to waste money. We don´t mean to ignore food in the fridge. We don´t mean to be wasteful, We don´t mean to overshop but we do.



To varying extents, all of us waste food. I am a complete scrooge but at some stage during the week I will still throw something into the bin that should not be there. Most of the time I think I´m great on the food waste issue but actually I´m not. I´m pretty medium rate. I make the "it goes to the dogs" excuse. We have two dogs which are very good at eating anything that falls on the floor, let alone scraps from plates. Unfortunately remembering to cut the Labrador´s food after half a bowl of scraps doesn´t always occur. So we´ve one fat dog and one anorexic terrier which is pretty much the way terriers are.

Some vegetables can go to my two rescue horses but as they are in work and as one is pretty fussy carrots are about the height of it. One thing I am very good at is shopping strategically and planning meals. I just make too much each time. Yes I freeze and make large batches to have later but often serve portions which are too large, particularly to my two children. Watching them say they are full when their plates are still laden with food, it´s tempting to make them suffer it out and eat the lot. But as we now know, this method employed by our parents is a dietary no no. (oh how I suffered at the table with gerbil cheeks full of spinach) so it´s back to the dog´s bowl it goes or into the bin.


Sometimes I get it really wrong - an untouched iceberg lettuce weeping in its wrapping at the back of the fridge and even today - some pork belly I bought which I was really looking forward to roasting tonight with Roosters and beets is somehow three days past the date. How did that happen? Why didn´t I put it in the freezer?



So we know it´s a problem but why do we keep doing it? Perhaps we don´t know Exactly how much it costs. Well now em, we do.

For the past six months by other half, journalist and co-author of the original  Basketcase Philip Boucher-Hayes has been filming a documentary for RTE on food waste in Ireland and examining strategies to curb it. When you tot up the figures it seems that in this country that of every three bags of groceries we bring into the house, one goes in the bin. Yep, throw it in, just like that. The other shocking figure is that according to the EPA - half a billion euros, yes, half a billion, could be saved if we got control of the problem.



As it´s such a large issue spanning everything from hospital food to high end restaurants one of the challenges in making the series was how to reach into our - the viewer´s own shopping and eating behaviour. So the series picked one town - Killorglin in County Kerry to focus on and take case studies of families in terms of what is coming into their house and what is going into the bin.

Here´s the promo for the documentary. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT00WR5hk9k

It´s interesting frankly to see your own behaviour reflected back at you. Everyone has issues with food waste and it goes on in every kitchen. In a country where one in ten people suffer from food poverty its an uncomfortable situation. Philip´s documentary - Waste Watchers is on RTE 1 television is on this 

Sunday at 6.30. 

Irish food´s Riverdance moment

After a Summer and Autumn of hard work and a lot of travel I´ve been so busy with my journalism that I´ve realised I need to post some new stuff here and let those outside Irish media to see what´s going on in Irish food and farming. Happily the big story of this year - our horsemeat scandal ended up being something postive for our food sector. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland who was first to spot the problem earned a lot of credit for lifting the lid on the murky world of "meat agents" and a European trade involving many countries and players and in some cases criminal activity in the food chain.



The truth is that aside from a very small number of rogue players, Irish beef is a fantastic food, extensively farmed, grass fed and fully traceable. In fact since the story broke Ireland has gained new markets for our beef exports and just this week we´ve seen Japan lift a ban on imports of Irish beef since the BSE scandal. Confidence is high in the food we are producing here. In many ways I´m busier than ever in a work sense because the message of our book from 2009 - that food is important, that the economic boom in Ireland ignored the farming and food sector, that the farming sector is one of this country´s selling points is now hugely recognised.

Ireland has more food festivals than ever. More food entrepreneurs than ever. But today I again visited a small food producer - a free range poultry grower whose livelihood is threatened by regulations which he feels are designed for big multinational food businesses and not the small scale individual. This is something I hear a lot on my travels around the country. But despite challenges to small or artisan producers, overall the local food culture here is growing apace. In 2009 when we penned the book there was no such pride in Irish food, and farming was a dirty word. Now there is truly a food to fork culture where many consumers, not just foodies are engaged with trying to buy local food and good quality food. Yes there are still difficulties in the sector and in these times us consumers also have less money to spend. But with less money there is also awareness of Irish food´s huge value to the local economy.


Recently the Dublin Web Summit took place in Ballsbridge Dublin - it´s a giant tech festival if you like, bringing together 10,000 tech start ups, venture capitalists, international brands and 400 international media. For the first time at the web summit not only Irish tech but Irish food was put centre stage. Good Food Ireland - an organisation of food producers and restaurants simply took over the catering. Instead of the usual mass-produced conference food, the delegates dined on venison sausage, Birgitta Curtin´s smoked salmon, relishes and Irish cheeses in a menu designed by Ballymaloe cookery school´s Rory O´Connell.

Watching the delegates taste the food in the beautiful tented setting in Herbert Park Dublin (photographed above) made me realise this really was a special event, a special moment. Finally Irish food was getting the attention it deserved. It was Irish food´s Riverdance moment - an instance where something essential to us and taken for granted is pulled into the limelight and lauded. There is no going back.



Here´s my report from the day on RTE radio´s Drivetime programme
http://podcast.rasset.ie/podcasts/audio/2013/1030/20131030_rteradio1-drivetime-thefoodsum_c20464354_20464356_232_.mp3

Hate to say I told you so #horsemeat

One of the frustrating things about Europe's current horsemeat crisis is that welfare groups in Ireland warned the Department of Agriculture many times about the problems of horses being transported live to Europe. These animals were known not to have passports and dealers openly admitted (also documented in the UCD report of 2010) that forging passports to get horses into factories wasn't an issue.

For many years I have helped the Irish Horse Welfare Trust to try and heighten awareness of the neglect of horses and the issue of live transport. For cattle and sheep transported to Europe or elsewhere there are strict regulations on travel times and welfare, none of which exist for horses. Horses are not checked at Irish ports before they travel for health or individual identification. This free movement of horses under the tripartite agreement between England, Ireland and France was identified in the UCD report as detrimental to bio-hazard controls - laughable now we have proof that many of these horses were going for human consumption. Authorities here denied that Irish horses could be going into the food chain until a Dutch processor in Nijnegan was revealed last week to be selling Irish and Dutch horsemeat as beef. This piece of news closed the circle in effect, though it's still not clear whether this meat came from carcasses killed in Irish abattoirs or from the live trade.

www.IHWT.ie

What we also know is that of the five Irish plants who were granted licenses to slaughter horses to cope with the surplus of horses after our boom years, only two are operating horse slaughtering at present. Why? Because there are much larger numbers (the department estimates around 16,000 horses) going out live on lorries to Europe.

horse transport

If 12500 equines were killed in licensed slaughterhouses (excluding the knackery system) here in 2011, why the larger number of animals going for live transport with its additional costs? Think about it. You have to have a passport (albeit very easy to obtain) to bring a horse to a factory here. Not so if it is killed abroad, even in the UK. The USPCA have identified false passports and forged veterinary signatures used on passports of animals going on the live trade, some which have been dosed with bute or other drugs. So of course the numbers are bigger - it's far easier to get them into a factory in Poland or Italy than in Ireland, as loose as the system here is.

I have two horses, both of whom I could apply for a passport for tomorrow from the 12 agencies allowed to issue them and get both into a factory next week. That's no reflection on B and F Meats et al. It is an illustration of how the passport and identification scheme doesn't work. This situation has been pointed out to the department many times - by myself, the IHWT, the USPCA and the SPCAs involved with horse welfare and rescue. The lack of regulation has been boiling under the surface for so long that it comes to no surprise to anyone involved in horse welfare or movement that there is horsemeat in the food chain. Horses are sold in Ireland for as little as 10 euro. Last year I loaded up a horse with an IHWT officer outside Bray that had been stabbed in the shoulder and was living on a piece of scrap land with no feed or water. It had been sold to a 10 year old child for 30 euro. Doubtless, its destiny was a lorry to Europe before we got hold of it.

An IHWT project on urban horse welfare in Limerick

What has been of little mention throughout this debate is the welfare issues involved here. Horses are put on lorries that are injured, about to foal or dying. Can you imagine the hellish journey these animals go through without food or water to be slaughtered in hellish conditions like those filmed by hidden cameras at the UK abattoir.

What the horsemeat scandal has revealed is there is overwhelming problems with the equine identification and movement system. Vets need to go back into ports, and the passport system enforced. Having a scheme in place is nonsense without enforcement.

These points were put to the Department of Agriculture's chief veterinary office Martin Blake on Primetime by broadcaster Claire Byrne and myself in a segment on the horsemeat issue. It seems there is little admission of the scale of the problem or how long it has been going on for. All I can hope is that recent events will speed up the will to look again at the tripartite agreement. Something radical needs to happen about the welfare and slaughter issues at the heart of this trade, let alone the dangers for us humans the consumers. You can view the segment at the link below.

http://www.rte.ie/news/player/prime-time/2013/0218/

What exactly is a Christmas ham and what's the best way to cook it?

Wet sloppy nightmare or artisan luxury bliss. If you plan to buy a Christmas ham this year here's a few pointers

Firstly what exactly is a ham?

A ham is hind leg of a pig from the femur to the hock. The word gammon derives from the Old Northern French word jambe for hind-leg, and gammon may also be used to refer to a ham or bacon. The depth of meat to the bone is greatest at the top of the hind limb; cutting this piece away from the bone and curing it separately does the job thoroughly and easily. This cut is the original and to this extent authentic form of gammon, though the name is often applied to any round ham steak. Gammon is usually smoked.

What is a free range ham?

Organic ham implies that the pigs are reared in a free range way but there are also many free range producers who don’t feed organic feed and therefore just sell “Free range” pork. New guidelines have been drawn up between the Irish free range producers pig group and Bord Bia and a mark will soon be available to consumers. The prices for free range will generally be higher but believe me, it does taste more flavoursome.

So you’re out rushing around for your Christmas food shop. Why is it important to look at where the ham is from?

Finely sliced ham

Imported European hams have more water and nitrite content allowed. Dutch processors can put up to 17% brine into their meat but only about 10% is allowable here. So an imported ham or packet of rashers that cook down to half their size mightn’t be worth the cheaper price on the supermarket shelf. In the USA a new study in the US found 69 percent of raw pork samples tested positive for yersina a lesser known but serious foodborne pathogen. Countries with less strict food regimes than ours are not worth buying cheap meat from.  

What goes into a ham?

Wet-cured bacon is prepared by immersing sides of bacon in brine or by injecting brine into the meat. It’s popular with manufacturers as it’s a faster and cheaper way to cure, but it has downsides for flavour. The final product is allowed to have up to 10% brine by weight, leading to shrinking on the pan. When you see a white liquid come from your rashers, that’s the brine and is a sign they have been wet cured.

You should be able see the grain of the muscle 

By contrast, dry-cured bacon is rubbed with a mixture of salt and sugar in various proportions and they are given time to cure the meat, taking about 7 days. Some producers will say there really is no such thing as nitrate free ham has pork can only be cured with nitrate. (Some use dried celery extract which has high concentrations of nitrate).  It’s a slower and more labour intensive process but it results in a drier finish and fuller, more pronounced flavour. This is the way meat was cured prior to it becoming an industrial process. You’ll benefit not just from a much better taste, but because there will be less shrinkage during cooking and it is easier to get a nice crisp result.

What’s the best way to cook it?

Choose the right sized ham e.g. a 4kg fillet of ham will feed 10 people and allows a little extra if your family like to help themselves to more on Christmas night. Never!!

Cook the ham on Christmas eve – it takes the pressure off the next day

Weigh the ham and put in a pot with half water and pure apple juice if you have it or a bay leaf, bouquet garni, orange peel or cider

Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes per pound. Some people change this water or soak the ham then fully roast it. If its dry cured it doesn’t need soaking.

Honey and spice glazed ham

Next day, remove skin and score the meat crossways with a sharp knife. Apply your preferred glaze. Honey, mixed spices with cinnamon and cardamon is one of my favourites. A lot of people will put cloves in the ham, a jerk or Caribbean glaze is gorgeous but seriously hot.

You can warm the ham before putting on the glaze. Apply the glaze and put it back in the oven for another 20/30 minutes. (This can all be done while your turkey is resting.)

Do not throw the cooking water out. It can be used to keep the ham moist when roasting in the oven. 

All important - what price should you pay?

Supermarkets –

Lidl have hams from 4.99 a kilo to 7.99 a kilo a gammon and a loin, Irish produced

Dunnes stores cooked ham 4 kilos Bord Bia 50 euro (12.50 a kilo)

Dunnes Stores Dry cured Irish gammon joint 1.9 kilos 19.99 euro

Free range/small producers

www.crowesfarm.ie - outdoor reared dry cure hams and organic dry cure hams, both boneless.

Their Outdoor Reared hams are €9 per kg and the organic are €12.99 per Kg.

Can courier direct to your door, final courier delivery day for Christmas is Dec 22nd and courier is free for orders over €100, below that it's €10..

www.Termonfeckindelicious.ie (I so love that name) – dry cured 13lb (nearly 6 kilos) boneless ham 45 euro. Whole ham on the bone 40 euroBottom of Form

www.Jack McCarthy.ie award winning Kanturk butcher 4 kilos free range boned –

34 euro

www.oldfarm.ie  €14.50 per kg, free-range, gmo free, natural brine cure.  Delivered to your door!

Here's a link to a radio piece I did with Pat Kenny this week on ham (its an hour and 6 mins into the show) and whatever you do, eat plenty of ham this Christmas. 

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/todaywithpatkenny/2012-12-06.html 

"Get a mentor" - fascinating times, fascinating women

Ironically, as the Women in Agriculture conference was taking place in Killarney this week, I was filming for RTE for a piece on women in business and what issues face them in getting ahead.

The video relates to a campaign by the tech industry here titled #changetheratio which aims to bring more women into senior roles in technology. This comes as the numbers of women entering technology based careers are falling. Despite this, companies with female board members actually have improved performance over ones that don't. Realising that this is not only an equality issue but a performance one, companies such as Microsoft and Accenture now have programmes in place to improve the numbers of women working for them.  

Here's a short piece we made yesterday interviewing President Clinton advisor and communications expert Marcy Simon, Claire Duignan head of RTE radio and journalist Miriam O'Callaghan about ways in which women can progress in the workplace. I found them fascinating interviews, all were women from very different backgrounds, including physicist Dr. Deborah Berbichez who grew up in a poor part of rural Mexico and was the first woman to gain a PhD at Stanford. We filmed full interviews with each person but this piece is a short compendium of their advice. Please share if it's a topic that interests you. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8kvsde8_iA&feature=youtu.be

So what's your crap food secret? Here's ours... What's Ireland Eating

Last night on RTE television, journalist (and my other half) Philip Boucher-Hayes presented the second "What's Ireland Eating?" documentary which we developed from the book we wrote together in 2009 - Basketcase; what's happening to Irish food?.

Like the first "What's Ireland Eating" programme which grabbed Irish audiences by the throat last year, it was a powerful investigation on what's going on in the Irish diet. Plenty of shocking footage of visceral fat choking a patient's insides as he lay on the operating table of a Dublin hospital. Plenty of new research denoting that high calorie, high fat, high salt food is not just loosely "addictive" but actually addictive. Norah Volkow, a scientist in addiction from the US explained how even the idea of consuming a food you crave creates a dopamine response, which is often not matched by eating the food itself. So you consume more, to get the same hit. Looking at signage of fast food brands can cause this response in people, with some reaching the point where they can no longer regulate their brain's response or demand for certain foods, let alone deal with what happens once they are in their body.

Let's be clear here. We all eat bad food from time to time. My particular "crap food" favorites are peanut butter, crisps and prawn crackers. In a sequence that was cut from the final edit for time constraints, Philip recorded a food diary, accurate down to the last Skittle and glass of whiskey. Fortunately his main meal that day was a ratatouille that I had made for supper, which is low in calories and thankfully full of pretty good nutrients. The photo on the right shows him receiving his nutritional breakdown which was conducted by Teagasc. Not a very happy face is it? But that's real life, we're not all as healthy as we may think we are.

But is a high calorie snack food bad for you if you only consume it now and again? One of the central questions we wanted to ask in the documentary was - is curing Ireland's obesity problem as simple as saying "everything in moderation". Professor Mike Gibney from UCD shook his head "That's not working is it?" which is pretty much the case. We know more about food values and calorie content in Ireland than perhaps we ever did. Yet our obesity figures are still on the rise. So why are so many of us out of control in our eating habits and does the food industry have a role to play in curbing this pattern?

Should there be a reformulation of ingredients in manufactured foods? Would a sugar tax bring about behaviour change? Should healthier options be subsided by taxing sugary drinks? Is more education the answer? There are many options in the war on obesity that have been employed by other countries - Denmark (fat tax) and some states in the US (banning sodas over 16 ounces in volume, punitive taxes on soda drinks in others) but obestiy is a complex issue that needs a complex set of solutions. As the weight watchers group in Athlone who featured in the documentary admitted "we eat when we're miserable, we eat to celebrate.. that's why we're here". They said that a lot of their excess weight was down to their individual responsibility. On twitter yesterday in Ireland #whatsirelandeating was the topic trending for the entire day with multiple tweets per second as the programme aired "what can we do about obesity... tax the junk food companies.... I never knew a bag of prawn crackers had 600 calories!". What was most important was that Irish people were engaged by the issue and engagement itself has to be part of the solution.

We didn't provide answers in the documentary but asked the questions. If you want to have a look it's on the RTE player at the link below.

http://www.rte.ie/tv/programmes/whats_ireland_eating.html

Can we save our spuds?

The Irish spud is in a bit of a crisis. Sales are declining and Irish farmers say this season they are selling potatoes below the cost of production. Like all commodity producers, potatoes are victims of the marketplace and as Ireland had high yields this year (the crop was very good) there is over supply. Over supply leads to a depressed price, and a very unfortunate situation for farmers who are growing a vegetable that they are ultimately forced to sell at a loss.

Yet many of us still cook potatoes, just less of them. And one of the main reasons in their decline is that we have replaced our staple carbohydrate with newer, glossier contenders - rice, pasta, noodles and even bread. We also import some potatoes, and have turned away from some of the traditional Irish varieties. Tomorrow I'll be on RTE radio discussing this issue and why as consumers are leaving the potato behind.

Or are we? If you're a champion of the potato and use it in inventive and new ways drop me a comment - it's worth keeping in mind that per gram they have still less fat than pasta and rice and are a super-healthy unprocessed food. And also, in the main, Irish. Have a listen to the programme if you're up and about at 8am or catch it on a podcast afterwards from www.rte.ie/radio. And let me know your spud views!

Back to the future; our fabulous female food producers

Basketcase has been on a break the last few weeks while I tackled a large amount of pesky print deadlines. But it means I've a couple of strong (and some very entertaining) food stories coming up and an exciting few projects emerging in the next few months. Tomorrow I'm back on the road in my touring office - (otherwise known as the landrover held together with string) to interview a great rural food producer who is also a woman - Mag Kirwan - pictured left. Just in case there's any confusion, Pat Whelan is the butcher bloke and I'm the one in the middle.

As the Irish food and agriculture sector gets stronger each year and provides more of our exports and GDP, I'm noticing many more rural women involved in producing food, whether it be artisan products or in larger food manufacturing. Over the next few weeks I hope to bring some of their stories on air on RTE radio. One of the reasons I want to feature rural women is that they are huge drivers of growth, both economic and in a wider sense, in rural Ireland. Over many years I've spent reporting on farming and rural issues I found it was often women who were at the centre of rural development projects. In LEADER initiatives such as Ballyhoura in Limerick,

IRD Dullhallow in Cork and around the country, they were plugging away on the ground getting community schemes together, with many of them in the area of food.

It's not hard to see why women and food are a natural pairing in Ireland. While farming was traditionally considered "men's work", Irish women ran mini-enterprises from their kitchens. Selling poultry and eggs provided them with a household income that they could control. On mart days when the family livestock were sold, the profits could end up over the counter of the town pub and if they came home they were reinvested back into the

farm or spent on essentials such as animal fodder for winter or a pig to fatten. Poultry was a way for rural women to accrue money for children's clothes, school books or other needs often

seen as non-essential from a traditional farming point of view.

As in developing countries today, women and small businesses are drivers of upwards mobility. By selling crafts, saving money and forming co-ops they can completely change the future of their children through small measures. Rural women such as my grandmothers were enterprising and resourceful. Both managed dairy herds and a steady supply of eggs with my nana Campbell investing in goats to sell goats milk (very unusual in the 1960's) to local people.

My nana McGauran knitted aran jumpers for extra income. As I child I spent many evenings on the floor of her Fermanagh farmhouse holding yarn spread between my two small arms as she gathered the ream into a single huge ball to knit from. I remember the ticking of the loud slow clock and the open turf fire with its gigantic cast iron pots. My grandmothers also kept poultry flocks, turkeys and seasonally had food solutions to fit whatever produce was available. Always the focus was on saving, economising and getting the best out of what they could get trade, sell or grow. It's ironic in a sense, that while we're going through difficult times in Ireland, these women from our past learned that food can make you money; and it's a tradition we're still playing out today.

I was talking to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland during the week who confirmed that huge numbers of queries are still coming into the organisation from people wanting to start new food businesses. Many are from women who are skilled cooks and have a resource to sell. It never fails to amaze me the passion and will to succeed that food producers have to keep doing what they do. To start businesses in difficult times and in an environment that is heavily regulated as Ireland is no mean feat. But there's new food businesses popping up all the time, and much goodwill and positivity in the sector.

If you want to support rural businesses and small producers there's plenty of fabulous food to choose from. Typically when I visit these women and listen to their inspirational stories I am sent home with a bundle of their produce on the passenger

seat of the jeep - delicious cheese, pork, lamb, milk, chocolate... And guess what? I still buy their food, months or even years afterwards. In fact it's not a stretch to say that on any given week a large amount of what we eat at home is produced by the women below, with some of it (Ann Rudden's chocolate, Ballymaloe relish) making an appearance every single day. This isn't an exhaustive list of Ireland's female food producers, but its a picture of those that I've shared a cup of tea with, or buy from regularly as I really believe in their food. I promise to compile a more thorough version when I get a chance as its a great resource for both for Irish business women and foodies. But for the moment, check them out, buy some of their food and you may create a habit, and some friendships of a lifetime x

Birgitta Curtin from Burren Smokehouse, Bernadine Mulhall Coolanowle organic farm, Eileen Dunne Crescenzi, Ann Rudden from Aine Chocolates, Saoirse Roberts Connemara Smokehouse, Debbie Johnston at Sweetbank Farm, Mag Kirwan Goatsbridge Trout, Mary Kelly Moonshine Cheese, Giana Ferguson Gubbeen Cheese, Margaret Farrell of Oldfarm pork, Sarah Furno at Cashel Blue cheese, Avril Allshire-Howe Roscarberry Recipes, Eileen Bergin The Butlers Pantry, Maxine at Ballymaloe Relish, Emma at Glenisk (we couldn't survive without the Cleary family's milk, yoghurt and cream) Nicole Dunphy at Pandora Bell, Bernie Burke of Burke's ice cream, Kate Carmody Beal Organic cheese, Darina and Myrtle Allen, Amy Caviston of Caviston's fishmongers, Janet Drew from Janet's Country Fayre, Lorraine Fanneran restaurateur and Italian Foodie Sauces, Caroline Hennessey from 8 Degrees Brewing, Jen and Claire from the Dungarvan Brewing company, the amazing Margaret Jeffares from Good Food Ireland, Sharon Ni Chonchuir Dingle food seller, Hannah from Waterfall Farm, Santina Kennedy from Kennedy's Enniskerry, Glenillen Farm, and finally The Dominican nuns at An Tairseagh organic food market, Wicklow.

Happy Eating x

Fat tax adds 6% to price of cream; supermarket charges 17% more, just for the hell of it. The Denmark fat tax experience

Yes sometimes I moan about supermarkets, but I never thought they could have an active role in mucking up public health policy.

I recently did a report on RTE radio about Denmark's Fat Tax. Instead of the expected trend in consumers purchasing high calorie foods, what I found was that retailers there are using the tax to fatten their bottom line. A price survey of eight supermarkets carried out by weekly Danish newspaper Søndagsavisen with co-operation from the Tax Ministry, revealed that prices on many fatty foods were significantly higher than warranted by the tax’s introduction.

For example, while Skat – the Danish Tax and Customs Administration had calculated that the price of sour cream would increase by 6.6 percent due to the fat tax, the spot check revealed that at supermarket Aldi the price of sour cream was raised by a whopping 17.3 percent.
Aldi was the worst offender in the study, with the supermarket raising prices on 9 of the 10 inspected products by more than what could be accounted for by the new tax. Lidl was also an offender - they had increased the price of sour cream by 15.1 percent more than warranted by the tax. Both of these firms operate in Ireland and in fact are growing their share of the grocery market here.

The Danish Consumer Council’s reaction was “Supermarkets can determine their own prices, so it is not prohibited, but it doesn’t look good.” Yes, it sure doesn't look good. Politicians there have now said that there needs to be a debate on “whether there are ways to protect the consumer.”

In all my analysis of fat taxes and obesity measures around the world I was probably naive to overlook the huge issue of how these taxes are delivered - via the supermarkets. As there is yet no regulation on supermarkets in Ireland, going down a sugar tax or fat tax route could put us in exactly the same postition as the Danes - being fleeced. There are also supermarkets in Denmark who are not charging the new tax and trying to gain competitive advantage. So basically, the public health measures expected from the tax are at the whim of the companies who deliver them.

Later this winter we should have legislation here on a proposed new supermarket ombudsman and the possibility of at last protecting both consumers and food producers. After giving a witness statement at an Oireachtas Committee on this back in 2009 it's getting critical that something finally be done. Successive governments here have shirked their responsibilities on the issue. The Danish example just goes to prove that if you have no legal framework to work with the supermarkets on pricing then you may as well be throwing public health measures down the pan.

If you want to hear my discussion with Pat Kenny on the Danish fat tax dilemma it's on the following link; scroll down to November 1st and you'll see my name and the Fat Tax item.

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/podcast/podcast_patkenny.xml

What's Ireland Eating... that's a good question

Last night our documentary which aired last May was repeated on RTE again. It came out of the book Philip and I wrote about food, and discussions we still have about global food systems, food safety, supermarkets, farming and the quality and price of what goes into our gobs. If you missed it the documentary will be on the RTE player and free to view for the next month or so at the link below;
http://tinyurl.com/6kdww6z

The documentary was made following a television proposal I wrote of Basketcase; What's happening to Irish Food, which was the book Philip Boucher-Hayes and myself co-authored back in 2009 (Philip is an RTE journalist and also my husband). On the left is a picture of us working happily together for the publicity of the book. Just remember I said the word Publicity, although in actual fact we work pretty well together... we'd want to - after one book, one documentary and countless other projects including two children it's simply the way it has to be. Although Philip was rubbish at finishing his section of the book on time - procrastinating brilliantly by putting up Christmas decorations that took two months to complete. At one point we were going to write in the dedication "We hope you enjoy this book, and if you find some of it quite not up to scratch you should see our Christmas decorations - they're fabulous".

We are currently preparing "What's Ireland Eating 2", and hope to start filming in 2012, so I'll keep you posted on the programme and give some hints towards what we're covering, all I can say for the moment is.... chicken. Happy eating folks

The Susan Boyles of the Sea finally have their moment

Did a report on RTE radio’s Countrywide programme last weekend on factory farming and the labelling of Irish and non-Irish food. It’s such a tricky area. Basically we all want to know our food is safe and that it’s produced under decent standards. And if we’re really interested in food, we also want to know where it’s coming from. Organic free range chicken sold at an Irish farmers market versus Chinese mega chicken unit with 50,000 birds. Which would you choose?

The problem is that Country of Origin labelling does not exist in the EU, although this may be soon about to change. In EU speak there is currently a “re-cast” of labelling laws taking place, which may bring in Country of Providence onto the label. This is a great development and means that we can get a bit more clarity as opposed to the present fog of imports and misnamed product. It's particularly relevant with chicken as four million chicken fillets are imported into this country every week, mainly from Thailand and Brazil. In fact at food service level in Ireland - which is restaurants, work canteens, sandwich bars and garages (don’t dare to pretend you don’t garage graze), imported chicken accounts for 95% of what is sold. Apparently we're mad for chicken, but we probably wouldn't be that mad about it if we knew where much of it is coming from.

It was good timing that we discussed food labelling on the programme as two days before, UCD released the shocking results of tests they did on fish sold in Ireland – showing that 25% of the fish they bought (from fish mongers, supermarkets and fish and chip shops) was not what it said on the label. Most of the chicanery here is going on with cod. It seems that currently in Ireland there is everything under the sun being passed off as cod. Things you never heard of; the Susan Boyles of the fish world – Pollack, Saithe, Greater Argentine – are finally having their moment. Pollack, okay that's not so bad, but Greater Argentine? Is that something to do with The Falklands? I spoke to Professor Alan Reilly from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland whose sorry task it is to investigate this matter. He reminded me that food adulteration, or in this case, food substitution is one of the oldest tricks in the book, it's been going on since we began to trade food, or to be more correct, trade rotten meat with the edges cut off to some poor sucker. The FSAI are going to have a lot of digging to do on this one so watch this space. The hilarious thing is, no one noticed that what they were eating wasn't cod. Doesn't say a lot for us consumers does it?