NFWI Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) Campaign
Reflections on BBC Countryfile Programme for St. David’s Day Sunday, 1st March 2015 from Pembrokeshire for St. David’s Day, with presenter Tom talking to members of Hanbridge WI Group, Chester, and to Marylyn Haines-Evans, Chair Public Affairs Committee, (COOL) with regard to WI campaign for mandatory country of origin labelling for all meat products to enable customers to make choice applicable purchases of meat food items.
Countryfile’s presenter also spoke with Premier Foods Management Consultant about the pros and cons of sourcing meat for their products, increased food labelling and its effect on purchase price for food providers and customers.
The programme was instantly reviewed and posted on by WI FaceBook Page commentators including our Adderbury & District WI Page. The content of BBC’s Countryfile is always compulsive viewing and last night’s production particularly interesting since it aired an interview with ongoing NFWI Campaign for mandatory country of origin labelling (COOL) with Chair Marylyn Haines-Evans, and comments by WI Hanbridge Group, of Chester, members on the importance of increased food labelling for all meat products designated as UK products and embossed with the Union Jack.
See Adderbury & District WI and The WI.org.uk comments on FaceBook from last night, Sunday, 1st March:
Adderbury & District WI Page on FaceBook
“Watching BBC programme Countryfile from Pembrokeshire, Wales for St. David’s Day which featured content on increased food labelling campaigning by the Women’s Institute over the last five years. The Presenter Tom, visited local WI Group at Hanbridge in Chester to discuss with members the importance of exact Mandatory labelling to advise buyers that the product they were buying contained only UK produced items. The programme also featured WI Chair of Public Affairs Committee, Marylyn Haines-Evans, who highlighted a British sausages product as an example, citing the use of non-UK meat in a product designated by the use of the Union Jack Tom also spoke with Premier Foods Management Consultant about the pros and cons of more exact labelling for consumer and producer alike.
The programme highlighted the fact of the WI’s campaigning action since the very beginning of its first centenary, way back in 1915, and here we are in 2015 and still campaigning for good food matters and practices.
We Are WI….thank goodness xxx”
And reported on FaceBook by me and others.
“Countryfile programme for St. David’s Day from Pembrokeshire with WI Group at Hanbridge in Chester for members views and comments and to hear Marylyn Haines-Evans speaking about a British product Pork Sausages using pork from another country with reference to WI COOL (mandatory Country of Origin Labelling) for all meat products to assist shoppers choice for buying the food they want for their consumption and use.”
FaceBook Page Comment from “The WI.org.uk
“Posting about Countryfile programme and WI COOL Campaign (mandatory Country of Origin Labelling) with input from Marylyn Haines-Evans – Chair of Public Affairs Committee re new/extra meat labelling to show country of origin – campaign over last five years.
The NFWI is campaigning for mandatory country of origin labelling for all meat products. WI members believe that shoppers want accurate information about where their food comes from, so they can make informed choices about the food they buy.
However a current loophole in the law means that current food labelling practices can be confusing. Foodstuffs are labelled as the product of the country in which they underwent the last “substantial change”.
“This means that a pork pie made in a factory in Britain can be labelled as “made in the UK” even if it is made with
imported meat. For many shoppers this is misleading as they assume, for example, that “British sausages” will be made with meat from British pigs.
Manufacturers like this system because it is simple and allows them to source ingredients widely without changing labels. But food is not something that is produced in a factory. It is produced from ingredients grown and reared in fields and shoppers want information that reflects a product’s true providence from field to fork.”
Margaret Halstead