Waste on the Menu

Laura enjoyed a three course lunch made from food waste
BBC’s Great British “Waste” Menu revealed that 30% of food is thrown away
With over 30% of good food wasted, Laura Sandys MP for South Thanet and Sandwich was very pleased to join the campaign to reduce food waste at the BBC’s Great British “Waste” Menu event this weekend. As part of the Great British Menu series the BBC invited 60 VIPs, celebrities and politicians to eat a three course lunch cooked from “food waste”.

“Food waste is not quite what it sounds. We were treated to an offal starter from meat that would have been discarded from an abattoir, as offal is so rarely eaten these days. This was followed by wonderful Kent fish poached with vegetables that would have been thrown away due to overrunning their sell by date. The fish was legally caught but because we do not eat certain species it would have been either turned into fish meal or thrown away. The meal was finished off by some delicious raspberries and strawberries – as sweet as you can imagine but had been rejected by the supermarkets because they were not the right size, “said Laura.

“We cannot go on like this – throwing away good food. It is calculated that 30% of food is dumped either due to not coming up to “aesthetic” standards, or being beyond their sell by date, or from our own fridges. With the likelihood of food prices rising over the next 15-20 years we are going to have a take a totally different attitude to food waste. I have pledged to campaign for a ban to “Display until” or “sell by” dates on food – the only relevant label for the consumer is “eat by”, and I will join others in urging supermarkets to work with charities that re-distribute food to the infirm and needy.”