Caterer Letters

07 November 2003 by
Caterer Letters

We should welcome consumers who want to know what they're eating

Forbes Mutch says that the "Origin of the species can only go so far" (Caterer, 23 October, page 5), but the issue of traceability goes a lot deeper than labelling on menus.

For years, food manufacturers have been getting away with whatever they can in terms of labelling, in order to market and sell their goods. They source ingredients at the lowest-possible cost to produce the highest possible margin.

The cost of cheaply imported food has had a massive impact on the cost and quality of home-grown produce and, because there is very little promotion of national and regional ingredients, there is little demand for it.

While 70% of British consumers think that the food they eat and buy is British, the reality is that only 40% of it is. But it's not just the fact that it's not British that's the worry. The real problem is that no one knows what they are eating.

The aim of "Menu Transparency" is to highlight the origin and quality of ingredients, give reassurance to the consumer and create a demand for better-quality produce. It's about educating the public to make informed choices on what they eat.

That education starts with suppliers and chefs, whose influence then transfers into food manufacturing.

As a representative of food developers in the industry I would like to see more initiatives by suppliers, chefs and food produces to educate the consumer and help improve the quality of the food we all eat.

Mark Rigby
Director, Development Chefs Network
By e-mail

Forbes Mutch surprisingly suggests that it would be a "nightmare" if customers were encouraged to start questioning the origin of other ingredients.

The catering industry in the UK has benefited in recent decades, not only from changing lifestyles and increased demand for the consumption of food outside the home, but also from consumers' increased interest in food styles, flavours, types of cooking, etc.

Consumers who show an interest in authenticity, seasonality, provenance - and their numbers are growing - should surely be welcomed by the industry, rather than feared. The industry can only benefit from customers' enhanced interest in what is on the plate in front of them.

Richard Lowe
Marketing Director, Meat & Livestock Commission, Milton Keynes

Forbes Mutch's assertion that the "Origin of the Species can go only so far" is technically incorrect.

Byford Computers, Manchester, and I - along with a major European software organisation - have been working on food traceability issues for some time. The good news is that we have a working solution that makes possible the automatic capture of food data as products move from production to assembly and final consumption. Full information regarding every ingredient served on the restaurant plate is captured and held for traceability and compliance. Aggregate data is private, protected and safe. However, specific produce data may be disclosed as appropriate. Hence, a menu could disclose instantly all relevant data by request, digitally.

There is little administrative burden on the chef or purchasing office or supplier, and we see the further transparency offered by traceability as a tool for major productivity and gain across the entire food chain. Traceability is a two-way information process, and if demand can be better matched with production then efficiency will increase.

Over the next few years a European Food Sector Traceability Standard will emerge and offer a remarkable transformation to food chain integrity, purchasing, safety and cost.

The food retailer and caterer will overnight have the tools necessary to deliver even better service. And hopefully, with better resources available to all, we can obliterate world hunger.

Dermott Reilly
Co-ordinator, Food Traceability, Plessla, France

The Inland Revenue is only being fair

Steve Wright is absolutely right to say that the Inland Revenue will never approach an inquiry [into staff gratuity payments] with the intention of putting a restaurant out of business (Caterer, 16 October, page 22). Inquiries are conducted for two reasons - to ensure that, in future, a business operates on a correct footing, and to recover any tax and National Insurance payments that should have been paid in the past, but have not. Naturally, it is the latter that receives the most attention.

The Revenue focuses its compliance activities on those areas where it sees a substantial risk of loss to the Exchequer. It doesn't make or change the rules - that is down to Parliament and the courts.

Many establishments deal with tips and service charges correctly, either by paying them to staff as part of basic pay with tax and national Insurance, or by having properly constituted and operated tronc systems. If those businesses can meet their obligations, the Revenue is entitled to ask why others can't.

Those properly run businesses are, in turn, entitled to ask the Revenue what it is doing about their competitors who are gaining financial advantage over them by not meeting their obligations. Let's not forget here that we are, primarily, talking about National Insurance contributions - the money that pays for pensions and healthcare.

The Revenue is committed to providing businesses with all the help and support they need. But there is a balance to be struck and we must be fair to those who have been getting it right all along.

Paul Franklin
Press Secretary, Inland Revenue, London

No chefs, no recipes, no food… I loved it

Caterer is to be congratulated on its new Inside Hotels series (Caterer, 9 October). Can you believe it - 19 pages without a picture of a chef (known or unknown)? Indeed, I could not detect a recipe or even a picture of a meal. It comes to something noteworthy when the magazine gets back to its core activity.

Let the crusade continue, with more news, investigative journalism, analysis, statistics and a greater emphasis on the management of our industry in general.

Martin Cummings
Proprietor, Amberley Castle, Arundel, West Sussex

We will do our best, Martin. However, I think that even you will agree that food is the one common denominator in all hospitality businesses and plays an important part in an increasingly fragmented industry. Managers in all disciplines need to know what is going on in the world of cooking - Ed.

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