HARRIS + HOOLE SODA BAN NEW YEAR HONOURS WATER FUND Sensible or sinister – New York is taking a Companies with health How hospitality small brands + big firms hard line with soft drinks at their heart businesses can raise £1bn FOOTPRSustainaBLE RESPONSIBLE Business NTFEBRUARY 2013 £4.50 Hung out to dry: the case of the disappearing mackerel FOOTPRINT FORUM LAST CHANCE! GM – Contemptible or Inevitable? Hosted by the USDA at the US Embassy, Grosvenor Square 28th February 1400 - 1730 Strictly members and by invitation only Registration: www.foodservicefootprint.com/event/footprint-forum-gm Footprint Awards 2013 Open for Entries www.footprint-awards.com Footprint Awards 2013 Dinner 23rd May at Royal Institute of British Architects CONTENTS COMMENT News 4 Analysis: Mackerel is no longer sustainable. What does it mean for healthy diets? 6 Analysis: The small coffee shop with the big brother My beef with the 7 Green Scene: Zero waste becomes a reality 8 Waste Watch Comment pork scandal 8 Halfway into its term, the coalition is a long way from being the “greenest government ever” 11 Viewpoint: The water fund that could help David Burrows hospitality businesses raise £1bn Editor-in-chief Features 12 Health & Vitality Honours: The inaugural honours showcase the work being done on T’S BEEN a tough couple of weeks for “unwitting members of the public”. It was wellbeing the British food industry. First there obvious then that foodservice – and the 14 Health & Vitality: A ban on large sugary Iwas the discovery of horse DNA in retail sector – found the issues around halal drinks is introduced in New York next burgers supplied by the food manufacturer challenging. And yet, two years on, we find month. Could it work in the UK? ABP to the likes of Burger King and Tesco. ourselves at the centre of another storm and 16 Profit sector: The small changes to staff Then pork DNA turned up in halal pastry still with a confusing certification system behaviour that can cut energy use by 20%. products made by McColgan Quality Foods and no progress on labelling. 19 Supply chain: BaxterStorey has given its and supplied to prisons through distributor Fingers can be pointed and apologies chefs the chequebook and encouraged them to source locally 3663. Islamic law forbids the consumption offered, but what consumers want is action. of pork. The new testing regime is welcome, as is 20 Products & Equipment: Meat is already expensive, but a new report suggests using Cue much pointing of fingers and the publication of the results. Europe is also even better cuts will help cut emissions soundbites in the media – “shocked” and considering labels showing how animals are 22 The Next Green Thing: The optimisation of “unacceptable” were frequently used by slaughtered. energy supplies ministers, standards agencies and food This focus on transparency and information companies alike – and then an emergency now needs to spread through the supply meeting. In a few hours the need for a new chain: whether you are a producer, CONTACTS testing regime was agreed. Given the nature processor, distributor, caterer or retailer – of the cases and the consumer backlash for and whether it’s meat, fruit, coffee or any Editor-in-chief some of the UK’s best-known brands, the other product – you have a responsibility David Burrows - [email protected] Chief sub editor Food Standards Agency needs to turn the to know what is going on above and below James Eagle theory into practice quickly. you in the chain. Yes, we need to get to the Contributors Anya Hart Dyke, Rich Wolf New testing regimes cannot be rushed, bottom of the who, why and how of the pork News but while the horsemeat issue took us by and horsemeat scandals, but enough of the [email protected] Art direction surprise, there have been questions about finger-pointing: we all have a responsibility Trevor Marshall - [email protected] halal before. In 2011, Footprint convened a to put the quality stamp back on the British Financial controller Eve Mahler - [email protected] roundtable following investigations by the food industry and ensure that consumers CEO Mail on Sunday into halal being served to trust what they are being sold. Nick Fenwicke-Clennell - [email protected] Managing director Charles Miers - [email protected] Footprint Publishing Ltd, a subsidiary of Footprint Media Group, cannot accept Advertising responsibility for unsolicited submissions, manuscripts and photographs. No part of [email protected] this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the publishers. Whilst every care is taken, prices and details are subject to change and Footprint Accounts Publishing Ltd takes no responsibility for omissions and errors. We reserve the right to [email protected] publish and edit any letters. All rights reserved. MSC certified fish sales have grown by 100% on a compound basis for the last few years. Fair trade sales have topped £1 billion and are expected to out strip mainstream product growth. It is clear that the consumer now really cares. Delphis Eco’s accredited, ecological cleaning range is another way to make this positive change. www.delphiseco.com FOOTPRINT | FEBRUARY 2013 3 FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS No return for the mack? Fears of overfishing may put mackerel’s comeback on hold as customers face a tough choice between eating healthily and sustainably, writes David Burrows. HAT A DIFFERENCE two catches” advised by ICES, the International the science isn’t in doubt. “It is important years make. This time in 2011, Council for the Exploration of the Sea. to recognise that science and the fishing Wmackerel was riding on the crest The European Union has been desperately industry are in agreement on this one – of a wave – in plentiful supply, promoted as trying to broker a deal that will limit catches stocks of mackerel are plentiful. What we part of a healthy diet thanks to its high levels to sustainable levels. Iceland has argued are all looking at though is the future of the of omega-3 fats and backed by a Channel 4 that it needs to catch more mackerel to stop stock and the cautionary advice now being and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall campaign the “invasion” crowding out other species, received from some certification bodies if to encourage fish and chip shops to sell while the Faroes walked away from talks the dispute about the north Atlantic quota more of it (“Mackbaps” were in vogue). It to develop an international mackerel stock remains unresolved.” was also cheap. management plan, fearing that its fishermen Few – apart from fishermen in Iceland and But in January this year mackerel hit choppy would be short-changed. the Faroes – disagree that catch levels are waters when the Marine Conservation unsustainable in the long term. The decision Society (MCS) announced it was removing For the time being, stocks appear in may be hasty but one of the roles of the the fish from the “to eat” list. “After years of good health. But few – apart from Marine Conservation Society’s list is to being a popular sustainable choice, mackerel ensure that today’s healthy stocks don’t fishermen in Iceland and the Faroes should no longer be appearing so regularly become tomorrow’s overfished ones. on your dinner plate,” the MCS said. – disagree that catch levels are “We’re not for one minute suggesting that Mackerel “is now rated by the charity as a unsustainable in the long term people stop buying or eating mackerel,” says fish to eat only occasionally”. the society’s fisheries officer, Bernadette Three factors combined to affect mackerel’s The row has spilled over into other quota Clarke. “Mackerel has been downrated to a rating. First, the Marine Stewardship Council talks, with the Faroes pulling out of an level of ‘caution’, but it’s not a fish to avoid. suspended its certification of the north- international agreement on herring. Ian If people want to continue eating mackerel east Atlantic stocks after what it said was Gatt, chief executive at the Scottish Pelagic they should ensure they buy it from as overfishing. Second, scientific data emerged Fishermen’s Association (SPFA), accused sustainable a source as possible.” showing that the breeding-age population is the Faroes of “acting like pirates” over By that she means fish caught locally using in good condition but declining. And third, herring and called for EU sanctions. traditional methods or from suppliers which the mackerel stock moved north, chasing The Scottish government has called for a have signed up to the principles of the its prey of small fish, crustaceans and squid neutral international mediator to be brought Mackerel Industry Northern Sustainability into Faroese and Icelandic waters. Iceland in to resolve the mackerel problem. But with Alliance. and the Faroes have, in turn, caught more no agreement in sight, what does this mean The added complication with mackerel is and more mackerel – in 2005 Iceland caught for the fish? that health experts have long campaigned no mackerel at all, but it now lands 145,000 For the time being, the SPFA and Seafish for people to eat more of it. According tonnes, while the Faroes take another suggest stocks are in good health. Gatt to the British Heart Foundation (BHF), 100,000 tonnes. According to Seafish, the suggested the Marine Conservation Society consumption of oily fish, like mackerel, UK’s authority on seafood, catches by the had reacted “far too quickly” given the “great stands at about one third of a portion per two countries since 2009 have been well deal of uncertainty in the current scientific week, while the recommended intake is one in excess of the agreed “total allowable advice”. Seafish’s CEO, Paul Williams, said portion.