By 2022, half of the ingredients in meals served in French public institutions will have to be environmentally friendly, according to a measure in the Food Law discussed at the National Assembly on 22 May.
Delphine Batho, former minister for the ecology, sustainable development and energy, supports an amendment stating that organics should make up at least 20 per cent of the products used, according to RTL.
At present, organics account for just 3 per cent of purchases in canteens. 'This is why the law has to intervene,' said Batho, who believes the law will contribute to the upscaling of French agriculture.
'It will cost no more,” she reassured consumers, “because communities will have to develop local procurement strategies with fewer intermediaries. We must create short supply chains if we want to have quality seasonal products in organic. We tested it in the department of Deux-Sèvres [Batho's constituency] without bringing any extra costs to families.'
To meet the exponential demand from French consumers, Batho said that such efforts had to be accelerated. “This is the purpose of Article 11 of the law,' she said.
Batho suggested that the law would equally help to stamp out food waste and would therefore bring financial benefits.
However, Batho came in for criticism from apple specialists. “Short supply chains?” tweeted Pierre Varlet of ANPP, the French topfruit association. “She knows nothing! Not sure it’s reassuring to organic producers that they will have to match the price of imports from the other side of the world.”
And Marc Rauffet, CEO of French apple exporter Innatis, added: “Let #delphinebatho explain which local, seasonal, organic products are going to be supplied to canteens in greater quantities and at cheaper prices, while the key issue remains our children’s diets. #obesity #sugar.“
Rauffet’s last point may be a reference to the March decision of the Administrative Court of Paris to put a halt to Interfel’s school campaigns encouraging fruit and vegetable consumption. Bafflingly to many, such efforts were not considered by the court to be in the general public interest, a point of view described by Interfel’s vice president Laurent Grandin as “staggering”.
