Former Food Standards Agency board member Rob Rees has warned the food and drink industry to beware any political statements in the run-up to the next general election.
"There will be opportunistic politicians making a particular point about a particular issue just because there is a general election coming up," he said at the South West Food & Drink Conference in Bristol last week. "And you have to think about that when you hear some of the things that the FSA is going to say in the next few months."
He singled out education minister Ruth Kelly, who he said had stood up recently and talked about government action plans which "have not even gone through a steering committee or piloting yet. I know, I'm on the steering group," Rees told the audience.
"The education debate is the key part of the health debate," he said, before calling on the industry to form partnerships with local government and educational business link consortiums to promote the healthy eating message to the nation's schools. "It can enhance your product, your company and enrich everything that you do," Rees said. "But you have to go looking for it, because they won't chase you."
But these partnernships must be entered into with commitment. "They are only going to work if someone is accountable for achieving the original aims," he said. "These projects cannot be one-term wonders.
"If we are really going to change the attitudes of consumers, we need long-term policy change." Rees wants to see a "whole-school approach" to food policy, building food education into each curricular activity as well as improving the food on offer. "This involves the collective effort of the entire school community and its needs the co-operation of food businesses to really bring it alive. Businesses need to build their relationships with local skills and take it on from there."
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