More government departments are sourcing more British produce year on year, a report from DEFRA issued at the end of last month has shown.

Thirteen out of 21 departments have increased the amount of home-grown food they serve, and on average over 90 per cent of the whole potatoes come from the UK.

And DEFRA is leading the pack, sourcing 90 per cent of its food from the UK.

Food and farming minister Jim Fitzpatrick said: “The government is committed to helping local food producers compete for public-sector catering contracts, and it’s great news that they are increasingly offering the best value.

“…We know that there’s still more that government departments could do, and there are areas where British producers could potentially be supplying more to the public sector. Government departments are looking at how they can increase the amount of food they serve which is high-quality enough to meet Assured Farm Standards, or has been fairly traded. We also know that there’s a big market there for local and seasonal producers in this country.”

The report, The proportion of domestically produced food used by government departments covers the period 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009, and also takes into account food supplied to hospitals and prisons under contracts negotiated by the NHS Supply Chain and National Offender Management Service. However, it does not cover schools.

Other results show that that nine departments have increased the amount of food that they use which is produced to Assured Farm Standards.

Meanwhile, government departments on average used 10 per cent more vegetables such as celery, leeks, and lettuce in 2008-09 than in 2007-08. The percentage of British soft fruit was up from 42 per cent in 2007-08 to 45 per cent in 2008-09 and the amount of top fruit and stone fruit was up to 33 per cent from 30, although this was not as high as the 46 per cent achieved in 2007-08.

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