Food
This page highlights some of the current parliamentary material available on food. This includes select committee reports, briefing papers on current legislation and other subjects produced by the parliamentary research services, and the latest Early Day Motions put down by MPs.
Standard Notes
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 12.06.2013 | EU bibliographies: Food safety legislation: review package |
| This Note brings together documents relevant to the proposals to strengthen and simplify health and safety standards for the whole agri-food chain and their scrutiny in the UK and EU, published on 6 May 2013. It is not an attempt to define policy in this area. For information on policy developments contact Emma Downing on extn 6787. | |
| 04.06.2013 | Food Banks and Food Poverty |
| The number of food banks in the UK has increased substantially in recent years. This note explains how food banks work, examines their growth and discusses possible contributing factors. | |
| 05.02.2013 | Horse Meat Controls and Regulations |
| This note covers the controls in place to ensure any horse meat entering the food chain is fit for human consumption, including details of horse passports | |
| 11.10.2012 | Food Prices and Affordability |
| Food prices have hit historic peaks in the last few years. This note sets out recent trends internationally, UK policy responses and the follow through to UK prices and spending habits. | |
| 02.08.2012 | Supermarkets : competition inquiries into the groceries market |
| This note looks at long-running concerns about the dominance of the four major supermarkets in the UK groceries market - and the two inquiries undertaken by the competition authorities in the last decade. |
Research Papers
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 10.11.2010 | Sustainable Livestock Bill. Bill 5 of 2010-11 Public Bodies (Sustainable Food) Bill. Bill 12 of 2010-11 |
| The Sustainable Livestock Bill aims to reduce the environmental impacts of livestock production in the UK. It also aims to amend the way agricultural subsidies are used to make them more environmentally friendly. It includes a duty to give consideration to supporting sustainable practices and consumption through public procurement of livestock produce. The Public Bodies (Sustainable Food) Bill would create a duty on the Secretary of State to prepare a Code for Sustainable Food to promote the procurement of healthy and sustainable food by public bodies. This could be made compulsory if uptake was not extensive enough. | |
| 02.03.2010 | Grocery Market Ombudsman Bill [Bill 18 of 2009-10] |
| The Bill would establish an independent ombudsman for the grocery market to oversee the operation of the Groceries Supply Code of Practice. It would provide for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), within three months of the Bill's enactment, to establish the Office of the Grocery Market Ombudsman and a person as the Grocery Market Ombudsman. Although funded by the OFT, the Ombudsman would be independent of it and would investigate complaints or disputes referred by the OFT, retailers or suppliers. The Ombudsman's determination would be final and binding on all parties and they would have the power to impose monetary penalties and/or costs. | |
| 24.04.2008 | Social Indicators |
| Social Indicators. [Includes articles on 'Gambling in New South Wales, Australia' and 'A new era for UK official statistics: the launch of the UK Statistics Authority, and Topical Subject Pages on world food prices, the weather in 2007 and excess winter mortality.] House of Commons Library Research Paper 08/37. | |
| 16.04.2008 | Food Products (Marketing to Children) Bill |
| Food Products (Marketing to Children) Bill. (Bill 19 of 2007-08). House of Commons Library Research Paper 08/35. | |
| 19.11.1999 | Millennium trade talks: food and agriculture issues |
| Millennium trade talks: food and agriculture issues. House of Commons Library research Paper 99/91 |
Select Committee Reports
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 08.11.2011 | Subsidiarity assessment: distribution of food products to deprived persons. |
| European Union Select Committee (HL) report [Lords] | |
| 19.07.2011 | Draft Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill. |
| Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee report [Commons] | |
| 27.10.2010 | Subsidiarity assessment: distribution of food products to deprived persons. |
| European Union Select Committee (HL) report [Lords] | |
| 15.12.2009 | Nanotechnologies and Food. |
| Science and Technology Select Committee (HL) report [Lords] | |
| 14.10.2009 | Securing food supplies up to 2050. |
| Government response. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee report [Commons] |
Early Day Motions
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 07.02.2012 | TAX ON ADDED SUGAR |
| That this House is concerned that one in five students leaving primary school are now obese and that consumption of sugar has tripled worldwide over the past 50 years; notes that obesity ... | |
| 16.01.2012 | KELLOGGS AND FOODBANK |
| That this House congratulates Kelloggs for its support of foodbanks around the UK; notes that in 2011, Kelloggs supported foodbanks across the UK with 25 tonnes of food, equating to ... | |
| 13.12.2011 | HOUSE OF COMMONS CHEFS |
| That this House congratulates the House of Commons chefs' football team on successfully retaining The State Opening Challenge Cup after a hard fought 2-2 draw against hon. Members on15 ... | |
| 07.12.2011 | DAIRY COUNCIL'S CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTMAS CHEESES 2011 |
| That this House congratulates the Dairy Council in staging the 2011 Ceremony of the Christmas Cheeses, which forms the beginning of the Chelsea Pensioners' traditional Christmas celebrations; ... | |
| 05.12.2011 | COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE REPORT ON MANDATORY COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELLING |
| That this House welcomes the Countryside Alliance Foundations's report, Honest, Fair, Simple, which calls for mandatory country of origin labelling of all meat products where meat constitutes ... |
POST Papers
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 15.06.2012 | GM in Agricultural Development |
| Almost 2 billion people suffer from chronic hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. The UK funds research into genetic modification (GM) as one option for agricultural development. This POSTnote examines the potential benefits and challenges of using genetically modified crops to improve food security in developing countries. | |
| 15.05.2012 | Bioenergy |
| Bioenergy is the use of renewable natural material for power, heat and liquid fuels. Currently, the UK sources approximately 3% of its primary energy from bioenergy feedstocks. This POSTnote considers the opportunities and challenges of producing bioenergy sustainably to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets. | |
| 15.03.2012 | Livestock Super Farms |
| This POSTnote examines the current issues surrounding intensification of livestock production in the UK. | |
| 15.09.2011 | GM crops and food security |
| This POSTnote examines the potential contribution that genetic modification of crops might bring to increasing food production in Europe, in a global context. | |
| 01.11.2010 | Biofortification of foods, November 2010 |
| This POSTnote describes developments in biofortification, examines its potential impact, and the implications for policy makers in the UK and abroad. | |
| 01.07.2009 | Nutritional standards in UK schools, July 2009 |
| In 2006, 617 million school meals were served in England alone. The situation regarding school meals differs in the constituent countries of the UK. In England, new legislation on minimum nutritional standards in schools began in 2008 in primary schools and will come into force in secondary schools by September 2009. It consists of food- and nutrient-based standards for school food. The devolved administrations have already implemented similar legislation and face similar issues in improving school food. This note outlines children's nutritional requirements, the take-up of school meals in the UK, the capacity to enforce the standards and the impact of children's diet on behaviour and learning. |
