THOSE of you who have been paying attention will know that food, in one form or another, is one of my recurrent obsessions. I have often expressed concern about the import of food into this country. It frequently comes from areas which, allegedly, do not meet our health and welfare standards.

I am also concerned about trying to move towards the mythical level playing field for the uses of our home-grown product. I have no great expectation of achieving such a playing field. I have never played on a level one. We need one where those supposed to be on our side, for example the Government, helped rather than hindered.

Lord Whitty has announced another study. He is the nearest thing we now have to a Minister of Agriculture. This week he has announced that the procurement policies of public bodies have to be examined to take into account all costs, and not just price and the other consequences of the buying decisions.

This is greatly to be welcomed. Several years ago, I was far more involved with the internal politics of the pig industry than I am now. I and others were assured, face to face, by a politician who happened to be a minister, that there was nothing the Government could do about catering contracts which had already been placed. He said that if the criteria was for contractors to obtain the cheapest possible price, that was what they had to do. He said that there was no pressure the Government could bring to bear.

This always struck me as utter rubbish. Most companies or individuals want contracts to be extended or renewed. Why should British soldiers, civil servants, schoolchildren and so on eat imported food, when we can produce better here?

I would not have thought that it was beyond the wit of even a British government to devise a method of persuading contractors to do as it wants, contract or no contract. Threat of the loss of a contract must concentrate the mind.

Anyway, Lord Whitty now thinks that there may be ways and means of bringing such pressure to bear. EU law forbids contracts to be awarded for nationalistic reasons.

As usual the UK has been playing by the rules, the rules most other member nations manage to get around. I would be willing to bet a sizeable sum that in France the equivalent national bodies use French food to feed themselves. I have asked the question of fairly senior civil servants, but strangely they did not know the answer.

Lord Whitty wants wider criteria to be taken into account by those who award catering contracts than just the price. Or rather he wants the other costs to be taken into account.

There are huge costs associated with many goods which are not obvious in the price. For example the environ-mental cost of hauling goods across continents is normally ignored. All the greenhouse gases that are changing the climate come from somewhere. Local sourcing preserves local jobs, indeed may create more. It may help to save the planet.

This initiative is a step in the right direction. The danger, as in all such studies, is that the necessary actions do not follow. It will not be easy to change the mindset which always takes the easy and quick way out.

There are many excellent local suppliers of food who would welcome the chance to supply. There are schools already taking the necessary action and more children eat those dinners. It can be made to work. It just needs a little effort.

Updated: 10:33 Tuesday, September 02, 2003