stephanie
01-12-2009, 12:23 AM
good grief..
Householders are to be visited by officials offering advice on cooking with leftovers, in a Government initiative to reduce the amount of food that gets thrown away.
By Jasper Copping
Last Updated: 10:22PM GMT 10 Jan 2009
Home cooks will also be told what size portions to prepare, taught to understand "best before" dates and urged to make more use of their freezers.
The door-to-door campaign, which starts tomorrow, will be funded by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a Government agency charged with reducing household waste.
The officials will be called "food champions". However, they were dismissed last night as "food police" by critics who called the scheme an example of "excessive government nannying".
In an initial seven-week trial, eight officials will call at 24,500 homes, dishing out advice and recipes. The officials, each of whom has received a day's training, will paid up to £8.49 an hour, with a bonus for working on Saturdays.
The pilot scheme, which will cost £30,000, could be extended nationwide if it is seen as a success. If all 25 million households in the UK were visited in the same way, 8,000 officials would be required at a cost of tens of millions of pounds.
Peter Ainsworth, the shadow environment secretary, said: "You might have thought, at a time of economic hardship, that spending public money on stating the obvious is hardly a priority. With household budgets under pressure, most people are looking to spend wisely and waste less anyway."
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "This is a prime example of excessive Government nannying, and a waste of public money and resources. In the grip of a recession, the last thing people need is someone bossing them about in their own kitchen.
"Worse still, the money for this scheme will come directly out of taxpayers' pockets, at a time when they need every penny to weather the financial storm."
Snip:
Tim Burns, from Waste Watch - the contractor carrying out the scheme for WRAP - said: "Food waste has such a high impact on climate change and it is something we can all do something about."
He defended the amount of paper that would be used by the 24,500 leaflets produced by the scheme.
"The small booklet gives a range of tips and signposts the campaign website to get more information. If the leaflet helps residents reduce their waste, that is a lot better for the environment."
read the rest..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/4214024/Dont-throw-away-leftovers-warn-food-police.html
Householders are to be visited by officials offering advice on cooking with leftovers, in a Government initiative to reduce the amount of food that gets thrown away.
By Jasper Copping
Last Updated: 10:22PM GMT 10 Jan 2009
Home cooks will also be told what size portions to prepare, taught to understand "best before" dates and urged to make more use of their freezers.
The door-to-door campaign, which starts tomorrow, will be funded by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a Government agency charged with reducing household waste.
The officials will be called "food champions". However, they were dismissed last night as "food police" by critics who called the scheme an example of "excessive government nannying".
In an initial seven-week trial, eight officials will call at 24,500 homes, dishing out advice and recipes. The officials, each of whom has received a day's training, will paid up to £8.49 an hour, with a bonus for working on Saturdays.
The pilot scheme, which will cost £30,000, could be extended nationwide if it is seen as a success. If all 25 million households in the UK were visited in the same way, 8,000 officials would be required at a cost of tens of millions of pounds.
Peter Ainsworth, the shadow environment secretary, said: "You might have thought, at a time of economic hardship, that spending public money on stating the obvious is hardly a priority. With household budgets under pressure, most people are looking to spend wisely and waste less anyway."
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "This is a prime example of excessive Government nannying, and a waste of public money and resources. In the grip of a recession, the last thing people need is someone bossing them about in their own kitchen.
"Worse still, the money for this scheme will come directly out of taxpayers' pockets, at a time when they need every penny to weather the financial storm."
Snip:
Tim Burns, from Waste Watch - the contractor carrying out the scheme for WRAP - said: "Food waste has such a high impact on climate change and it is something we can all do something about."
He defended the amount of paper that would be used by the 24,500 leaflets produced by the scheme.
"The small booklet gives a range of tips and signposts the campaign website to get more information. If the leaflet helps residents reduce their waste, that is a lot better for the environment."
read the rest..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/4214024/Dont-throw-away-leftovers-warn-food-police.html