State should be setting wholesome food example, says Organic Trust

Government departments should do more to promote organic food options on their canteen menus, the food lobby group, Organic Trust, has said.

The group has challenged what it views as the State’s reluctance to favour the organic sector when it comes to public procurement tenders and contracts.

This, the group says, runs counter to the “green” image Ireland promotes overseas.

Organic Trust’s PR and development officer, Gavin Lynch, says Ireland lags behind most EU states in ensuring organic meals are provided in hospitals, schools, and nursing homes.

Mr Lynch said: “The State simply cannot continue to provide healthy eating advice on the one hand while serving frozen chips and sausage rolls on the other.

“Apart from being contradictory, the State should be setting an example when it comes to wholesome food choices.

“Countries such as Denmark, Germany, and Sweden have already seen the light in this area.

“State canteens in Denmark aim to have 80% of the food offered there as organic by 2015. These countries have realised that short-term savings in the food you eat results in long- term illnesses which cost the state exponentially more resources to treat, than it would have cost to encourage healthy eating practices among citizens in the first place.”

Organic Trust’s “green” public procurement drive was strongly supported at a recent gathering in Dublin of organic producers, organic certification bodies, and lobby groups from all over the EU. The discussion was hosted by the IFOAM EU group, in partnership with Organic Trust and IOFGA.

Frank Macken, senior technical inspector with the organic unit of the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, said the State has made significant steps towards promoting organic food.

“The Government is very positively disposed towards Green Public Procurement which includes organic food as it had been demonstrated in other jurisdictions that this had resulted in a positive increase in organically certified land areas in the European organic sector,” Mr Macken said.

Mr Lynch said there is huge potential in this area to help achieve the Government’s stated aim to increase the percentage of land being farmed organically in Ireland through the public procurement system.

“As organic farming tends to be more labour-intensive, this would create badly needed jobs in rural Ireland, provide better quality food for the young, the old, and the sick and would go a long way towards protecting our rural environment through the low input practices of organic farming.”

He said the requirements of the new regulations on green public procurement offer a golden opportunity to the Irish organic food sector, the unemployed, and the vulnerable in our society.

The Organic Trust said the Government should not attempt to “green- wash” this opportunity by attempting to replace other alternatives to organic in fulfilling their commitments under this legislation.

“Organic ticks all the boxes when it comes to Green Public Procurement,” said Mr Lynch.

“We already know organic farming is good for you and good for nature, it could be very good for the Irish economy if this opportunity is handled correctly by those in power.”