Put home- grown food on menu, says Raymond
FRENCH celebrity chef Raymond Blanc is leading calls for more British- grown food to be served in schools, hospitals and universities.
Along with catering chiefs, he has signed a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson asking the Government to commit to spending 85 per cent of the annual public sector food budget with British businesses.
The Anglophile restaurateur believes it is a scandal that so much food served in the NHS and other taxpayerfunded institutions like care homes, prisons and even the Army, comes from abroad. The 71- year- old chef patron of Michelin- starred Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons restaurant in Oxfordshire, left, told the Daily Express: “Be it patients in hospitals, children in schools, or the elderly in care homes, they all deserve the freshest, good quality nutritious food. “More and more there is wonderful food produced in Britain – much of it among the best in the world. So come on, public sector, put it on your menus.
“British food for British schools, hospitals and care homes. Source it, serve it, eat it, love it. And it needs to be done now.”
His is the star name on a roster of industry chiefs whose letter will be delivered to No 10 today. If their demands are met it would mean at least £ 2.21billion being spent here in the UK every year.
Yesterday, in a massive boost for homegrown produce, Mr Johnson backed the Daily Express’s “fantastic” Brilliantly British campaign to encourage the whole nation to support local produce and goods. A commitment to buy more British food across the public sector has the potential to drive £ 400million of investment into the UK’s rural economy, according to the Love British Food campaign.
It is thought 25 per cent of the British public eat a public sector meal every day. Research by campaign founder Alexia Robinson indicates that just 60 per cent of the food served up in NHS hospitals is British.
Ms Robinson said: “I’ve seen first- hand how buying British supports local communities. It isn’t just farmers and producers who benefit, whole towns and villages have been transformed. The UK food and farming industry is the envy of the world and the quality of the goods is among the best available. This year has been tough, but we are more determined than ever to support local producers who have done such a wonderful job of keeping the country going. It’s why we’re delighted to partner with the Daily Express to launch our new campaign.”
She said supporting British suppliers would not only pump money into local economies, but would mean schoolchildren and hospital patients would have access to some of the highest quality food available.