Vegan school meals on PM’S menu of reforms

Robot workers and curbs on flatulent cows part of measures to tackle food security and cost of living

Boris Johnson is to announce the first review of the UK’S food strategy in 75 years as he seeks to tackle food security and the cost of living crisis.

Officials have been working on the report, which has been delayed twice, since the release of an independent review by Henry Dimbleby, the founder of Leon, last July.

A leaked draft seen by The Daily Telegraph sets out plans to increase the productivity of UK farms, offer vegan meals to students and prisoners, and tackle shortages of migrant workers.

Mr Johnson is expected to announce the strategy on a visit to the south-west of England on Monday.

Vegan school meal drive

All pupils will be given a vegan school dinner option, as part of plans to reform public sector meals.

Prisoners, hospital patients and workers in government buildings will also be given the option under the proposals, which are designed to encourage low-carbon meals. We would like public sector menus to make it as easy as possible for people to make sustainable choices,” reads the consultation document.

“Evidence shows that plant-based food products are generally less carbon intensive to produce than livestock products. There is good evidence to show that changing food environments and providing more vegetarian options can encourage individuals to make more sustainable food choices. Furthermore, increasing consumer choice of vegetarian and vegan options would reflect the rising trend of flexitarianism, vegetarianism and veganism in the UK.”

The idea is to go out to consultation in the coming weeks, as part of a “school meals revolution” previously announced by Michael Gove, the Levelling Up Secretary.

Last night, Defra sources suggested the vegan school meals plan had been dropped by political officials since it was drawn up by civil servants.

A source said: “Meat is an important protein source, and our children should eat healthy and locally sourced produce.” Following recommendations from Mr Dimbleby, the Government has acknowledged that meat farming is carbon-intensive and is also exploring ways to support “alternative proteins” including lab-grown meat and beans and pulses. The strategy praises the work of British scientists on the development of Quorn, which was created in the UK in the 1980s.

“British grown beans and pulses are another great example of low carbon sustainable proteins that provide healthy diets, contribute substantially to farming objectives and are recognised as valuable break crops in arable cropping,” it states.

The public are also to be urged to eat venison from culled deer that would otherwise be discarded.

Deer stalkers will be encouraged to sell carcasses of animals that are killed after a shoot, which can then become “responsibly sourced wild venison”, according to the strategy.

Animal welfare labels on menus

Pubs and restaurants could be forced to give customers animal welfare warnings on menus if they use factory farmed meat.

Monday’s food strategy is to announce plans to increase “food data transparency”, involving retailers submitting data on the sustainability, healthiness and animal welfare of their products to a government portal to name and shame bad practices.

But the plans could also involve changes to food labelling requirements to “help consumers identify when products meet or exceed our high UK animal welfare standards”. The system could work in a similar way to recent plans to put calorie counts on menus.

Public spaces such as schools, prisons and hospitals that serve meals may also be told that 50 per cent of their products must come either from local farms or meet high environmental protection standards, in an attempt to reduce the carbon footprint of public sector meals.

The announcement is also likely to set out how countries signing postbrexit trade deals with the UK could be given preferential terms if they supply meat that comes from farms with high animal welfare standards.

“Those wishing to access the UK market must objectively demonstrate their approach delivers an equivalent level of health protection to our domestic standards,” it states.

Robots replace migrant workers

Mr Johnson is also expected to announce plans to deal with a shortage of migrant workers that is reducing Britain’s food security.

Ministers are concerned that since Brexit, many farms have been unable to fill seasonal vacancies for poultry preparation and fruit picking because of strict rules on migrant labour.

The strategy is set to announce that poultry workers will be eligible for a Seasonal Migrant Visa, which is currently only available to foreign horticulture and pork butchery staff.

The draft also states that the Government will launch an independent review on how to fill migrant worker vacancies, which will explore how to encourage Britons to take jobs in the sector and how many of the roles could be automated.

Officials are looking at the work of robot farm workers in Japan and elsewhere, and developments in intensive crop farming, which can take place in trays in warehouses rather than in fields.

“Recognising that the sector cannot sustainably rely on migrant labour, especially in light of global pressures elsewhere, the Government will also in the coming weeks commission an independent review to tackle labour shortages in the food supply chain,” the strategy states.

Scrap ‘nanny-state’ interventions

Calls for a salt and sugar tax to improve the nation’s health look set to be formally knocked down in the announcement on Monday.

Ministers are expected to respond to an earlier independent review last July, which proposed a series of radical policies to cut “ultra-processed” foods from diets, including a dramatic reduction in meat consumption and action on sugar and salt.

It is thought that recent concern in Downing Street about “nanny state” policies and rising concern about the cost of living has led to the policies being formally scrapped, alongside other plans to reduce promotions on high-fat products like chocolate bars.

The draft strategy concludes that “further research is needed” on ultra-processed foods to “determine their exact role in driving obesity”.

Reducing cows’ flatulence

Ministers are planning to launch a formal investigation on cows breaking wind, amid concerns that methane emissions from cattle are warming the planet, according to the draft strategy.

Officials believe that changing the formula of cattle feed could reduce methane emissions, and are to reveal plans to “help the livestock and protein sectors embrace ‘climate-smart farming’ and innovative technologies”.

The plans would begin with a formal government call for evidence “to better understand the challenges associated with the use of feed additives and materials that can reduce methane emissions from livestock”.