Recent scares - such as BSE and Foot and Mouth – have made us all concerned about food safety.Genetically modified organisms (GMOs), pesticide residues, hormonesand additives threaten to damage our health and ecosystems. Animalssuffer from the cruelties of factory farming and current levels of meatconsumption are unsustainable. Obesity is on the rise but much of ourfood comes from countries where people go hungry.

These trends must be reversed.Safe, good quality food, produced by sustainable and humane farmingmethods, should be available for all. This cannot be achieved ifpriority is given to the profits of agribusinesses and supermarkets.

Our Aims

The Green Party will put consumers, animal welfare and the environment before the interests of big business.We need more organic, local production – to reduce wastefultransportation, provide local employment and strengthen links betweenproducers and consumers.

The Green Party would:

1. Make food production go organic, with incentives to increase organic production.
2. Ban production and imports of GM food.
3. Eliminate pesticide, drug and hormone residues in food.
4. Discourage unnecessary long distance trade in food and make sure identical foods are not exported and imported at the same time.
5. Replace free trade with fair trade.
6. Ban factory farming and live exports.
7. Make vegetarian/vegan alternatives more available.
8. Ban additives suspected of causing illhealth or used in children's food. Use of all additives should be subject to approval by consumer bodies.

Addressing Your Concerns

• I'd like to eat organic food but it's too expensive.

If there was more organic farming, and if the Government supported it, the cost would come down.But we are paying hidden costs for intensively produced food – throughcleaning up the pollution, ill health and damage to our environment.

• There isn't enough land in this country to grow all food locally.

We could grow a lot more than we do. While we may need to import some food, we certainly don't need to import large quantities of the same food we export.

• Doesn't the Green Party want us all to be vegetarians/vegans?

Vegetarian/vegan food should be more available.Whilst we would introduce laws to ensure far better protection of farmanimals, we regard meat eating as a matter of choice. However, currentlevels of meat consumption are unsustainable – cutting down on meat isbeneficial even if people do not want to be vegetarians/vegans.

• What's wrong with GM ingredients and additives? I've probably eaten lots and I'm fine.

Many additives have been shown to be harmful, especially for vulnerable groups like the young and elderly. Wedo not know what the long-term effects of GMOs and additives are. ButGMOs adversely affect biodiversity and the environment.

• Organic production cannot possibly feed the whole world. Isn't GM the answer?

Most food produced in the developing world is already organic.It's multinationals selling fertilisers and GM seeds for massiveprofits which threaten traditional, local food. With less greed andmeat consumption in the west, nobody need go hungry.

• Won't people in the developing world lose money if we don't buy their agricultural products?

Most imported food actually comes from developed countries.Trade with the developing world in products we cannot produce shouldcontinue – but to benefit those countries it must be on the basis of'fair trade'.

Learn More

More Information:
Food in the Manifesto for a Sustainable Society

Related Sections in the Manifesto for a Sustainable Society:
Agriculture
Animal Rights
Countryside
Economy
Fisheries
Land