14/10/2013 Inside Out South East

How confident can we be that the food we eat is what we think it is?

Join me, Jay Rayner, for the truth behind food

We follow the winners and losers in this year's harvest. If they could

predict the weather it would make our job easier. Battery farming is

banned here but what about eggs from abroad? We are not allowed to

prevent eggs are egg products coming into the European Union from

countries which still use conventional battery cage system.

This is Inside Out. We're at Maynard's farm for our

special programme about food. Back here later, but first, since earlier

this year horse meat was discovered in products on supermarket shelves

it has made us question how confident we can be that the food we

eat is what we are being told. We asked food writer Jay Rayner how

well the system is protecting us and who is policing our food.

Spaghetti Bolognese is one of the nation's favourite dishes and

unsurprisingly so. What could be better than some beef simmered in

some extra Virgin olive oil served over pasta made with free range

eggs? But what if these free range eggs were captured in a cage? What

if the olive oil is less innocent than it claims?

All of these items and many more have been subject of food fraud over

the past few years. How confident can we be in our food? How can we be

certain there cannot be another horse meat scandal, that our food is

not what it says on the tin? A report published by the National

Audit Office has underlined the problem. It says the government

failed to spot the possibility of horse meat being passed off as beef

this year. There is confusion over the role of the

Agency which is in charge of food regulation and it says detection of

fraud is falling short of what we as consumers should expect. It's our

local trading standards who are the food police on the ground doing the

checks and drastic cuts to their budget are putting the whole system

of detecting food fraud at risk. I'm going to do some checks on these. To

understand the challenges trading standards face I'm spending the day

with a food enforcement officer. We are visiting an award`winning

yoghurt factory in Suffolk. 220 grams. Is the packaging only four

grams? I thought it was 12 grams. This is the sheet they got out. They

got the wrong sheet out. That's 200 and that's 250.

You just saw something that I hadn't. Trading standards are

looking at a discrepancy between weights. It says 200 grams and 220

grams. It's likely it's just an oversight but they have to get it

right so the consumer knows what they're getting. The team have had

two successful prosecutions recently. They found that consumers

were being ripped off by companies selling jam and sauce that didn't

contain what they claimed on the label.

The problem is across England there are now fewer officers on the hunt

for dodgy food. Against this reports of fraud are rife. The first six

months of this year 112 incidents of food fraud have been recorded to the

Food Standards Agency ` an increase of one third over this time last

year. Trading standards are also reporting an increase, but budgets

nationally are reckoned to be down one third. The number of samples

sent for testing are down by almost one quarter. There is a crisis in

the regulatory services and trading standards. We've lost one third of

our inspectorate. Talking to colleagues they are

expecting to be slashed by a further 50% in some cases. We are now

starting to see the picture that in some cases throughout the UK we will

have no trading standards service in three years time. With local

authorities reporting cases of fraud up by two thirds last year, and

limited resources, trading standards have try and predict problems.

Back at the dairy they are taking a sample of milk away for a routine

testing. One sample is going to sent off for testing and one will be

retained by the business for them to store until the results come back.

The weather has meant milk yields are down. Daries across the county

are being tested to make sure milk is not being watered down.

Recessions also make fraud more attractive. Officers on the ground

are very busy and so is the Food Standards Agency.

It is in overall charge of our food safety. The fraud branch has never

been busier. The FSA has been repeatedly criticised as being not

fit for purpose. It was accused of acting too slowly during the horse

meat scandal. Is the current system tough enough? Let's put this into

perspective in relation to horse meat. The prior year 90,000 samples

were collected. 20,000 authenticity tests. 8000 of those were on meet

Robert. There are several areas we have been

targeting for a number of years. I don't think the incident was a

wake`up call as such. This is an area we have been working on with

local authorities for many years. This incident is one that has raised

public awareness. About thinking about what's in your food. The

former head of authenticity at the food standards agency told us we are

now less well`equipped to uncover fraud. He believes budget cuts are

undermining the system. The FSA rely on local authority results. Local

authorities now are under financial pressure. Therefore the amount of

sampling is being reduced. It is severely weakened. It is challenging

in the current financial environment for local authorities to do the work

they need to do. The FSA has invested more in this area in the

last year to boost their resources and efforts. It is clear that the

system is detecting problems but it's going to be challenging in

future. The services will also continue to

evolve. The samples of milk have been tested. Everything was OK. The

sample of milk had not been watered down. I discovered another problem

in the system. The number of public testing laboratories has shrunk

dramatically over the past decade. Down from 20 to just nine. It is

another sign that less testing of our food is taking place. Food fraud

has never been more attractive to criminals. The Food Standards Agency

produced a list of foods that could have been a subject of fraud. It's

quite a list. Honey, wine, fruit juice, spices, olive oil. Should all

testing be paid for by the public purse? What about the supermarkets?

We buy most of our food from them. Tesco was one of those found to be

selling products containing horse meat. I have come to their lab in

Northampton to find out what they are doing now. You've got thousands

of products in Tesco. How do you decide what to test? We take a

balanced view of the biggest risk. If we are telling consumers that

there is chicken in the product we need to make sure it is chicken and

not turkey. We absolutely have to be sure it is chicken. That is when we

DNA test. We do those tests frequently.

Since horse meat was found in some of the products they were selling

Tesco say they now carry out eight times more DNA testing. Crystal ball

moment. Do you think something like the horse meat scandal could happen

again? Our sole objective is giving our customers the best trust began

in the products we produce to ensure that if that kind of activity were

there we would catch it. Our supply chains are shorter. We understand

them better. We have better control. Our testing is stronger than it ever

was before. A fraud should not happen again.

While Tesco are confident they've learned lessons the rest of the food

surveillance system is under increasing pressure. The big

question is can it cope? In my view the horse meat scandal could happen

again. There's always somebody particularly in times of austerity

prepared to cut corners. When we are faced with an inspectorate that is

creaking and has gaps and is fragmented that is a perfect

opportunity for someone to exploit and take hard earned money from

consumers' pockets. The majority of our food is safe and

what it says it is. Food fraud is an established crime. But where there's

money to be made criminals will be attracted. Food is a global

industry. It's complex and hard to police. Making sure that

says it is is very tough indeed. And Mark Forrest will be asking just how

safe is our food. You can tuen into Radio Kent or BBC Sussex after the

show. Coming up on Inside Out. Countries

like America for example have virtually all of their egg laying

hens in battery cages. The types of system that we have banned quite

rightly in Britain and Europe. ?NEWLINE Some people like to bet on

the weather. They place huge sums of money on it. They could win or lose

in a big way. We call those people farmers. Farming is a gamble. Crops

go in and out of season and in and out of style. You win. You lose. For

the most part is down to the weather. It's hard enough to predict

what the weather is going to do tomorrow let alone next month or

next year. That's why farmers have to hedge their bets. If we could get

the answer to the weather and predict the weather better it would

make our job so much easier. In the last three years we haven't had a

normal year. To some extent you've just got to go for it. Keep your

fingers crossed that you can reap what you sow. The trouble is, the

weather is becoming less predictable. So, how can farmers

beat the odds? 2013 was the hottest summer in nearly a decade. 2012,

that was a year of extremes. It began with drought and ended with

floods, the most rain we have had in more than 100 years. Crops were just

washed away. BBC weather forecasters `` BBC weather forecaster came to

this farm to explain. What's going on? It's been down to the position

of the Jetstream, which drives weather systems from the Atlantic.

And for a prolonged period of time, it's weather systems have been in

the wrong place. Spring and summer were expected to be dry last year,

but the Jetstream was in the wrong position again. And then into this

year, we had the coldest spring in 50 years, and again, the Jetstream

was in the wrong position, 25 South. And just the click of a finger,

summer 2013, the Jetstream in the right place, the sun comes out,

heatwaves, is happy. On Broad Ditch Farm in Kent, this former is

harvesting his winter wheat. But the last two years of extreme weather

have left him with a badly damaged crop. With the odd stains so wet, we

could not get the crop it in when it should have been `` this autumn. But

now we can crack on. Having said that, that really hot spell that we

had to three weeks ago, instead of the crops naturally coming up, it

killed them. Everything died really quickly. These grains should really

be doubled the size that they are. So, he has been dealt a bad hand by

the weather. So, is there a crop that has them well this year? What

would be a safe bet? You could put your money into fruit. After all, we

are in the Garden of England. This year, many fruit growers hit the

jackpot. If you placed your bets on cherries this year, you would be

happy. In 2013, its Chevy, cherry, cherry. For many, it has been a

record harvest this year. That is good news for fruit farmers in the

South East, we're cherries have been grown for centuries. They were

introduced by the Gardner of Henry VIII a long time ago. We got low

rainfall in summer, about a quarter less than the rest of Kent, which is

really key in the summer when you are harvesting cherries. You need

cold winters for the trees to go to sleep. That's why this part of the

world is very good for cherries. But it's not just cherries. The

south`east is renowned for fruit, like apples. Why does produce a well

here? Because we are almost at the extremities of growing, it's a hardy

climate, it actually increases the flavour and the texture of the

fruits. Despite the good crop this year, British cherry orchards have

been in decline. That is because many farmers are growing small trees

under tunnels to protect them. The worst thing for cherries is rain.

What is really want is a system that guarantees success every time. So

could technology help provide farmers with the promise of rich

pickings that they are looking for? This researcher believes that new

technology can not only protect crops, but can also harness the

weather and use it to their advantage. We're looking at how we

plant windbreaks, so we have free flow of air to take frost away from

these orchards. We're looking at wind sheets. Especially borscht

properly farms. They have been able to adapt their covering systems ``

especially strawberry farms. All of these tunnels on Kent may not be

everybody's cup of tea, but they are changing the way the UK feed itself.

So, technology can help farmers to plant in weather, but can they plan

for the changes in climate? What is the difference? Climate is what we

would expect to happen. The weather is actually what happens, and the

two can be very different. The climate is changing and we are

heading towards a warmer future. That does not mean to say that every

single season will be warmer, but what it does look like is that we

will get more extremes, longer periods of drought. And that is

going to put stress on crops. There may also be more intense rainfall,

and that they will make it more difficult to collect the crop. So,

more extremes of weather, more hot periods, and some cold spells as

well. What does that mean for farmers in the south`east? What sort

of crops? We now have a vibrant apricots industry down here. We are

seeing trials of peaches and neck tureens. `` nectarines. We are

seeing grapes grown here as well. It is not just about the weather. It

is, as much as anything, it is about plant breeders and the selections

that they are making. Back at Broad Ditch Farm, John Harris is sending

the last of his crop away a granary. Despite his worries about winter

wheat, he has managed to produce a reasonable crop. We have finished

with the very average year. But given the conditions at the

beginning of the year, it's remarkable that we have a crop that

we have harvested. Nothing is ever rigid. You can do this, this, and

this, because the weather can happen. It changes very quickly. And

you can go to our website to find local food events near you, and to

download free resources. Now, battery farming, where hens lay

eggs in tiny cages, is a thing of the past. But what about food from

abroad? Could we be unsuspectingly eating eggs from countries where

welfare standards are not so high? Eggs are one of the staple foods of

the British diet. It is estimated we consume 182 eggs per year each. That

is eggs that be fried, Boyle, porch, and scramble. Eggs that are used in

everyday food, like quiche. But do we know where our eggs are coming

from? Battery farming was banned in the UK almost two years ago, so we

should all be able to enjoy guilt`free eggs. Battery farming was

where hens were kept in small cages like these, with very little room to

move. The cages were banned across the European Union because it was

felt to be cruel. But not every country can provide this

straightaway. Italy and Greece are now being taken to court by the

European Commission for failing to comply with the ban. Compassion In

World Farming says these pictures were taken in Italy shortly before

the ban came in. So, is it possible that battery eggs are still getting

through? In Britain, we have been moving towards more welfare`

friendly systems for some time. Eggs from free range hens like these, on

a small farm, now account for almost half of the eggs that we buy. A

small percentage are organic or barn eggs. The rest come from enriched

cages. British farmers were quick to comply with the new law, with 120

battery farms closing down. The rest switched production. We went to see

the manager of Oaklands Farm Eggs. His family invested ?20 million in

switching from battery cages to enriched cages. At first glance,

these may look like battery cages, but he explains why they are

different. The exhibit natural behaviour. You can hear them

scratching as they eat the food. They are actually on patches, so

they can preen, they can do normal activities. They can move around.

They lay their eggs in the nest box, and natural function. How

frustrating is it for you as a farmer to find out that other

European nations are still not complying? It is incredibly

frustrating. We have made the investment and we are finding it is

not a level playing field. We can't compete. Our birds lay a lot of

eggs, they eat as little food as possible, we market them as

efficiently as possible, so how can someone bring eggs from all the way

across Europe and make them cheaper than British eggs? He strongly

suspect he's being undercut by cheap, illegal imports. Government

inspectors from the Animal Health And Veterinary Laboratories said

they have found no evidence of illegal eggs in the UK, despite

carrying out thousands of checks. The egg inspectors examine whole

eggs, but it is easy to tell where an XL in its shell comes from. It is

clearly labelled with the country of origin. However, when you break an

egg, it loses its identity. And many in the egg industry believe this may

be a way that eggs from battery cages could get into British foods.

You and I can go into a shop and see what kind of egg we want and make a

decision. However, when a neck is taken out of its shell, our concern

is that it loses its provenance. Of course, that product could

potentially travel into different countries. And how can the consumer

avoid inadvertently eating an egg that might be from battery cage? It

is more difficult when it is one step removed, in other words, when

it is in a cake or ice cream. You don't see it. But the onus is on the

manufacturer to make sure that the supply chain is right. Terry Jones

is a representative for the Food And Drink Association will stop he says

that the commission should do more to sort out noncompliant in Europe.

There are issues around traceability. The ultimate

responsibility for this has to be on the commission. While there are

still some concerns about battery farm eggs from inside the European

Union, what about eggs that come from the rest of the world?

Animal`rights campaigners are very concerned about welfare conditions

outside the European Union. Countries like America, for

example, have virtually all of their egg laying hens in battery cages.

Those are the types of systems we have banned, quite rightly, in

Britain and Europe. How cruel is the battery system? The battery cage

systems is perhaps the worst of the battery cage systems. They cannot

even stretch their wings for their entire lives. They have nothing to

do, it is a barren system. Their bones, through lack of exercise, can

become so brittle that they can simply snapped. `` snap. Legally, an

egg from outside the EU does not have to comply with EU legislation

at all. Last year, there was an egg shortage in the UK, when the battery

bank amen. Prices rose sharply, so what did manufacturers do? They

tried to manage supply. They looked for alternatives. In certain cases,

the functional aspects of egg could be replaced by something else. But

it is true to say that manufacturers also worked with DEFRA to identify

and ensure that we could keep the lights on in factories, and in some

cases they had called `` had to go beyond the EU. Some British

manufacturers caught by paying higher prices. Others used imports

from outside the European Union, America, Argentina, and Ukraine.

This is a major concern to us here in the United Kingdom as well as my

colleagues in Europe. We have the highest animal welfare standards in

the world in the UK and across Europe. We are not allowed to

prevent eggs or egg products coming into the European Union from

countries which still use conventional battery cage systems

and you have to remember, this system was considered cruel, hence

why it was banned at the beginning of last year. We contacted major

supermarkets and asks them what they are doing to make sure their food

does not contain battery cage eggs. They were all confident that their

own brands were compliant, and told us they expected their British

manufacturers to comply. But when it came to global brands, we

not get an answer, or were told that the manufacturer met legal

requirements in their own country. Every head in the European Union

should be looked after at least as well as these. Elwyn is confident

that his groups `` birds are content. It is warm, it is dry, they

do not have to worry about predators. They are happy. In

Britain, we are very careful to police the welfare of our heads. But

how can we know what conditions they come from when eggs are now a global

business? Now, if you want any more

information, you can visit our local websites. You can also watch the

show again on the show again only I player. `` on the I player. Coming

up next week: A year in the life of the new Police And Crime

Commissioner for Kent. That was a complete and total disaster and you

made yourself look like a laughing stock. Is that true? And the Sussex

architects brought together for the first time. We discover an Aladdin

's cave. Thank you for watching. See you next

week.