Advisory report
RLG 08/6a: Around the table
Food quality recommendations
Executive summary
Food issues regularly make newspaper headlines. The safety, healthiness, sustainability and recognizability of food are recurring themes. Nor has the issue of food supply chains escaped the media’s attention. In view of the latest news on energy dependency and rising prices, it no longer seems strange to ask ‘Will we have enough to eat in times of crisis?’.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality has asked the Council for the Rural Area to suggest some thought-provoking approaches and concepts for the policy area of 'food quality'. In response, the Council states that the area of food quality is ideally suited for citizen-participation in policy development. In this advisory report, the Council puts forward its considerations and links them to some specific recommendations regarding the form and content of this participation by the man in the street.
There is more to food quality than food safety alone. It is also about sustainable production methods, involving issues such as animal welfare, the environment and the natural world, as well as flavour, freshness, authenticity, etc. Diversity is an essential feature of Dutch society, and this is reflected by the nature of the food supply. At the same time, this diversity gives rise to conflicting interests and dilemmas. For instance, does the introduction of stringent food safety requirements mean the end for small traditional businesses and for authenticity? Can environmental standards really go hand in hand with animal-friendly production methods? Another dilemma is that the government cannot take care of everything, yet ordinary people are demanding guarantees, security and choice.
The man in the street is intimately involved with food quality, and plays a key part in maintaining the wealth of diversity in this area. If people decide that the food in certain places are not to their liking, they can ‘vote with their feet’ and buy their food elsewhere. In theory, they can also signal any problems with food quality, via the media or the political arena, for example. This is subject to the condition, however, that people are kept informed about the quality and origin of their food.
There may be various reasons why people are not choosing to make their views heard. It could indicate substantial confidence in government and in industry. But it could also be a signal of impotence (‘after all, no-one listens to us’). This realization alone serves to emphasize the importance of safeguarding trust. This can be achieved by seeing consumers as responsible citizens who are capable of assessing the value of relevant information. This requires the provision of information to consumers or citizens, irrespective of how often this facility is actually used. The Council takes the view that it is in the public interest to make information available to ordinary people, and that this is the joint responsibility of government, the private sector and society at large.
At the behest of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, the Council has formulated five points of special interest, in order to make citizen participation more tangible.
Put ordinary people’s perspective first
The Council notes that, under the logic of the current dossier system, food quality is divided up into a number of separate components. The emphasis is on food safety and on standards, involving close collaboration with scientists and with those involved in food chains. But food quality also intersects with issues such as the natural world, the landscape, the environment and animal welfare. Like food supply and food safety, these are public interests that should be safeguarded by the government. In all of these values, functions, needs and preferences, there is a need for cooperation between the government, the private sector and society. The government bears ultimate responsibility for safeguarding public interests. If it is to comply with this, the government must stay in touch with the community’s feelings about food, and with current social problems. In this way, the government can establish whether a public interest is being insufficiently safeguarded by the private sector, and whether there is a need for more government intervention. This process requires that the parties involved find a way to overcome their individual differences in discourse and in their mannerisms of speech. The government discourse on food safety and health is not in line with many people’s views on food quality, which are influenced to a much greater extent by diversity and in which socio-cultural values have a much larger part to play.
Give people more say in the food quality policy process
The Council stresses that the food quality domain is not the exclusive property of parties in the chain. In fact, the policy's target group has broadened to encompass the entire population of the Netherlands. Ordinary people should be able to make their voice heard more effectively in the policy process. This is hampered by an overly strong emphasis on food safety standards. Social concerns involve conflicts of interest, power imbalances, and differences of opinion about food quality. In this situation, the government’s efforts to make food quality more objective by means of standards will not suffice. It would be more fitting to adopt a more participatory policy, involving a well-informed public debate and, where necessary, political choices. In areas dominated by private parties, such as food quality, it is appropriate for the government to take action in the form of negotiation, cooperate, support, draft regulations (‘for the purposes of’), and to help formulate preconditions, with the aim of safeguarding public interests. The creation of an agenda for the new animal health policy is a good example of a participatory process in action.
Socio-cultural values should not automatically be left to 'the private sector'
The atmosphere surrounding the food debate is largely determined by the private sector. It's all about supply and demand in food chains (‘from land to hand’), involving consumers and their patterns of consumption. There has been too little emphasis on the socio-cultural values that are associated with food. The government is leaving to the discretion of 'the private sector' things such as eating good, tasty food together, an activity which involves a plethora of socially significant effects such as social cohesion, education or integration. School food, for example, is not considered to be a government responsibility. However, government intervention may indeed be needed to safeguard the interests in question.
The use of 'web thinking' to pro-actively determine an individual role in the web
People are taking a range of initiatives to safeguard vulnerable, food-associated values. For example, new chains have been developed to enable local products to be sold in supermarkets, at farmers’ markets or in the catering industry. Food is being used to build bridges between the countryside and the city, and between agriculture and other sectors. The motto here is ‘from chain-thinking to web-thinking’. The government has not established a clear role for itself in this area. In general, it leaves initiatives of this kind to 'the private sector' or to various government bodies (as, for instance, in the case of the Amsterdam Garden Experiment. While it is true that initiatives of this kind make only a minor contribution to the food supply in terms of quantity, they do make a major contribution in terms of quality. The linking of different values can offer a valuable and practical route. Take, for example, the use of local products in restaurants. This helps to ensure that the green spaces around the city are kept open. In addition, it enhances the recognizability of food. ‘Flavour’ and good eating can make sustainable choices easier, while at the same time removing the need to lecture people on how to behave. The same goes for the examples set by idols (Dutch celebrities). The Council believes that the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality must adopt a more receptive role within the web of citizens, other ministries, local authorities and social organizations.
Put food supply on the agenda
Given the extensive interdependence of international raw material and energy suppliers, the Council believes that the issue of food supply in food shortages and emergencies should be put firmly back on the agenda. People are generally unaware of this enormous dependence. Accordingly, in this area too, there is a need for information and education.
Based on these concerns, the Council concludes that a comprehensive food quality policy should be developed on the basis of an ongoing public debate, in which the values, interests and needs of ordinary people are of central importance. This would involve a broad commitment from private sector parties and knowledge institutions, as well as from public institutions such as schools, hospitals, and social organizations.