Food
Into: Food and drink 
Introduction Food as a durable resource
The food system is a cycle of production - consumption—recycling. However, production has become increasingly dependent on limited resources. These are either consumed directly, for example, as fuel or indirectly as products such as pesticides. These have a negative impact on the environment and cause extensive environmental damage including air, soil and water pollution.
There is a loss of habitat for the great variety of species that are needed for the safeguarding of ecosystems; and the (...) Read more
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Land use
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Children’s wellbeing
Into: Food and drink Where does food come from? Food Production - Plant
The term farming covers a wide spectrum of agricultural production work.
At one end of this spectrum is the subsistence farmer, who farms a small area with limited resource inputs, and produces only enough food to meet the needs of his/her family. At the other end is commercial intensive agriculture, including industrial agriculture. Such farming involves large fields and/or numbers of animals, large resource inputs eg fertilisers and a high level of mechanisation.
Traditionally, the goal (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink Where does food come from? Food Production - Plant
Organic food is that which has been produced without the use of soluble fertilisers, pesticides, growth additives and other chemicals frequently found in conventional farming.
Animal manures and vegetable wastes are used to fertilise organic crops and the whole procedure is done in a more environmentally friendly and eco-conscious way. There are some presentation issues, in regard to the cleaning of organic vegetables, but these are isolated. Organic farming methods are more labour (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink Where does food come from? Initiatives supporting sustainable food
The following organisations support sustainable foods:
Sustainable Ireland Co-operative www.sustainable.ie
Soil Association ENFO - Ireland’s information service on environmental issues www.enfo.ie
For more information on this subject you can contact plan organic and the ethical consumer organisations or the EU -Sustainable food http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/food/index_en.htm Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Impact on the environment
The food market is changing and in terms of fruit and vegetables on the market the choice available to consumers is vast and growing in variety. Whether these foods are ‘in season’ or ‘out of season’, the majority are available to consumers all year round - but at a high cost in terms of air miles.
Supermarket fruit and vegetables are often transported from around the world. Try and source locally grown fruit and vegetables.
Imported organic produce can travel very long distances. Air (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Solidarity (Consumer Empowerment)
The interests and influence of consumers are changing all over the world. Each generation have certain characteristics.
Age plays a critical role in customer buying decisions. In fact, the generation into which we are born has as much impact on buying and purchasing decisions as income and education. Our shared experiences determine what motivates us toward or away from a sale.
Most consumers fit into one of four generation categories.
Mature Citizens were born between 1909 and 1945 (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Labelling and Packaging
In Ireland, packaged food products must have an ingredient label in English (or in Irish and English) showing their composition. All substances used to make or prepare a food product must be included on the ingredient label in descending order of weight. Where compound ingredients are given (e.g. gravy), each individual ingredient of that compound must be given. In addition, additives that serve a function in the food (such as preservatives) must list their functions as well as their names. (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Signs and quality marks
The largest quality mark scheme in Ireland is run by Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board. Its Quality Assurance Scheme (QAS) mark can be seen on pre-packed bacon, beef, chicken, cooked ham, duck, lamb, pork and rashers. It can also be found on eggs, fruit and vegetables.
The Bord Bia mark means that a food product exceeds EU minimum standards and meets Bord Bia quality criteria both at farm level and during processing. There are different QAS systems for different systems of production; for (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Drinks
Beer has long been a part of the Irish culture, as well as a significant Irish industry. Some famous Irish beers include Guinness, Smithwicks and Kilkenny. There are also several micro-breweries that produce their own artisan beers.
Beer is brewed from four main ingredients - barley, hops, yeast and water. However, these ingredients are used to create a wide variety of products, from stouts to lagers to ales. Lager is the most popular beer among Irish consumers - in 2007, lager consumption (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Labelling and Packaging
Every household in the country has a refrigerator, but are you getting the most out of yours? Here are some tips for good use of the refrigerator.
Firstly, when choosing a refrigerator, consider your needs in advance. Choose the most energy efficient model you can afford, as this will be both better for the environment and more economical in the long-term.
Once you have your fridge, don’t be tempted to over-fill it. When the fridge is too full, the air can’t circulate and the temperature (...) Read more
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Energy
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Appliances
Into: Food and drink Introduction Historic and international context
At the heart of the organic food movement is the belief that it is much better to feed the soil than the plant. As such it is the most traditional method of farming there is.
Up until the late 1940’s, virtually all farming, worldwide, was what we would now consider to be organic. Organic farming methods are more labour intensive (weeding is often done by hand), crops take longer to grow, there are lower animal stocking rates, smaller crop yields and higher costs for organic feed. On the (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink Where does food come from? Food Production - Meat and Fish
Animal products are either produced by an animal or taken from the body of an animal. Animals are reared and slaughtered for food because majority of the people of all civilized countries eat meat.
Slaughter methods dictate that animals should be treated in humane manner and rendered unconscious before slaughter. They are usually rendered unconscious by stunning or electrocution. There is higher demand for meat in both developed and developing countries. However, frequent outbreaks of (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink Where does food come from? Food Production - Meat and Fish
There are many types of animal breeding. Below we explain the most common found in Ireland.
Intensive breeding
Under intensive farming conditions, pigs and chickens are often pumped full of antibiotics to promote growth. Battery-raised chickens are kept in cages, wing-to-wing, with the lights on 24 hours a day to coerce them into eating more. When it comes to animal welfare, intensive farming has an ugly reputation. This is another of the reasons why more and more people are choosing to (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink Where does food come from? Food Production - Meat and Fish
Fish farming is the principal form of aquaculture. Fish farming has been proposed as a more sustainable alternative to traditional capture of wild fish.
As a contrast to wild fisheries, farmed fisheries can operate in sheltered coastal waters, in rivers, lakes and ponds, or in enclosed bodies of water such as tanks. Farmed fisheries are technological in nature, and revolve around developments in aquaculture.
Luckily for consumers, dioxin levels in Irish farmed trout and salmon have been (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Shopping for Food
Small local shops can have a unique character that cannot be matched by supermarkets. Small local shops may also give a more personalised service.
Corner shops are generally small with very few staff. There is not such a wide range of products on offer as there are in supermarkets.
The size and power of supermarkets means they can squeeze out small shops, especially in city centres and towns. This has had a detrimental impact on local shops.
Small shops cannot benefit from the same (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink Where does food come from? Initiatives supporting sustainable food
Food cooperatives are worker or customer owned businesses that provide produce of the highest quality and best value to their members. All food coops are committed to consumer education, product quality, and member control, and usually support their local communities by selling produce grown locally by family farms.
Food Co-ops are an alternative to commercial profit-oriented business. Surplus funds are used to benefit the members and to reduce prices.
Benefits:
Saving costs: by making (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink Where does food come from? Initiatives supporting sustainable food
The concept of agro tourism is a direct expansion of ecotourism, which encourages visitors to experience agricultural life at first hand. Agro tourism is gathering strong support from small communities as rural people have realised the benefits of sustainable development brought about by similar forms of nature travel.
Visitors have the opportunity to work in the fields alongside real farmers. It mobilises the productive, cultural and developmental forces of an area, contributing to the (...) Read more
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Travel/holidays
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Labelling and Packaging
Consumers can find out a lot of information about the food they buy from the origin labelling. In Ireland, all food products are required to display a label stating their place of origin if this is not otherwise obvious to the consumer. The label must also display the name and address of the manufacturer or packager, or a distributor within the EU. If you have further queries, this is the person to contact.
In some cases, though, origin labelling can be a bit more complicated. For example, (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Labelling and Packaging
Packaged foods sold in Ireland should have a durability label, stating a date which indicates the end of a food product’s shelf life. This is the period of time for which it can be kept under appropriate storage conditions before it starts to deteriorate. Foods should be consumed before the date mark expires to ensure safety and quality. Even if a product looks and smells fine, using it after this date could put your health at risk and cause food poisoning
There are different types of (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Labelling and Packaging
Food labels must outline any special storage conditions necessary to maintain the quality of the product, such as ‘refrigerate after opening’, ‘store in a cool dry place’ or ‘suitable for freezing’. it is important to obey these instructions to keep your food in the best possible condition.
Foods that may be frozen should include a star marking panel on the label that gives information on how to safely store the food. The star marking is also used on freezers to let consumers know how cold a (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Labelling and Packaging
Nutritional labelling is any information on a food label or packaging that relates to the food’s energy content or nutrients. It is designed to inform the consumer about food products so that they can make healthy nutritional choices.
Nutritional labelling is compulsory only where a nutritional claim is made. A nutritional claim can either relate to nutrient content i.e. ‘contains 2g fat per 100g’, or a quality of the food e.g ‘low fat’.
However, where a claim is made and a label is present, (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Labelling and Packaging
Health claims are regulated in Ireland and throughout the EU, under EU Regulation 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods. The Regulation covers nutrition and health claims made on all foods sold in the EU, as well as on food supplements, foods for particular nutritional uses (PARNUTS), natural mineral waters and water intended for human consumption. A ‘health claim’ need not be directly stated - any wording or symbols used on labels or advertising that imply a particular (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Signs and quality marks
Here is some information about other quality marks that you might find when you go shopping.
MSC (Marine Stewardship Council)
The MSC works to safeguard the world’s seafood supply by promoting the best envronmental choice. It has developed standards for sustainable fishing and seafood traceability.
Both standards are based on independent third-party assessments by accredited certifiers and meet best practice criteria. The MSC works with sustainable fisheries to create a market for (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Drinks
While fruit juice is seen as the healthy option by many, it’s not as simple as it might first appear. Many fruit juices are made from tropical fruits such as oranges and pineapples. Often, these fruits are intensively produced on farms with the aid of toxic pesticides and artificial fertilisers, which can reduce biodiversity.
Add to that the quantities of water pumped in for irrigation at great cost, and the working conditions, which in many places are exploitative, and the simple pleasure (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Preserving: more or less sustainable?
Some foods (and other goods such as medicines) need to be kept constantly chilled or frozen to prevent them spoiling or becoming dangerous between the time they are produced and their final consumption.The process of keeping these goods cold from production, through transport, distribution and sale until they reach the consumer is called the cold chain. It is crucial for food safety that the cold chain remains intact and functions well at all levels. The required temperature level of the (...) Read more
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Appliances
Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Preserving: more or less sustainable?
There are many different ways of preserving food so that it will retain its flavour and nutritional value for a long time. Generally, food preservation works by killing or inhibiting the growth of bacteria and other micro-organisms. In some cases, however, bacteria, yeast or fungi are themselves used as preservation tools food (for example, in cheese).
Some of the more common forms of food preservation include:
freezing
canning/bottling
salting
pickling
smoking
irradiation. (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Labelling and Packaging
In Ireland, and throughout the EU, there are certain measures and controls which guarantee food safety at its origin and during transport. For example, EU law (Regulation 178/2002/EC) states that all imported foods must be of the same standard as products originating within the EU.
In addition, food importers are responsible for reporting and immediately withdrawing any food they have imported which does not meet food safety standards.
Food safety laws tend to vary depending on whether a (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Signs and quality marks
Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) had developed the Irish Quality Seafood Programme together with industry stakeholders as part of its Environment & Quality Programme.
The programme consists of several quality assurance schemes that aim to promote Irish fish products in Ireland and abroad. All products are certified to EN45011 standard, which is the international ‘gold standard’ for product certification. As well as quality certification, eco-certification (the eco-mark) is available for salmon (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Signs and quality marks
Organic farming is an alternative, environmentally friendly method of food production. It forbids the use of chemicals and requires production methods that respect animal welfare and do not damage the environment. The term ‘organic’ can only be used on food labels in Ireland if the food product meets strict Irish and EU organic standards and is licenced by an approved certification body.
In Ireland, there are currently three certification bodies that have been approved by the Department of (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Signs and quality marks
There are also several UK and European organic certification bodies that Irish consumers may come across.
The Soil Association The Soil Association is a charity founded in 1946 by a group of farmers, scientists and nutritionists who observed a direct connection between farming practice and plant, animal, human and environmental health. It has more than 180 staff who work as certification inspectors across the UK.
Find out more at www.soilassociation.org. The Organic Food Federation (...) Read more
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Signs and quality marks
You may see these label on food packaging as well as other wood, paper and cardboard products.
FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) & PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes)
The FSC and the PEFC are independent, non-governmental, non-profit organisations established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests.
The FSC provides standard setting, trademark assurance and accreditation services for companies interested in responsible forestry. (...) Read more
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Raw materials
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Into: Food and drink How do we choose foods ? Signs and quality marks
The popularity of Fairtrade is increasing with Irish consumers. In Ireland, the estimated retail value of Fairtrade rose by 77% from 2005 to 2006. This is well above the global average, which was a 42% increase for the same period. Fairtrade products are becoming more widely available. Look out for the FAIRTRADE mark while you shop.
Fairtrade tea, coffee, chocolate and bananas are commonly found in the supermarket next to conventionally traded produce. Also, some restaurants and cafes are (...) Read more
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