The government has rejected demands for mandatory RSPCA welfare standards for the NHS, after MPs called for all hospital food to meet Freedom Food standards as a minimum.
Daniel Poulter – the parliamentary under-secretary of state for health – said the government was committed to improving food standards in hospital but was not in favour of a mandatory system.
“The problem with a rigid framework or set of criteria is that it might stifle local innovation that can improve standards, as we have seen elsewhere in the NHS,” he said during a House of Commons debate yesterday (12 December).
Minimum food procurement standards for government departments were introduced under Defra’s leadership last year, but these do not currently apply to the NHS. However, Poulter said the government was working on how to monitor food standards in hospitals more effectively, “with a committee and working party looking at how to roll out good practice”.
Poulter’s comments came in response to Tory MP Neil Parish, who has called for all meat, eggs and dairy bought by NHS hospitals to meet RSPCA’s Freedom Food standards.
The NHS in England currently spent about £167m a year on meat, dairy and eggs, and it was important procurement standards reflected consumer preferences on animal welfare, Parish said. At present, food standards in hospitals were a “postcode lottery”, he added, but Freedom Food rules would introduce consistency and ensure “some of the worst farming practices” – such as keeping hens in enriched cages – were not used.
“The introduction of mandatory RSPCA welfare standards for hospital chicken, pork and cage-free eggs is an affordable way to ensure that chickens, pigs and hens that have been reared for patients’ meals are given a good quality of life,” he said.
Parish stressed higher-welfare options would not necessarily be more expensive than conventional options, claiming Freedom Food barn eggs from Sainsbury’s cost the same as cage eggs from Tesco and Asda.
According to the retailers’ websites, six Sainsbury’s Basics barn eggs cost £1, while six Tesco Everyday Value eggs cost £1.09 and six Asda Smartprice eggs cost 98p.
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