Submission to Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government from the Taste Council of Ireland towards a National

Action Plan on Green Public Procurement 31 August 2010

The Taste Council wishes to respond to the public consultation on Green Public Procurement (GPP) by making the following points; 1) The Taste Council welcomes the opportunity that GPP presents to put in place new public procurement procedures and guidelines to ensure that green criteria are at the heart of all State procurement as outlined in the Renewed Programme for Government 2) The Taste Council agrees that the national objectives for public procurement as outlined in paragraph 2.3 of the discussion paper Towards a National Action Plan on Green Public Procurement is fully comprehensive The Taste Council makes the following responses to the details contained within the individual sections of the discussion paper: Section 2.1 An analysis is required to quantify current public sector purchasing of food produce and more especially, of local food within the overall public sector food budget Section 2.3 Falls fully within all the parameters of organic production and concurs with the publics desire to push conventional foods in this direction by reducing chemical input, providing full traceability and correct and caring animal husbandry. Also mentioned is the desire to reduce energy consumption, locally produced foods, whether organic or conventional fulfil this requirement Section 2.4/2.5 The life cycle approach for food as stated in the discussion document must take into account seasonality, crop, land and animal rotation and the health impact concerning the over use of chemicals and pesticides in food Section 2.6/2.7 The Ecolabel referred to in this section seems to primarily deal with products (appliances, textiles, cleaning products etc.) other than foods and food production. The Taste Council is singularly concerned about food and food production and recommends clarification of exactly how the Ecolabel can or could be applied to food as a useful signpost for consumers and whether it could provide a certification mechanism to promote locally produced environmentally sustainable foods

Section 4.1 The Taste Council notes that GPP can also be used to persuade all food producers to become aware of their longer term obligations to society with the knowledge that their foods stand a better chance of securing procurement under GPP Section 4.7.3 Food production that minimises damage to the environment whether through a reduction of chemical usage, water, food miles and carbon footprint should be given priority under GPP Section 5.4 The Taste Council fully supports the recommendation of the Procurement Innovation Group that to avoid dependency on a sole supplier, public procurers could split contracts into lots which would also facilitate access to SMEs Section 7 Of the two methods of purchase referred to in this section namely preferential and absolute, the preferential method is more desirable in that it encourages more organic conversion and gives a clear path to conventional food producers as to what has to be achieved by them in order to secure a contract under GPP Section 9.7 Given that there are no criteria yet for GPP of Food and that The Ecolabel is currently not available to the conventional food producer, the Taste Council proposes that this section, highlighting the requirements needed to attain Endorsement of Forest Certification, be used similarly for food. Section 12 The Taste Council requests that methodology is devised for conventional food producers to comply with and achieve GPP status as is currently available for organic food producers

In addition, the Taste Council includes the following points in its submission: 3) The Taste Council believes that greater flexibility in the interpretation of EU procurement regulations to promote the purchase of food and drink from small local and regional producers is fundamental to the viability of a GPP policy in Ireland and notes the US example where public institutions are given the opportunity to support local producers by being given some dispensation from competition laws1 4) The Taste Council notes a study by the New Economics Foundation in London which found that every 10 spent at a local food business is worth 25 for the local area, compared with just 14 when the same amount is spent in a supermarket. That is, a pound (or euro) spent locally generates more than twice as much income for the local economy. Whilst acknowledging that this study is not directly comparable to benefits arising from GPP contracts, the community benefit of local food sourcing should be taken as a serious consideration
1

Lampkin, N. The role of public procurement in supporting European organic agriculture, (London: Defra, undated)

5) The Taste Council also notes a 2002 study by Cardiff University2 which highlights that one of the main barriers to sustainable food procurement is a lack of understanding among procurement professionals and institutions about what is allowable under EU law. On this basis, the Taste Council recommends that public procurement staff must be trained in sustainable food procurement, what it means and what the longer term benefits of sustainable buying practices are. 6) The Taste Council recommends that the examples of GPP practices in other European countries must be examined and benchmarked in the development of Irelands National Plan. For example, Denmark and Italy have introduced government support to convert to organic food in the public sector. Financial support from both governments has been provided and in Italy, the laws at both a national and regional level has been passed to include organic and local ingredients on school menus. The success of the Italian scheme in Rome was due in large part to the policing of the project by parental associations in the schools. In the UK, Defras Organic Action Plan3 includes the aspiration that 50% of public authorities should specify organic food in contracts by 2010 7) The Taste Council recommends the immediate quantification of the value of food and local food public procurement in 2010 and afterwards the introduction of GPP targets for food procurement professionals that specify: a. A significant increase in the purchase of locally produced primary ingredients in all public procurement contracts by 2013 (suggested guideline of +30%) 8) For the purposes of these guidelines the Taste Council proposes that locally produced is defined as sourcing food from the county or neighbouring county from where the GPP contract originates4 9) The Taste Council recommends that consideration be given to the policing of such local procurement targets by existing frameworks such as boards, management committees, trustees etc of hospitals, Government and public sector bodies and schools (where relevant)

Morgan,K. & Morley, A. Relocalising the Food Chain: the role of Creative Public Procurement, (Cardiff University 2002) 3 Defra, Action Plan to Develop Organic Food and Farming in England, 2003 4 This definition would be in line with the definition of locally sourced used in the development of the Voluntary Code of Good Practice for Farmers Markets, Ireland 2009

Appendix 1 The TASTE Council is a voluntary representative group of the smaller food business sector made up largely of local, artisan and speciality food producers and formally established in October 2003. (For a list of the TASTE Councils current membership please see Appendix 2). The TASTE Council engages with the relevant government departments, government agencies, non government organisations and education establishments to promote the interests of the traditional, artisan and speciality food producing and farming sector and to assist in its strategic development to maximise its current and potential contribution to Irelands food and agri economy, society, culture and environment. The TASTE Council formally represents the sector on the Food Safety Authority of Irelands (FSAI) Artisan Food Forum and the Agri Vision Artisan Food Sub Committee.