We must be told the amount of sugar and fat in unhealthy meals! Customers are to be encouraged to eat less red meat and dairy produce in order to cut down on methane produced by cows. Shops will have to show food's "carbon footprint" to discourage transport over long distances. All this from Hilary Benn, our Environment Secretary and a vegetarian.
Just who do they think is going to take any notice of this rubbish. When we eat out it is because we are hungry and it is our normal meal time. In our case, this usually means a fast food outlet if we happen to be out shopping and Mrs EP has taken longer than I anticipated, or a leisurely meal in a pub or restaurant for pleasure and to save Mrs EP from having to cook. In neither case are we likely to take a blind bit of notice of how many calories are in the food, we eat what we feel like and have done this all our lives, except perhaps during and in the aftermath of the war. No government campaign is going to change us from our frequent routine of going to the "Royal Standard", as we did last Sunday, and having Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pudding and, to please the government, a good portion of fresh vegetables. And a lovely hot treacle sponge with excellent custard, just the thing for a cold day. Not of course forgetting suitable alcoholic refreshment which probably took me well over the government's limit for the week and forcing Mrs EP, whose alcoholic intake is regrettably restricted due to medication, to drive us home.
Has the government considered what all their proposals will cost. We have no idea how much fat or calories were in our meals nor do we care, we simply enjoyed it. But does the pub have any more idea? I doubt it. But what is it going to cost them (and ultimately the customer) to find out and make sure that they display it in accordance with the government rules. They'll certainly need a bigger
And how many more jobsworths will be employed checking up that the rules are being followed, taking samples of beefburgers from McDonald's and having them analysed; it's total madness.
But that isn't the end of it. "Best Before" and "Sell by" dates are to be discouraged to stop us throwing away good food. A few years ago, we were being told they were essential and they should never be ignored under any circumstance in order to avoid food poisoning. And aren't they a E.U. requirement; how can they possibly ignore Brussels?
And finally we are all going to have slop buckets for waste food which will need to be kept apart from other waste and composted. We did this during the war when the waste was used as food for pigs, but apparently it is no longer good enough for them. Mrs EP suggests that we will have to get one of those waste-pipe disposal thingies as she's not having smelly, rotting food hanging around the house, in or out, for two weeks at a time especially as the rats locally are already on the increase.
I just wonder how much electricity and water these waste disposal units use; probably more electricity than I'll save from energy saving lamps!
Happy New Year
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