A letter to the Observer on food production

Sir,

Joanna Blythman’s article (The food chain is at breaking point. Who will reforge the links of trust? The Observer, June 5) is so full of inaccuracies, contradictions and sweeping statements that it shows a lack of any practical or scientific knowledge of 21st century food production.

It may make a small proportion of consumers feel smug about their shopping habits but the vast majority of people buy their food from a sophisticated commercial food supply chain that has to be committed to food safety in order to supply a highly competitive and demanding market. This is backed up by both tight regulations and stringent voluntary production standards.

There is absolutely no evidence or justifiable reason that food produced commercially on a large scale for the global market would be unsafe whereas a small scale regional food system would have no food safety risks.

We realise it will be hard to change the view of journalists and writers like Ms Blythman who profit from scaremongering - in much the same way as they claim commercial food producers somehow aim to profit from producing unsafe food.

NFU chief science adviser Dr Helen Ferrier
Agriculture house
Stoneleigh Park
CV8 2TZ
02476 858686