Sustainable Business

em As food syst get complexitiestime, we'll valuable air make be driven to ces. A more smarter choi iet is bound d sustainable taste buds to tempt the they hadn't bargained on. In the case of horsemeat, Uren argues that supply chains need to be reconfigured to encourage people to care more about the journey taken, from field to plate. What this sorry saga is already demonstrating, however, is the potential to scale up better ways of consuming. More ethical, sustainable ways. According to a report in The Independent, since the horsemeat scandal bolted (sorry), almost one in three of us have stopped eating ready meals. Jamie Oliver must be swinging from the lightbulbs. Not only this, but more than half of the population feel meat imports should be banned until we can be clear of their origin. This level of public pressure, coupled with the current Food Standards Agency inquiry that promises to be relentless, could build new levels of brawn into supply chains overnight. Just take Tesco, for instance – its CEO, Philip Clarke (pictured right), wasted no time in pledging to tighten up supplier networks in a bid to win back public trust. In a video statement, Clarke said the company would set a new benchmark for the testing of products to give the public confidence that "if it isn't on the label, it isn't in the product". Not just that, but the retailer plans to allow customers to judge this for themselves – we soon will be able to view on the company's website the farms and factories in which its food is produced. What will be interesting is to see whether public perception changes when these broadcasts go live. Watching a lasagne being put together in a fairly mechanical way might kill the appetite somewhat. My betting is that as food system complexities start to get valuable air time, we'll be driven to make smarter choices about what we eat. A more sustainable diet, which puts value on fresh ingredients and quality food, is bound to tempt the taste buds. Even more so when you consider how climate change is impacting on food prices – low-input agriculture and enhanced energy efficiency offer great potential for building in greater resilience to these price spikes. We are witnessing transitional change across the sustainability landscape. It's not inconceivable that this scandal could trigger acceleration towards localised economies, based on shorter supply chains, where food producers get a fairer deal. Now that's the type of horse I would back. Maxine Perella is waste editor of SB and edie.net

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