Brits reject restaurants that refuse to reveal their source

|PIC1|Restaurants that cannot answer questions about the origin of their food leave a bad taste in customers’ mouths, according to the RSPCA’s Freedom Food scheme.

New research published on Monday during Farm Animal Week has revealed that a third of the population would boycott a restaurant that could not answer a question about where they source their products.

Nearly 60 per cent of people also think they have a right to know the provenance of our food when eating out, and some of Britain’s top chefs agree.

Raymond Blanc, Peter Gordon, Martin Lam, Paul Merrett and Antony Worrall-Thompson said in a joint statement: “The British public need to stop being so reticent in restaurants and start asking where their food comes from.

"It’s your right to know the origin of the food you are served and what types of farms are being used - and the mark of a good restaurant is one that is proud to tell you."

In response to this news, Freedom Food has launched a new long-term campaign called ‘Simply Ask’ which aims to get people asking about food provenance when eating out. It aims to encourage restaurants, pubs and cafes to start sourcing products from higher welfare farms such as Freedom Food, free-range or organic.

Beginning with eggs this year, ‘Simply Ask’ will urge people to start holding restaurants to account by demanding to know if they use eggs from hens that have not been kept in cages.

Freedom Food is also asking restaurants, pubs and cafes already using cage-free eggs to support ‘Simply Ask’. More than 500 have already signed up including all National Trust restaurants and tea-rooms, Sainsbury’s in-store restaurants, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage canteens and restaurant chains Giraffe and Leon.

|PIC1|An astonishing 80 per cent of whole and liquid eggs used in restaurants, pubs and cafes as well as in products such as quiches and cakes are still from hens kept in cruel battery cages, compared to about 58 per cent of whole eggs produced for boxes sold in supermarkets.

Increasing consumer demand for boxes of free-range and barn eggs has led to four major supermarket chains banning sales of boxes of cage eggs altogether. This - along with a rise in supermarket sales of higher welfare food in general in the midst of a credit crunch - is further proof Brits care about where their food comes from and the lives of the animals that produce it.

So why are restaurants lagging behind retailers when it comes to using cage free eggs?

Henrietta Green, food writer and founder of FoodLoversBritain.com thinks it is, in part, a case of the British public being too polite to ask: “How many times have you sat in a restaurant and said your food is fine when it is not? It is such a typically British thing to do. We don’t like making a fuss so we don’t question where our food comes from. But it is not always right to be so polite.

“Because of consumer demand, there seems to be a real shift towards higher welfare eggs in independent shops and in the supermarkets. The same now needs to happen in restaurants, cafes and pubs. It is time to shake off this social taboo and simply ask.

"That’s why I, and many of my FoodloversBritain approved places to eat, are backing Freedom Food’s new campaign. Don’t be polite, it’s your right. Simply ask.”

The chefs, who all use cage-free eggs in their restaurants, added: “The more people ask about food provenance and demand higher welfare products like those with the Freedom Food label, the more chefs will use them, and the more farm animals will benefit from a better standard of living.

“The message is simple: ‘Simply Ask’ what eggs are being used next time you eat out and help make a difference to the lives of millions of hens.”

To mark the launch of the campaign Freedom Food has posted information about how people can help on www.freedomfood.co.uk/simplyask There is also an online ‘Eggs-factor’ guide to which restaurants, pubs and cafes are supporting Simply Ask.

Egg production is not the only welfare concern and Freedom Food intends ‘Simply Ask’ to extend to other species as the campaign progresses.