According to Defra more government departments are sourcing domestically produced food. It claims that thirteen out of twenty-one departments have increased the amount of home-grown food they serve, and on average over 90% of the milk, whole eggs, and whole potatoes come from Britain.  Soldiers on active service eat only British pork and fish; hospital patients are only served bread made in the UK; and only a small proportion of the cheese served in prisons comes from abroad.

Food and Farming Minister Jim Fitzpatrick said:

“The government is committed to helping local food producers compete for public sector catering contracts, and it’s great news that they’re increasingly offering the best value. Almost all of the Government’s milk and eggs are British, and more departments are switching to farm assured meat.

Government departments are looking at how they can increase the amount of food they serve which is high-quality enough to meet Assured Farm Standards, or has been fairly traded. We also know that there’s a big market there for local and seasonal producers in this country.”

The Defra report is titled, ‘The proportion of domestically produced food used by government departments’ covers the period 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009. It also takes into account food supplied to hospitals and prisons under contracts negotiated by the NHS Supply Chain and National Offender Management Service.

Other results show that eight departments source 100% of their fish from sustainably managed sources, and that nine departments have increased the amount of food that they use which is produced to Assured Farm Standards.

Meanwhile, government departments on average used 7% more British bacon and 10% more vegetables such as celery, leeks, and lettuce in 2008-9 than in 2007-8.