Sydney Water's bright idea - tap water

Sydney Water, the government owned business monopoly, has had a bright idea.

They’ve begun to provide empty, stylish glass bottles to cafes to serve tap water in.

The label on the bottle says, “Tap – a Sydney Water product”.

This is clever and will, I guess, re-position tap water in the minds of those eating out.  The bottle is solid and stylish.  The label is clear.  It will, I hope, make food eaters begin to question whether they need to buy bottled water which causes so much energy and water pollution or get pretty much the same water at a thousandth of the price – a cent or two if you cost the mains tap water compared to the several dollars for companies selling bottled water.

My guess is if Sydney Water had not been a government business and so slow to act this might have happened years ago and perhaps millions of bottles would have been kept out of our waterways and so many more fish would not have been killed by the tiny shards of plastic which bottled water bottles become when thrown away.

Still, a bright idea and a really positive action.

Just the same, I’ll stick with my bottled rainwater from my rain tank – I call it, “Chippo Champagne”.

May the plastic bottles not be with you,

M

The answer, “Chile”.

So there were no scallops on the table that meal.

This exchange brought these questions to my mind:

When citizen-funded meals are served when:

- COAG meets – the group of federal and state Prime Minister and Ministers, public servants and consultants . . .

and

- the Prime Minister and Premiers host dinners . . .

and

-Mayors and Councillors eat at Council . . .

. . . where does their food come from?

Nearby farmers?

Or from Coles or Woolworths (which pay farmers about 5 cents in the consumer dollar).

Or, China, Chile, Argentina, Italy . . . ?

Interesting, don’t you think?

Just as interesting is this question:  ”Do they ask this question?”

It’s a question I suggest needs to be asked by places which affix themselves with the title ‘a place of higher learning”  - universities; and by schools, companies and anybody professing support for a sustainable business or Earth.

May the local farmers be with us,

Michael

The Guide says:

“The City of Sydney recognises the importance of healthy, safe and sustainable food to the general health and wellbeing of our community and our environment.

In line with Sustainable Sydney 2030, the City of Sydney intends to lead by example in promoting and providing sustainable, healthy and cruelty-free food choices to our employees, residents and external visitors.  By choosing sustainable foods and minimizing food wastage in Council’s services we can have a positive impact on our local and global environment – and our health.

These guidelines seek to provide useful information to assist all staff in making informed choices on sustainable catering that adheres to food safety guidelines.  This document is to be read in conjunction with the Staff Catering Procedure.

1        SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainable Sydney 2030 includes programs to increase the amount of locally produced, healthy food available to our residents and communities.  In keeping with this vision, locally produced, organic, non-GM (genetically modified) and seasonal foods should be requested of caterers and used in preference.”

]]> https://archive.sustainablehouse.com.au/2011/03/sydney-councils-ethical-food-policy/feed/ 0 https://archive.sustainablehouse.com.au/2011/01/salt-lies-and-failed-regulators/ https://archive.sustainablehouse.com.au/2011/01/salt-lies-and-failed-regulators/#comments Fri, 07 Jan 2011 08:06:20 +0000 Michael http://sustainablehouse.com.au/?p=1485 One of Australia’s best selling books is the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet.

It’s an eye opener (and, hopefully, a mouth closer).

It and heart specialists agree; salt is killing many Australians.  They die from the high blood pressure, strokes and heart-related illnesses it causes.

Combine overweight – not much, just some fat around the tummy and you’re overweight; too much salt and too much stress and it’s just a question of time until these illnesses are yours.

What’s struck me over the last few months are three things.

Firstly, how much salt is in our food.

Secondly, how hard it is to find out how much salt is in the food we buy.

And, finally, how useless, neglectful and irrelevant are our food regulators.

Try going for a month finding out how much salt is in your food and you’ll agree with the heart specialist I spoke to who said that the food industry controls how much salt is in our food, not our regulators.

Now, some facts from the CSIRO’s book.  Remember, “sodium” is salt.

As you read, ask yourself, “How much salt do I see famous chefs shovelling into their dishes on cooking shows on the TV?”

• “the National Health and Medical Research Council advises that 460 – 920 mg of sodium per day for adults is an adequate intake and that intake should not go above 2300 mg per day, which is the equivalent of approximately 6 g common salt a day.  This is a much lower amount than most Australians consume in their diet – estimates of intake range from 8 to 10 g salt per day.  Salt occurs naturally in food, and there is rarely any need to add extra salt.  While many people avoid adding salt in cooking and to salty foods, salt is included as an ingredient in many common foods such as bread and breakfast cereal, and is used as a preserving agent in many traditional foods.  More than 75% of our salt intake comes from processed foods” p10
• “it is estimated that up to 50 per cent of the population will have developed high blood pressure by the time they retire’ p10
• “if the food contains 120 mg sodium or less per 100 g or less, then it is low in salt’ p11

Look at the labels on packaged bread.

If you can, read them – the labels are in about 8 point and very difficult to read; thanks for that, you failed regulators.

And if you can read them – try to understand them; they have very different ways of saying how much ‘sodium’ (ie salt) is in the ‘food’ and its often difficult to calculate how much is there.

It’s very hard to find any bread anywhere with less than 300 mg per 100 gram;  most bread on sale typically has at least over three times the healthy amount of salt.

To find out how much salt is in the lovely stuff sold by specialist bread making shops you’ll have to find their recipes in their books or if they’ll tell you; the salt amount won’t be stated as their bread is typically sold without food content labels.

Of course, if you eat from fast food places you’ll not be able to find out but your tongue should tell you there are many teaspoons of salt in any of your fast food.  A teaspoon of salt is about 6 g, or the whole of your body’s healthy daily limit.

Lovely cheeses eg Parmesan has over 1200 mg of sodium.  Same high amounts for olives, sardines, anchovies, ham, proscuitto, many breakfast cereals . . . . oh!

What this means to me is that when I eat:

• At home – I don’t cook with salt but use lemons, finger limes, chillies (fresh), lemon tea tree, lemon grass and so on – and I’ve rediscovered how good is the taste of food without added salt,
• I eat out often – and choose things that have little or no salt as often as I can, or ask for ‘No salt’ in my dishes where it’s possible,
• From time to time – rarely – I eat cheese, packaged cereals, and good bread sold unpackaged.  I have found a couple of terrific packaged breads but they’re hard to find.

As for our food regulators: they’re directly responsible for driving up hospital, health care and medication costs.  This is not a political issue in the sense that ideology is relevant; it’s simply about efficient government – keeping down health costs.

The cost to us in our taxes must be in the billions.  Come on – there must be a few politicians who get this and will do something to toughen up our regulators and food labels?

“Households/week: 247
City Cousins: 32
Price to farmers: 40c/$
Organic or chemical free: 100%
Food miles/week: 173km

Our market comparison with five other organic and non-organic produce box services this month showed we are on average 14% cheaper!”

Julian Lee, co-founder of Sydney Food Connect, is one of five environmentalists named in today’s the(sydney)magazine’s list of Sydney’s top 100 most influential people.

And Stefan Stavropolous, who runs Chippendale’s Cafe Guilia, is one of those, too.

May the local food be with us and our money with the farmers.

Michael

Native stingless bee hive on top of chook house - spring clean time

The Friday gardeners making a raised bed garden in Myrtle

The watermelon Carpaccio with 'weed's - Chippo road garden flowers

Wood sorrel (oxalis) - a road 'weed' that graces famous restaurant dishes

Salvia flower (pineapple sage) - attracts small birds, boosts soil

More chickweed - it's everywhere here

One of our Friday gardeners, Luke, is a chef at one of Australia’s most famous restaurants.  Luke and his fellow chefs have shown us that things we thought to be weeds are tasty, wonderful gifts which we can harvest, treasure and savour in salads and other amazing dishes.

And Luke’s a pretty fine photographer so enjoy his photos of our road gardens and some dishes that  arejust the weeds of Chippendale . . . !

Terrific, thanks, Luke,

M