Walk-the Talk: Gordon Brown, Food Crisis and Alternative Fuels

In connection with the on-going G-8 Summit, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called on the world particularly the British families to cut back on the wasteful use of food. Based on studies, about one-third of the food supplies bought by Britons and Americans either go to waste or becomes stale. The UK Government even revealed that food wastage in their country totals to 4 tons per annum with each household having at food leftovers pegged at £8.

But after the pronouncement, the prime minister was served 24 different dishes just on his first day of the summit. This, of course, sparked condemnation from different political and civil society groups.

Meanwhile, an alleged World Bank study confirmed the fears that biofuels caused the skyrocketing of food prices as food production slowed down. The study was not released, according to the report, as the same may cause embarrassment to US President George Bush. Earlier, the US government had been claiming that plant-derived fuels contributed to only 3% of the price increases in food products which was debunked by the study that pegged the effect at 75%.

The World Bank study supports the Gallagher report which found out "that the rush to develop biofuels has played a "significant" role in the dramatic rise in global food prices, which has left 100 million more people without enough to eat."

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