Post by Dan Dare on Mar 12, 2024 12:23:59 GMT
A charity 'Sustain - The alliance for better food and farming" has, despite being partially publicly-funded, given a platform for 'migrants rights' activists to launch a fierce attack on the government about the quality and quantity of food provided to asylum seekers, particularly on London.
Its report People seeking asylum in London face malnutrition claims that basic needs are not being met, resulting in food insecurity, poor physical and mental health, and malnutrition, particularly in children. People seeking asylum do not have access to sufficient money, kitchen facilities or food to meet their needs, are provided with food that does not meet food hygiene or nutritional standards, in some cases resulting in hospitalisation.
Their findings are echoed by campaigner Sarah Teather, Director of Jesuits Refugee Services UK, who states:
"...children are going to bed crying in hunger, people becoming ill because of the only food they can eat, a daily struggle to make ends meet. These are ultimately the result of a deliberate policy to force people seeking asylum to live in poverty."
Isabel Rice, London Food Poverty Campaign Coordinator at Sustain, elaborates further:
"...People seeking sanctuary in this country should have their nutritional needs met, and agency over the food they eat. This report reveals that this is not happening, with catastrophic impacts on people’s physical and mental health”.
Almost superfluous to add that Guardian makes all this into a three-hankie tearjerker which shock stories about mouldy fruit, past sell-by yoghourt, undercooked chicken and similar culinary atrocities. Perhaps the worst of all is that "Some Muslim mothers reported being asked to “swear on your child’s life” that they were fasting during Ramadan before they were allowed to receive iftar, the fast-breaking evening meal."
Clearly the government has a duty here to elevate standards of asylum seeker cuisine to normal London restaurant levels, and to provide support and funding accordingly.
Perhaps a mission for Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay et al, with Gary Lineker appointed as Chief Culinary Inspector?
