Additive

A substance that becomes part of a food product when it is added (intentionally or unintentionally) during the processing or production of that specific food item.

Antibiotic

a substance produced by micro-organisms that kill or inhibit bacteria e.g. penicillin.

Aquaculture

Fish farming

Assurance Schemes

verify that farmers and growers are producing agricultural products according to various documented standards covering food safety and traceability, animal welfare and environmental protection.

Biotechnology

the technology used to change the biological makeup of a living organism?? ....gm

Farm Scale Evaluations (FSEs)

GM crop farm-scale evaluations was a three-year programme of research by independent researchers aimed at studying the effect, that the management practices associated with Genetically Modified Herbicide Tolerant (GMHT) crops might have on farmland wildlife, when compared with weed control used with non-GM crops.

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics

a critical class of antibiotic for treating sick people, and evidence suggests that use for growth in poultry use is compromising the human uses

Food Miles/Metres

measure the distance food travels between production and consumption - 'from plough to plate'.

Food Security

is when "all people, especially the most vulnerable and least resilient have dignified and unthreatening access to the quantity and quality of culturally appropriate food that will fully support the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health".

Functional Foods

are physiologically active components in food. ording to the EU are "an organism in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination".

GMHT

Plants Genetically Modified for "Herbicide Tolerance". These are plants that can withstand 'broad spectrum' (= kill all) herbicides - such as atrazine, glufosinate or glyphosate.

Greenhouse Gases (GHG)

are those gases contributing to the greenhouse effect and are carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), nitrous oxides, and methane. Global Warming Potential (GWP) is the index used to translate the level of emissions of various gases into a common measure in order to compare the relative radiative forcing of different gases without directly calculating the changes in atmospheric concentrations.

GM-free

means avoiding all Genetically Modified ingredients, derivatives, enzymes and processes in the manufacture of the products. In the EU, 'GMfree' is when less than 1% of the crop/food is contaminated with GM materials.

Herbicide Tolerant Crops

include soybeans, corn, cotton, and rape (canola) which have been genetically engineered to resist the toxic effects of 'broad spectrum' herbicides. See GMHT..

HMR - Home Meal Replacement

Intensive farming aims to produce the maximum number of crops in a year with a high yield from the land available and to maintain a high stocking rate of livestock.

Local food sourcing

Food both produced and sold within a limited geographical radius but which does not necessarily have any distinctive quality.'

Monoculture

is the system of cultivation where only one crop is grown on the same piece of land over a number of years. eanings in common use. In chemistry, 'organic' means any substance with carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O). However now 'organic' usually means "without chemicals, such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and artificial additives". However the standards for 'organic' now include other related issues such as animal husbandry and no GM grops.

Organic Farming

according to IFOAM, employs management practices which seek to nurture ecosystems which achieve sustainable productivity, and provide weed, pest and disease control through a diverse mix of mutually dependent life forms, recycling plant and animal residues, crop selection and rotation, water management, tillage and cultivation. Organic Food is that which is produced by such farm methods..

Pesticides

are chemicals used to kill pests such as insects (insecticides), plants (herbicides), fungi, (fungicides) and worms (nematicides). About 25,000 tonnes of pesticide are sprayed over the British countryside each year,

Precautionary Principle

according to Principal 15 of UN Rio Declaration is "where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation". A 'precautionary approach' would use this principle to guide actions..

Progesterone

Hormone used routinely......

Regional food

Regional Food is food produced within a particular geographical area (whether administrative region, county, town or other appellation) and is marketed as coming from that area.

Sustainable Agriculture

The definition of this is getting confusing as it is moving from a view that saw sustainable agriculture looking quite different from present practices and would include all social and environmental impacts as well as economic. This definition is being altered by some organisations so sustainable agriculture is more just the efficient use of resources.

Sustainable Development

"is development that meets that needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." 'Our Common Future', the Bruntland Report 1987.

Sustainable Food

is the product of sustainable farming and sustainble food processing, where social, environmental as well as economic factors help direct actions towards a future where there is more efficient and more equitable use of resources.

Testosterone

Hormone used routinely.......