Sir, Yet again we see how completely out of touch with the ordinary people of this country Gordon Brown is (“Waste not, want not, Brown tells families”, July 7) when he accuses families of “wasting an average of £420 a year on food”.

From the figures quoted, expenditure on food for the average household has substantially decreased from 16 per cent to 9 per cent, while the poorest devote 15 per cent of spending on food, and would hardly be likely to waste that much, if they could afford to waste anything at all.

The wealthiest are more likely to be guilty of such extravagance, and from the figure of 7 per cent food expenditure for a higher spending budget this might well equate to about £100 a week or more, which is far in excess of the likely £30 to £40 per week of an average income earner’s food expenditure. Add to this the wastage from eating establishments, where once more it is only the wealthy who can realistically afford to eat out and not count the cost, and we see who the real culprits most likely are.

To suggest that an average family throws away almost £10 worth of food a week is not only beyond all reasonable common sense but plainly arrogant, with most ordinary people struggling to make ends meet — especially in the current economic climate — and this from a man who purports to be a crusader for the poor.

Philip Wenban
Maidstone, Kent

Sir, Celebrity chefs have dominated food programmes and planning for the past 30 years. Their recipes are long lists of obscure, expensive, imported ingredients available in the supermarkets for which they advertise and promote in the recipe books they sell. Overgarnished, overhandled food is served up in fussy individual portions more suitable for the restaurant than the family table.

Home cooks and dinner ladies need encouragement to return to simply cooked food, served in dishes and placed on the table and those who eat it to have reasonable expectations of what a good meal is. This makes it possible to plan and serve food that is economically priced and easy to cook well.

Janet Cockerill
Cambridge

Sir, I wonder how much food was wasted before the introduction of “use by” dates? The “climate of fear” engendered by such devices has surely brainwashed several generations into throwing away perfectly edible foodstuffs because they believe that their health is at risk if they consume them after the labels say they should. My parents’ generation continues to ignore the dates on the labels, trusts its own judgment as to whether the food is fit to eat — and comes to no harm.

Peter Sergeant
Loughborough, Leics

Sir, One way to reduce food waste is to go back to using one’s senses (sight, smell and taste) to establish whether food is safe to be consumed, rather than sell-by dates.

Joan Morrell
Gorleston, Norfolk

Sir, On behalf of the millions who manage a household budget day in and day out, I find it highly offensive to be lectured on wastefulness by Mr Brown, when his own record on economic management is so dismal.

Priscilla Thomas
Rode, Somerset

Sir, Yes, we probably do waste too much food, but how do they find out? How do they find me out when I chuck out a small tub of crème fraîche, well past its sell-by date, lurking in the the back of my fridge? Are there hidden cameras under the lid of my wheelie bin? If not — will there be?

D. Thomson
Winchester

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