Catalogue description Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: European Community Free Food Scheme

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Details of MAF 692
Reference: MAF 692
Title: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: European Community Free Food Scheme
Description:

The preserved records in this series chart the arrangements for participation in European Community Free Food Scheme or Surplus Food Scheme. Also the development of policy legislation and annual review in the light of costs and stocks available.

Date: 1987-1998
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Former reference in its original department: FFS file series
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2001-

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 1955-2001

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, European Community Division II, 1980-1994

Physical description: 22 file(s)
Access conditions: Open
Immediate source of acquisition:

from 2015 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Accumulation dates: 1987 to 2011
Accruals: Series is accruing.
Administrative / biographical background:

The EC Free Food Scheme provided for Member States to make available to designated organisations, food from intervention stocks for distribution to the most deprived in society.

Originally designed to provide surplus stocks of farm produce ('intervention stocks') to needy people, the scheme was amended in the mid-1990s to make it possible to supplement intervention stocks with market purchases in certain circumstances.

The scheme was originally established in 1987, allowing Member States to release public stocks of surplus food for use as food aid. Since then, the situation has changed. With stocks being at an all-time low, the number of needy people has increased and food prices have risen sharply. This is why the Commission believes it is vital to increase spending on the scheme, and to allow food purchases on the open market on a permanent basis.

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