We are urgently developing research requirements with other European laboratories to make sure we understand and the disease (Schmallenberg) better.Eggs come from sheep, claim confused children
EGGS come from sheep, bacon comes from horses and cheese comes from butterflies, rats or mice - just some of the responses when children were asked where food comes from.
The stark reality of children’s knowledge of food origins came in a survey of 1,100 children in the South West, aged between six and eight.
In the survey, published Yesterday (Monday, February 1), fewer than one in four knew that beef burgers were sourced from cows, with 29 per cent saying beef burgers came from pigs.
Other responses included pupils believing rabbits, plastic or sheep were the main ingredient of crisps (two-thirds correctly identified potatoes) and some thought ice-cream was made with cheese, air, fish or potatoes (43 per cent correctly said milk or cream).
However, children’s overall level of recognition of vegetables was high, ranging from 98 per cent for carrots and sweetcorn to a low of 44 per cent for swede and turnip. Levels of animal recognition were even higher, with all pupils correctly identifying cows, 99 per cent for pigs, 98 per cent for chickens and 97 per cent for sheep. Seventy-seven per cent of pupils had visited a farm and just under two-thirds had grown their own vegetables.
As a result, a new campaign called ‘Dig Down South West’, aimed at encouraging children to grow their own produce, is being launched today (Tuesday, February 2) with TV personality and gardening expert Charlie Dimmock.
Supported by Cornish Mutual, which also commissioned the survey, the campaign is aimed at all primary schools in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset with an interest in growing their own vegetable garden.
It will help to create 50 new vegetable gardens in schools across the region to encourage children, between the ages of five and eight, to take an active interest in ‘growing their own’ produce.
Readers' comments (5)
Anonymous | 2 February 2010 3:47 pm
Well after 13 years of a Labour government! Education, education, education-well done Gordon!
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Diana Korchien | 2 February 2010 3:53 pm
The problem here is that there is no teaching of what happens between 'farm' and 'fork'. Where do things comne from, where do they go, what do they become? If children were taught this they might just begin to understand the web of life and how it supports us humans. And they might just be able o grasp the concept of sustainability.
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Anonymous | 3 February 2010 9:03 am
I would have thought that the parents would have taught their children basic facts such as these especially at the meal table...unless of course, the parents don't know either.
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Philip Glynn | 3 February 2010 10:02 am
This is a sad indictment on society as a whole in particular parents
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DAVID VINTER | 9 February 2010 3:47 pm
I guess if a pupil wants to be a glamour model or a footballer, that food and its production do not rate very highly! Anyway most urban parents get their food from supermarkets!
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