Actually, the Ethical Consumer report came out in December - the Standard only just picked it up today...

NEW REPORT: RESTAURANT CHAINS IGNORE ETHICALLY SOURCED FOOD

The awareness of ethical issues in the restaurant industry is very poor, according to a new report published by Ethical Consumer magazine. Only a few chains on the high street are showing signs of beginning to grasp the idea of sustainability.

Sarah Irving, the author of the report and a senior researcher at Ethical Consumer, says:

“Many menus make vague ethical claims, like 'local' or 'natural', without giving real information, and staff are often poorly trained to deal with queries. The restaurant industry would particularly benefit from good environmental and social reporting and better transparency.”

The report is published in the January/February 2008 issue of Ethical Consumer and ranks 26 of the largest national restaurant chains against ethical issues.

Most chains fail to provide organic, fairly traded, free range, GM-free and other sustainable alternatives.

The chain to come out best in the report was Loch Fyne Restaurants, which is the only restaurant with a sustainable fish buying policy to cover all its fish range. It has also switched all its restaurants to renewable energy. The chain was recently bought by Greene King, which during takeover talks agreed to maintain its subsidiary's high ethical standards.

The chain scored 8.5 out of 20 in Ethical Consumer's ethiscore rating.
The rating is designed to allow consumers to compare companies across a range of corporate responsibility issues.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen (ethiscore: 8.5), Wetherspoons (7) and Pitcher & Piano (5.5) are the only restaurants in the report that serve individual items labelled free range, organic or local. However, they do not apply these principles across their entire ranges. Vegetarian options are labelled in most restaurants on the high street, but not all.

Other restaurants featuring in the report include Piccolino's, Nando's, Frankie & Benny, Hard Rock Cafe, Living Room, Wagamama, All Bar One, Beefeater, Harvester, Old Orleans and Pizza Hut.

It's a good day to ask, since Ethical Consumer Magazine has just released a study of the restaurants with the best and worst ethical records. Gourmet BNurger Kitchen comes out top, and Loch Fyne does very well. Steer clear of TGI Friday's though (well, who wouldn't?). There's an interesting thread on all this on Guardian Unlimited -
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/food/2007/12/organic.html