Campaigners slate government’s food report

Food campaign groups have attacked the government’s Food 2030​ strategy report, published today by environment secretary Hilary Benn, for failing to tackle the “unsustainable nature” of UK food and farming.

Dr Tom MacMillan, executive director of the Food Ethics Council, said: “The government’s vision for a sustainable and healthy future will have wide appeal, but the ways it hopes to get there aren’t up to the job.”
MacMillan added: “There’s a lot about helping the market and consumers to be more efficient, but not much about people, power or politics. The irony is that a leaner, meaner food system squeezes people at the bottom of the heap - precisely those most at risk of eating unhealthily, being hurt by climate change or experiencing hunger.”
According to Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming, the report recommended only “soft” measures, such as wasting less food and avoids tough issues such as reducing children’s consumption of what it considers to be junk food by, for example, properly protecting children from junk food marketing.
Jeanette Longfield, coordinator of Sustain, said: “The government’s ‘Food Vision’ is hardly worthy of the name. The document proposes a series of minor tweaks to our fundamentally unsustainable food system and ignores obvious ideas to help British farmers, such as improving the food that government itself buys.
“What we need is an ambitious programme of investment in British farming so that it can produce healthy and sustainable food. If government is serious about making our food system sustainable, it must put its money where its mouth is and only spend tax payers’ money on good quality and sustainable food. What we have got is more of the same policies that have caused the food system’s current problems.”
In contrast, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) welcomed the report. FDF director general Melanie Leech said: “We have consistently called for a new government approach that makes sustainable and competitive food production a key priority in its own right. Today’s launch of the Food 2030​ vision marks the start of such a process.”

Leech added: “Manufacturers will play a vital role in meeting the increased demand for safe, nutritious and affordable food that has less impact on the environment and natural resources on which we all depend. Our sector is already leading the way on many of the issues highlighted in Food 2030​.
“We look forward to working with government to turn words into action; ensuring our sector continues to thrive so that we can provide the innovation and growth that Food 2030​ recognises will be vital if we are to ensure the nation’s future food security while supporting the creation of a low-carbon economy in the UK.”