The Food Strategy Advisory Board follows the secretary of state Steve Reed’s pledge last year to create a national food strategy.
The advisory board has four key aims:
- Provide more easily accessible and affordable healthy food
- Maintain UK food security by building resilience
- Reduce the impact of farming and food production on nature, biodiversity and climate
- Ensure growth is at the heart of the strategy
Daniel Zeichner MP, Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs, Defra
Daniel Zeichner MP will act as the board’s chair and will sit alongside a 14-strong panel.
Zeichner was appointed minister of state for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in July 2024.
He previously served as shadow environment minister (2020-24), shadow transport minister (2015-17), and was a member of the Petitions Committee, Transport Committee, and Science and Technology Committee.
Zeichner was first elected as the Labour MP for Cambridge in May 2015 and has been re-elected in the general elections of 2017, 2019 and 2024.
In 2021, as shadow minister, Zeichner led for the Labour Party in Parliament on the Agricultural Bill and served on the committee scrutinising the Environment Bill.
Emily Miles, director general, Defra
Miles was acting director general for the EU Exit Delivery Group in Defra from 1 April 2019 to 20 September 2019.
She has worked in Defra since November 2015, joining as the group director of strategy, and coordinating work on the domestic consequences of Brexit for Defra since the referendum in 2016.
For the previous 15 years she worked largely on home affairs issues, in the Home Office, Downing Street and Cabinet Office. Roles included director of policing at the Home Office; the programme director for the programme to clear the UK’s historic asylum caseload backlog in the UK Border Agency; and the programme director for the close of the National Policing Improvement Agency and the establishment of the College of Policing. She was also policy advisor on home affairs to former Prime Minister Tony Blair between 2002 and 2005.
She took a career break from 2010 to 2011, in part to spend more time with her two young children. During this period she was also a Winston Churchill Fellow, travelling to the USA, Canada and India. She published her findings as an InsideOut report, Collaborative Working, for the Institute for Government, where she was a Whitehall Fellow in 2011.
Emily holds a Masters in the international law of armed conflict and international criminal justice from the University of Nottingham, and her first degree was from the University of Cambridge, in English.
Sarah Bradbury, CEO of IGD
Bradbury leads the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD), the organisation that has been helping to inspire and unite the food industry for more than 120 years.
She brings over 25 years of experience in the retail and food sector, holding senior commercial and marketing positions. In her previous role as group quality director at Tesco, she was responsible for overseeing the delivery of high-quality safe products, sustainability, agriculture and regulatory compliance. It was in this role that Sarah developed her passion for driving collaborative change, mobilising the food and consumer goods sectors as a force for good, and working to improve the food system for the long term.
Selley spent 26 years with Bidcorp primarily developing business in the UK, as well as businesses in Turkey, the Middle East, the Baltics and Spain. He became CEO of Bidfood in 2014, before assuming the role of CEO at Bidcorp UK.
Andrew Selley, CEO, Bidcorp UK
Bidcorp UK is the wholly owned subsidiary of Bidcorp Group, a global foodservices company. In the UK Bidcorp operates as Bidfood wholesale, Bidfresh wholesale, Bidcorp manufacturing, Caterfood Buying Group, and Snowden & Bridge imports company. Turnover is nearly £2 billion, with an estimated 6,000 employees.
Selley was also chairman of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors between 2017 - 2019; and is currently a commissioner on the Food Farming and Countryside Commission, and involved in other sustainable business initiatives such as Better Business Act coalition.
There’s never been a more crucial time to overhaul the way we produce, distribute and sell food in order to build a fairer food system. Solving the challenges we face will take serious commitment, and a comprehensive, food strategy that provides secure, nutritious, and affordable food for our families and future generations.
Andrew Selley, CEO, Bidcorp UK
Anna Taylor, executive director, Food Foundation
The Food Foundation is a leading organisation working on food policy.
Taylor started her career as a nutritionist working for Save the Children.
She joined the Food Foundation as executive director in 2015, having previously served as a civil servant at the Department for International Development (DFID) where she leading on its nutrition work. She was awarded an OBE for services to tackle undernutrition globally.
She was also chief independent adviser to Henry Dimbleby for the National Food Strategy.
Ash Amirahmadi, CEO, Sofina Foods Europe
Amirahmadi was appointed as Sofina Foods Europe’s chief executive officer in August 2023, a large multi-protein food manufacturer operating 21 sites across the UK, Ireland, Germany.
He started his career at Unilever, working in several roles from engineering to operations to sales.
Prior to joining Sofina Foods, Amirahmadi held several leadership roles with Arla Foods over a 20-year period.
He was also appointed to the Government’s Food Resilience Industry Forum and awarded an OBE for services to the dairy industry in the 2023 New Year’s Honours and awarded the Princess Royal Award by The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) in 2024, recognising his outstanding contribution to the sector.
It is an honour to be invited to advise the government on the new food strategy. With 35 years of experience in developing supply chains across agri-food businesses, I am eager to offer practical support toward the shared goal of building a thriving UK food system. This system should ensure that all stakeholders, from farm to consumer, can provide safe, nutritious, and accessible food in a sustainable manner.
Ash Amirahmadi, CEO, Sofina Foods Europe
Dalton Philips, CEO, Greencore
Philips became CEO of Greencore plc in 2022, a leading manufacturer of convenience foods.
He started his career with Jardine Matheson in New Zealand, Australia, and Spain, followed by Walmart in Brazil and Germany.
In 2017, he became chief executive of daa plc, chief executive of Wm Morrison plc, then a FTSE 100 company and the UK’s fourth-largest supermarket chain, chief executive of luxury goods retailer Brown Thomas Group, and chief operating officer of Canadian retailer Loblaw Companies Limited.
Flor Healy, chairman, Little Moons
Healy is an experienced leader in the food industry. He retired from his role as CEO for Samworth Brothers Ltd in 2022, but prior to this spent 14 years as CEO of Kerry Group’s consumer food division, as well as being a board member of Kerry Group PLC.
He is now chairman of Little Moons and a non executive director of Kepak Group.
A secure supply of good quality, healthy and affordable food is the cornerstone of a healthy, peaceful and prosperous society. In todays disturbed world food security must not be taken for granted. Building a more resilient food system has never been more important.
Flor Healy, chairman, Little Moons
Jillian Moffatt, regional president, McCain Foods
Moffatt was appointed to the role of regional president, GB and Ireland at McCain Foods in April 2023.
This follows a 25-year career in the food industry, which began at Unilever and Campbell Soup. Over her 16 years at McCain, she has progressed her career in roles across the business in both North America and the UK. These include vice-president of finance for McCain Foods Canada, and chief technology officer for McCain Foods globally.
Nesta’s mission is to design, test and scale solutions to society’s biggest challenges, from sustainability, to health, to educational and inequality.
Ravi Gurumurthy, CEO, Nesta
Gurumurthy also leads the behavioural insights team (BIT), also known as the ‘Nudge Unit.’ BIT has grown from a small team in No. 10 Downing Street to a 250-person global social purpose consultancy, and subsidiary of Nesta.
His experience also included working in the UK government from 1999 to 2013, where he was an advisor and speechwriter to the foreign secretary, David Miliband, led the creation of Every Child Matters and the Children Act 2004, and the world’s first legally binding climate legislation.
Gurumurthy has held a number of non-executive roles and is currently a governor of the Heath Foundation.
Simon Roberts, CEO, Sainsbury’s
Roberts has worked across retail and food for over 35 years. He was appointed chief executive of Sainsbury’s on 1 June 2020, having joined the business as retail & operations director in 2017.
He began his career at Marks and Spencer and joined Sainsbury’s from Boots where he was president of Boots UK and Ireland.
Alongside his role at Sainsbury’s, Roberts is president of the IGD, a member of the Government’s Retail Sector Council, and an advisory board member of Diversity in Retail.
Professor Susan Jebb, chair, FSA
Jebb is professor of diet and population health at the University of Oxford. She leads a large research team working to develop the evidence base for policies to encourage healthier and more sustainable diets, and to develop and test dietary interventions to treat obesity and related diseases.
Previously, she was the science advisor for the influential foresight report on obesity, chair of the cross-government expert advisory group on obesity, and has advised government on standards for food in both schools and hospitals.
Alongside teaching, she is chair of the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
She is also a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and was awarded an OBE for services to public health.
Tim J Smith, chairman, Cranswick
Smith is the non-executive chairman of Cranswick plc a leading vertically integrated and innovative supplier of premium, fresh and added value food products with UK sales of £2.7bn.
Smith’s vast experience includes several leadership roles, including CEO of Arla Foods UK and the FSA, and group quality director at Tesco.
He was appointed a non-executive director and board member of Pret a Manger in 2019, and in 2020 was named chair of the UK government’s Trade and Agriculture Commission.
Smith was also appointed as the co-chair of the Food and Drink Sector Council (FDSC) in July 2022, and is a Trustee of the Natasha Allergy Foundation.
He was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to agriculture, food, and drink trade policy in the 2022 New Years Honours.
For a long time now we’ve had the benefit of a world class food and drink sector in the UK. We are supported by many thousands of hard working folks who turn up every day to produce our food. As we contemplate how best to feed the nation and facing into unparalleled challenges it’s going to be our opportunity to find ways to devise a system, fair for all, which produces food which is healthy, sustainable and affordable. Reports and recommendations might be the start but we need action to swiftly follow deliberation. Mobilising the established highly competent Food Sector Council to help deliver those plans is just one way to get things done.
Tim J Smith, chairman, Cranswick
Chris Whitty, chief medical officer, DHSC
Whitty is CMO for England, the UK Government’s chief medical adviser, and head of the public health profession.
He is currently the interim Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) permanent secretary pending the appointment of a new permanent secretary
Whitty is a practising NHS consultant physician at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) and the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, and a visiting professor at Gresham College.
He is also an epidemiologist and has undertaken research and worked as a doctor in the UK, Africa and Asia. He was professor of public and international health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) before becoming CMO and remains an honorary professor.
Whitty also served as the chief scientific adviser for the DHSC from January 2016 to August 2021, with overall responsibility for the department’s research and development, including being head of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the Government’s major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research.
He was the interim Government chief scientific adviser from 2017 to 2018, including during the Novichok poisonings. Before that, he was the chief scientific adviser at the Department for International Development (DFID), which included leading technical work on the West Africa Ebola outbreak and other international emergencies.
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Sam Godfrey, farmer R.J. & A.E. Godfrey
Godfrey has farmed in partnership with his father and brother in their family arable and pig farming businesses in Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire for 17 years although the business no longer keeps pigs.
In addition to taking an active role within the business, Godfrey has been heavily involved in industry representative positions, including serving on the board of the National Pig Association (2015 – 2024), the board of NFU Sugar (2017 – 2024), and Scunthorpe and Gainsborough Water Management Board (2014 – Present).
I am looking forward to working with others on the Board. I will bring experience of commercial agriculture to the Board, which is representative of mainstream agricultural production. I hope to ensure a pragmatic approach is taken that accommodates the needs of agriculture within the broader aims of the strategy.
Sam Godfrey, farmer
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