Over 100 organisations from across sectors have signed a letter to Andy Burnham urgently calling for a ‘Good Food Bill’ to increase national food security and improve the UK’s health.

The letter has been signed by food industry giants including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Waitrose, and Co-op, along with organic groups and food campaigners including the Soil Association, Riverford Organic, OF&G, the Food Foundation and Sustain. 

The letter’s signatories say a Good Food Bill would act as a legally binding framework that would improve national food and nutrition security, public health and food system resilience. They say that with wildfires raging across Europe and geopolitics remaining on a knife edge, the fragility of the UK food system is increasingly obvious. That fragility, alongside diet-related disease being at record highs, is now of clear concern to the public, business leaders, charities, health experts and farmers alike. The letter calls on the new Prime Minister to ensure the food system becomes a national priority, alongside energy and defence.

The UK’s food system has suffered repeated shocks in recent years. Farmers and growers face rising costs and increasing pressure from climate change and nature loss. International conflict has pushed fertiliser costs up by around 40% since last year, while more frequent extreme weather events – highlighted by this summer’s devastating wildfires across Europe – are making harvests increasingly vulnerable. Earlier this year, the Government’s own National Security Assessment concluded that global biodiversity loss poses a direct threat to the UK’s food supply. Together, these pressures are contributing to higher food prices, which are forecast to be 50% higher this November than at the start of the cost of living crisis.

The letter states that: “Each new shock lands on a food system with less capacity to absorb it. British production of fruit and vegetables has fallen 16% since 2015, and we now import 78% of our supply. The next food shock is not a question of if, but when. To meet it prepared, food has to stop being an afterthought for the Government: we need mechanisms to put food high on the priority list of every part of government, both national and local, so that any decisions that impact on health, farming, planning, and trade secure better access to healthy and sustainable food for everyone.”

“… food has to stop being an afterthought for the Government: we need mechanisms to put food high on the priority list of every part of government, both national and local”

“The cost of doing nothing on this issue is already falling on those with the least resource, with food insecurity already affecting 15% of households with children. Economic pressures continue to push a healthy diet further out of Tesco UK CEO Ashwin Prasad said:  “We believe every child should have the opportunity to grow up healthy and thrive, and we are proud to support the Good Food Bill and its ambition to create a long-term legal framework that helps ensure children and future generations can access healthy food and lifestyles.

“The Good Food Bill has the potential to provide the accountability and long-term commitment needed to drive meaningful change, and by working together across government, business and communities, we can shape a food system that genuinely supports healthier futures for generations to come.”

Simon Roberts, Chief Executive at Sainsbury’s, said: “Recent weeks have shown just how much pressure our food system is under. We need a more resilient food system that attracts investment, backs British farmers and helps keep affordable, nutritious food on tables across the nation. Food and farming should be at the heart of government policy, helping to build a stronger and more resilient future. That’s why we’ve signed the Good Food Bill. Through working together to drive the change we need across government, industry and communities, we can make sure everyone has access to good food for years to come.”

Kath Dalmeny, Chief Executive, Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming, said, “We are living through a period of profound change, yet we are still trying to feed the country with a mid twentieth-century food system built for a more stable world. Wars, a changing climate and the loss of the natural systems our food depends on are driving up prices, and it is families on the lowest incomes who are being hit the hardest. Food resilience can no longer sit at the bottom of the agenda. The breadth of support behind a Good Food Bill shows that it is time for a food and farming system built for the century we are actually in.”

Richard Hall, Vice President, General Secretary, Danone North Europe, “Poor diet, especially amongst children, is one of the biggest challenges facing the UK today. Addressing it will require Government, industry and civil society to work together on practical, evidence-based solutions. The Good Food Bill provides an important framework to improve public health while giving businesses the long-term certainty they need to invest and help deliver that change.”

Anna Taylor, Executive Director, The Food Foundation, said, “The UK food system is dangerously exposed to shocks far beyond our borders. Over the last few years, we have seen this play out through rising food prices and increasing diet and health inequalities, with the price gap between healthy and less healthy food at the widest it’s been for over a decade. At the same time farmers are struggling to make ends meet. What we need now is a Good Food Bill that sets out a long-term framework for building resilience in the UK food system — one that holds successive governments to account and protects businesses, citizens and farmers alike.”

Blanche Shackleton, Interim Executive Director, Green Alliance said, “Every major shock of recent years has exposed the same weakness: we don’t treat food as a strategic national priority. As climate change, nature loss and geopolitical instability place growing pressure on our food system, government needs a long-term plan that matches the scale of the challenge. A Good Food Bill would provide the framework to strengthen food security, support farmers and growers, and give everyone access to healthier, more sustainable food.”