More than 100 organisations spanning the food supply chain, farming, retail, manufacturing, health, investment and environmental sectors have signed an open letter to Prime Minister Andy Burnham urging the Government to introduce a new Good Food Bill. The breadth of support is striking, bringing together businesses and organisations that do not always share the same policy priorities but are united in calling for a more coherent long-term approach to the UK’s food system.

Among the signatories are major food retailers, manufacturers, farmers, investors and charities, reflecting a growing consensus that food security, public health and the resilience of the UK’s food system should be treated as a national strategic priority alongside areas such as energy and defence.

The letter argues that recent shocks, including climate-related disruption, geopolitical instability and rising production costs, have exposed vulnerabilities across the food supply chain. It calls on Government to establish a statutory framework that provides long-term direction and accountability for food policy.

Key proposals include:

• legally binding national targets on issues such as food security, childhood obesity, fruit and vegetable consumption and increasing the proportion of food produced in Britain;
• a duty on ministers to consider food policy across government departments, including health, farming, trade, planning and education;
• five-year Good Food Action Plans setting out how targets will be achieved; and
• independent oversight to monitor and report progress.

While much of the campaign focuses on public health and nutrition, the strong backing from across the food industry highlights the increasing importance being placed on long-term food system resilience and policy certainty. For meat processors, the significance of the letter lies not only in its proposals, but in the unusually broad coalition of businesses and organisations calling for Government to give food policy greater strategic priority.

For our industry, one of the key threats to domestic food security is the alarming drop in livestock numbers and the resulting increased reliance on imports. We’re working with partners across the meat and livestock industry to address this with government.

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