UK Government announces collaborative development of new national food strategy
09 April 2025
On 10 December 2024, Steve Reed MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, presented the government's intentions to collaborate with the sector to formulate a new food strategy aimed at creating a food system that is beneficial for all in the UK, including businesses operating in the food industry.
According to a summary by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the new food strategy aims to ensure the food system can feed the nation, supports economic growth, protects the environment, and provides nourishment to the population. The strategy will focus on:
- Providing healthier, more accessible food to address obesity and promote a healthy start for children and longevity for adults, building upon existing government health initiatives.
- Enhancing food security by increasing resilience against climate events and geopolitical shifts and safeguarding the supply chain.
- Stimulating investment, productivity, and innovation within the food and drink sector, which is the largest manufacturing sector in the country, to foster economic growth.
- Supporting a 25-year farming plan to lessen farming's impact on nature and biodiversity and to develop a credible strategy to reduce carbon emissions from food and farming, while assisting the sector through this transition.
Defra has since announced the members of the newly created Food Strategy Board which includes representatives from across the food industry with members drawn from, amongst others, Sainsbury’s, McCain Foods, Sofina Foods Europe, Greencore, Bidcorp UK and Nesta. As promised, there are also representatives from the Department from Health and Social Care, the FSA, policy organisations and industry bodies.
The newly created Board held its first meeting on 26 March 2025 and in our next edition we will update on the details of that first meeting and the priority actions coming out of those discussions.
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