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The myriad choices millions of people make every day over what food to buy and from where to buy it shape the nation's food production and supply systems. It is essential to harness these decisions to support the public policy goal of enabling all to access healthy and affordable food. Both supply and demand issues must be managed if a growing world population is to be fed at a time when environmental impacts, including those of climate change, are constraining food production. Our July 2014 Food Security report addressed methods to improve the production and supply of food. In this report we make recommendations on managing consumer demand, such as by encouraging the purchase of sustainably sourced products or the most nutritious food in order to help to deliver environmental and health goals.
We do not argue that there should be any further degree of compulsion on individuals. Rather information and advice, not only from central government but also from local government, the third sector and, importantly, retailers should be better deployed to influence and support consumer behaviours that help deliver policy objectives. For example consumers should be encouraged:
· to purchase more British products to help secure the future of national farming. Whilst not in itself a guarantee of secure food chains, British food production forms a vital component of a diverse supply system under which risks to disrupted supply chains are mitigated and consumers can have a wide range of product choices; and
· to increase the level of consideration people give to the impact of their food choices on their health. As well as being beneficial to individuals, this could have significant national economic and social benefits through healthier diets leading to reduced incidence of illnesses linked to poor nutrition and in particular to excessive consumption.
Information and advice programmes by central and local government, in partnership with retailers and charities, have produced some results but much more needs to be done. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has the central responsibility for food security and should co-ordinate work more effectively across government and with other stakeholder partners on encouraging optimum food choices. People make choices on what to buy when out shopping in a matter of seconds so better labelling is needed to provide clearer information on health aspects and on the origin and sustainability of products so that consumers can easily compare options. Further, the food sector, including retailers, should be more pro-active and innovative in providing information and building on current consumer demand to promote sustainably sourced and healthy products.
It is of concern that the nation continues to waste food on a significant scale. Programmes such as those run by the Waste and Resources Action Programme have made notable inroads into reducing food waste and we welcome the Government's support for such approaches. It is vital that the momentum is maintained and this will require ongoing government funding as well as increased contributions from wider society. Nonetheless, this investment will reap economic results well in excess of its cost. Efforts need to apply across food supply chains from farm to fork to cut waste and generate economic, social and environmental benefits.
Food poverty cannot be divorced from poverty overall, the causes of which encompass broad income, expenditure and lifestyle issues. However, Defra's food security remit means that it is a core Defra responsibility to ensure that nutritious food is available at an affordable price. There is a lack of robust data on the extent to which people are unable to afford to feed themselves adequately, and the limited research undertaken to date on the drivers for increased use of foodbanks has been inconclusive. Defra should rectify this. Work by charities and others to redistribute surplus food via foodbanks is welcome but the amount redistributed is pitifully small in the context of the amount of surplus food that currently goes to waste. Whilst local approaches, driven by community-based organisations, can best meet locally specific needs, national approaches are needed to deliver a step-change in the amount of surplus food diverted from all parts of the supply chain to feed those in need. Defra must lead joined-up, national approaches. The Department should appoint a Food Security Co-ordinator, one of whose key roles would be to bring together key agencies and support the development of effective systems to distribute far greater volumes of food that would otherwise go to waste.
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