DEPARTMENT FOR
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS News Release (212/08) issued by
The Government News Network on 7 July 2008
The Cabinet Office
today publishes the results of a ten-month Strategy Unit project
looking at food policy across Government - and concludes that
rising demand, climate change, and trade and productivity
restrictions must all be addressed.
Commissioned by the Prime Minister, the report focuses on food
issues in the UK and puts them in a global context. It draws
together evidence about long-term trends in food production and
consumption, and how food safety and nutrition impact on the
health of the UK.
Some key recommendations are:
* Building on the Stern Review and drawing on the UK's world
class science base, the UK should take a leadership role in
looking at how the world can meet the twin challenges of climate
change and global food security. The Government's Chief
Scientific Adviser is commissioning a major new project on this,
which is announced today. It will explore how the food system and
its associated policies will need to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
* The Government should launch a public engagement about a more
joined-up approach to UK food policy that pursues fair prices,
safer food, healthier diets and better environmental performance;
Defra will work in partnership with DH and FSA, to develop and
engage the public and food businesses in a new shared vision to
guide future food strategy. This work will be completed by
autumn 2009.
* The UK must continue to focus on fair prices, access to food
and food security through competitive markets; Defra will shortly
be issuing a discussion paper that takes forward this important debate.
* We must work with other European countries to promote the role
of agriculture in mitigating and adapting to climate change; Defra
will take this forward with other major partners, such as Germany
and France, to build consensus on priorities and secure effective action.
* A new scheme should be launched to get the public sector in
England providing healthier, more environmentally sustainable
food. The Department of Health will take forward the development
and launch of a new Healthier Food Mark for public food.
* We need to help consumers to access healthier choices when
eating out, and need to provide information that considers both
the health and environmental aspects of food.
Key findings include:
* World food output must rise to feed a growing, wealthier
population. The World Bank estimates that cereal production needs
to increase by 50% and meat production 80% between 2000 and 2030
to meet demand. But this will need to be achieved in a changing
climate and in a world where natural resources - especially water
- are becoming more scarce;
* For the world and for households, cutting waste would help - in
the developing world up to 40% of food harvested can be lost due
to problems with storage and distribution, and in the UK consumers
waste £10 billion worth of food each year
* In farmgate value terms, half of the food eaten in the UK is
home-grown, nearly 70% of the rest comes from elsewhere in the EU.
Everything else, from tea to pineapples to prawns is sourced from
across the world;
* The food chain creates 18% of UK greenhouse gas emissions.
Farming and fishing contribute around half of this total. Changes
to farming practices, such as more efficient use of fertiliser and
providing animals with diets that specifically match their
nutrient requirements could reduce emissions from agriculture;
* A third of the food bought for home consumption is wasted - 6.7
million tonnes. Most of this could have been eaten. Wasting
food costs the average UK family £420 a year. Eliminating the
unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions that this wasted food
produces would be equivalent to taking one in five cars off UK
roads. By using 60% of food thrown away by households, enough
energy could be generated to provide power for all the homes in
Glasgow and Edinburgh.
* If UK diets met nutritional guidelines, 70,000 premature deaths
could be prevented each year. On average, adults and children
eat more salt, fat and added sugar than is good for their health,
and too few fruit and vegetables despite high awareness of the
'5 a day' target. A new push on the 5 A DAY campaign is needed.
The Prime Minister Gordon Brown said:
"The rise of popular interest in food policy issues, and
growing public awareness of the impact of what we choose to eat on
everything from animal welfare, to our health and the protection
of the environment has seen a massive transformation in
Britain's food culture over the past ten years. This cultural
change, along with more recent events in global food markets, has
brought new and urgent policy challenges to the fore, which
governments must act to meet.
"Recent food price increases are a powerful reminder that
access to ever more affordable food cannot be taken for granted,
and it is the family finances of the poorest in our society that
are hit hardest when food prices rise. But the principal food
security challenge for the UK is a global one. We cannot deal
with higher food prices in the UK in isolation from higher prices
around the world. Attempting to pursue national food security
in isolation from the global context is unlikely to be
practicable, sustainable or financially rational.
"So to tackle higher prices both here in Britain and in
developing countries, where food often accounts for more than half
a family's spending, we will continue to play a leading role
in combating instability in commodity markets and building a more
resilient global food chain, as well as maintaining a supportive
environment for competitive UK food producers. If food production
in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world reached its
potential, global food output would be much higher, far fewer
people would go hungry and the threat of food-related political
and social instability around the world would recede."
As a first step, the Department for the Environment, Food, and
Rural Affairs (Defra) will shortly be publishing a paper entitled
'Ensuring the UK's Food Security in a Globalised
World'. This report will set out the key factors which affect
food supply and pricing, and encourages discussion with
stakeholders including producers and retailers about ensuring
long-term food security
The Strategy Unit report also calls for a clearer view of how the
food system should adapt to feeding a growing global population at
the same time as the planet is experiencing the effects of climate change.
So today Hilary Benn has announced that Professor John
Beddington, the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, will
commission a new Foresight project on future global food
production and farming and the implications for the UK
Hilary Benn said:
"Recent events in world food markets have shown that
continued access to affordable food is not something that can be
taken for granted. The long term challenges in this area are
significant but can be overcome .
"The lessons of the 'Green Revolution' of the last
century need to be learnt as we work to achieve food security in
this century. In the future our planet will be adjusting to the
effects of climate change with economies that need to
significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is in this
context that we must base our efforts.
"By 2050 we will need food for a world population that is
wealthier and several billion larger. We will need to do this at
the same time as adapting to a warming and less predictable
climate. And, in addition, we will need to cut the greenhouse gas
emissions associated with food production."
The report also recommends that the Food Standards Agency takes
forward work to make it easier for consumers to access integrated
government information and advice on a healthy, environmentally
sustainable diet and confirms that the Agency should work with
food businesses to improve information and healthier choice
options when eating out. The report also endorsed further work on
food safety through developing a 'whole food chain
approach' to food safety risks.
The report commits the Government to consulting the public and
stakeholders on many of its conclusions. This work will be led by
DEFRA and completed by Autumn 2009. Annual reports of progress
against the report's recommendations will be published in
Summer 2009 and 2010.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. The Strategy Unit was asked by the Prime Minister in summer
2007 to take forward a project on food and food policy in the UK,
working with Defra, the Department of Health, the Food Standards
Agency and other departments.
2. The Strategy Unit is based in the Cabinet Office and provides
strategic advice to No10 and departments, typically on issues that
cut across traditional departmental boundaries. For more
information, please go to: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/strategy/about.aspx
3. The report is available at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/strategy/work_areas/food_policy.aspx
Cabinet Office Press Office 22 Whitehall LONDON SW1A 2WH
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Public enquiries 08459 335577;
Out of hours telephone 020
7270 8960
http://www.defra.gov.uk
Defra's aim is sustainable development
To subscribe or
unsubscribe to Defra's mailing list go to:
http://nds.coi.gov.uk
Once on the GNN website see Sign up
END
Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR
Website http://www.defra.gov.uk