London, United Kingdom
August 10, 2009
The UK will need to change the way
food is produced and processed so that we continue to enjoy
healthy affordable food in the decades ahead,
Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs Secretary Hilary Benn said today as he published the
country’s first food security assessment.
The assessment shows that the UK is doing well in many areas
which make up a secure and sustainable food system, such as a
diverse food supply, which includes UK production, and a strong
distribution system.
The challenges will be to ensure the sustainability of the UK’s
food supply. In particular we will need to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and to adapt to a changing climate here and overseas
that will affect what food can be grown and where and how it can
be grown. The assessment also highlights the availability and
effective use of water to produce food – the need to get more
crop per drop – and the depletion of fish stocks.
The UK Food Security Assessment is part of a package being
published today, which also includes:
- Food 2030, an online
discussion seeking views on the future of our food system;
- “Food Matters: One Year
On”, providing an update on progress on the 2008 Cabinet
Office report; and draft indicators for the sustainability
of the food system.
Mr Benn said:
“Last year the world
had a wake-up call with the sudden oil and food price
rises. While we know the price of our food, the full
environmental costs and the costs to our health are
significant and hidden.
“We need a radical rethink of how we produce and consume
our food.
“Globally we need to cut emissions and adapt to the
changing climate that will alter what we can grow and
where we can grow it. We must maintain the natural
resources – soils, water, and biodiversity – on which
food production depends. And we need to tackle
diet-related ill health that already costs the NHS and
the wider economy billions of pounds each year.
“And because we live in an interconnected world – where
the price of soya in Brazil affects the price of steak
at the local supermarket – we need to look at global
issues that affect food security here.
“That’s why we need to consider what food system should
look like in 20 years, and what must happen to get
there. We need everyone in the food system to get
involved – from farmers and retailers to the health
service, schools and consumers.”
Mr Benn said that there were three
big challenges that needed to be met:
- how to meet the
economic and environmental challenges of increased
productivity in the food chain;
- how to help people eat
more healthily and ensure people have access to safe,
affordable food;
- how to ensure that the
way food is produced today doesn’t damage the natural
resources on which future food production depends.
Mr Benn continued:
“Our food strategy
will need to cover all aspects of our food –
production, processing, distribution, retail,
consumption and disposal. And that includes the
impact on our health, on the environment and future
productivity, and on how we deal with food waste.”
The food strategy for the future
will be published later in the year, drawing on responses to the
consultation launched today.
1.For more information, and to download the documents
published today, please go to
www.defra.gov.uk/foodrin/security .
2. Around 18 per cent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions are
related to food production and consumption, and the health
effects of poor diets cost the NHS nearly £8 billion a year.
3. Defra welcomes the recent publication of the EFRA Committee
report on securing food supplies up to 2050. While today’s
publications do not represent Defra’s response to that report,
they do highlight some of the challenges to food security that
we will need to face, and set out the Government’s activities to
ensure we remain food secure. |
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