The Food Foundation has said that investors in attendance at Britain’s first food industry investment summit have called for government action on Britain’s food industry.
The summit, ‘Putting Money on the Menu: How can investors transform the UK food system’, was held on Tuesday (February 7) and was organised by the foundation.
Speaking at the event, the head of product and process for supermarket chain Iceland Foods, Stuart Landrum, said that societal change is only achievable if the food industry works together under a “strong, clear and consistent government lead”.
“When governments do intervene, their actions need to be well thought-through and well-implemented, encouraging consumers to make a positive change to their eating habits rather than just hitting people in their pockets.”
The Food Foundation said that investors are increasingly concerned about the impact of ‘business as usual’ as the food system is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Anna Taylor, the executive director of the Food Foundation, said that government regulation creates the “right incentives for the right things to happen” and that this is needed to move Britain’s food industry forward.
Diet, food production and farming methods also must change, the Food Foundation said, if Britain is to meet its 2030 targets to combat global warming.
Tim Benton, the research director of emerging risks at Chatham House, an independent policy institute, said that currently only a third of the fruit and vegetables in the world that are needed are growing.
“We need to think about how we can work with politicians to get market restructuring right so the incentives are in the right places to make the food that people ought to be eating more available and cheaper and the food they shouldn’t be eating less available and more expensive,” he said, “That requires a radical change.”
