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Food Security

Food security is a highly complex global issue intrinsically linked to the health of the whole supply chain – farmers, processors, retailers and consumers. There are many different definitions of food security, but most involve physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food combined with supporting active and healthy life.

UK food security is determined by climatic, socio-economic and political factors, at both a national and a global level.

The UK currently enjoys high levels of food security and arguably a wider range of affordable and wholesome food available to more people than at any time in our history. With rare exceptions, shops are fully stocked at all times.

Even 20 or 30 years ago, seasonality would have affected the range of foods on offer. But improved access to world markets and advances in agronomy mean that most products are now available all year round. The efficiency of the manufacturing sector and supply chain is another key factor, as few foods are grown and consumed locally without some form of processing.

The current UK food system is as strong, diverse and competitive as any in the world. It has a good record of innovation and meets high standards of quality and safety, beyond regulatory requirements. But continued profitability and investment will be essential to maintaining and improving this. Food and drink businesses are as dependent as any others on levels of consumer spending, interest and exchange rates, the availability of credit and their ability to attract and employ sufficient numbers of sufficiently skilled staff.

However, as the food and drink industry is heavily reliant on energy and water supplies and also on a range of other ancillary inputs such as packaging, which makes it more vulnerable to interruptions in essential outputs. In general the more sophisticated the product, the more susceptible it is to these interruptions.

In the short to medium term, energy security and water security are probably more relevant to UK food security than the industry's ability to source raw material supplies in what is still a relatively abundant world market for primary agricultural and fisheries production. In the longer term, and depending critically on climatic, socio economic and political conditions elsewhere in the world, the ability to source and transform sufficient staple foods within the UK is likely to become increasingly important.

The rapid rise in the global population means that the food industry faces the challenge of increasing global food production by 50% by 2030 and doubling it by 2050, while ensuring that such production is sustainable.

The food industry is increasingly engaging with efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and to promote increased efficiency of resource use as a means of tackling these challenges.