News
Just 8% believe healthy food is affordable for most people in the UK
Meanwhile, 80% believe that healthy food is something that everyone should be able to access and 68% think it is the Government’s job to make healthy food affordable.
In response, the FFCC has launched a UK-wide food conversation that brings together more than 300 people from ten locations to join in-depth conversation and deliberation designed to determine solutions.
The Food Conversation involves a series of in-depth citizen workshops where people will be asked what they want from a food system and how they want to see things change.
To coincide with the first workshop, the FFCC commissioned polling with research organisation More in Common, which also found that 49% have cut back on the quality of food they eat due to financial pressures.
Currently, an estimated 11.3m people in the UK experience food insecurity, while 1.2 million people live in ‘food deserts’ where affordable, fresh food is severely limited.
Commenting on the findings, FFCC chief executive Sue Pritchard said that healthy food is something that people “simply cannot manage without”.
“Food is now at the centre of some of the biggest challenges this country faces and for many people, eating enough healthy food is becoming impossible,” added Pritchard.
“What we are hearing from citizens – as we go out around the country talking to people in depth about these issues – is that many of the things people care most about relate to food. People tell us they are concerned about the inequalities of a system that means poor children will live shorter lives than rich ones.
“They are sympathetic to the challenges facing family farmers who are dealing with the impacts of climate change on their businesses. And they are worried about an NHS buckling under the pressure of diet-related ill health. And that’s only the beginning.
“While difficult – this is all fixable. And as we talk to people all around the UK, it’s clear that citizens see the problem and want the Government to take control of a situation that has become untenable.”
In other news, an abattoir in Greater Manchester has been ordered to pay a £12k fine after it was convicted of 11 food safety charges.
