News
24% of people 'food insecure' in England, Wales and NI
Conducted between October 2023 and January 2024, the eighth wave of the survey revealed that 24% of participants across England, Wales and Northern Ireland reported to being 'food insecure', which means having limited or uncertain access to adequate food.
Levels of food insecurity had risen gradually in recent years, from 15% between April and June 2021, up to 25% between October 2022 and July 2023. This trend has coincided with a period of dramatic food inflation, which peaked at 19.2% in March 2023.
Wave 8 also showed that younger adults, long-term unemployed, households with a lower income, households with children and people with long-term health conditions are among the groups more likely to report food insecurity.
Overall, 4% of respondents reported that their household had used a food bank or an emergency food provider in the past year.
Nearly 80% of respondents raised no concerns about the food they eat, but when prompted to choose from a list of food-related topics the most common concerns were food prices, quality of food, food waste and the amount of sugar in food.
Levels of food insecurity are ‘concerning’
Commenting on the results, FSA interim chief executive Katie Pettifer said: “Food and You 2 provides the FSA, and the wider Government, with robust data on what people think and do when it comes to food. It is concerning that we are still seeing high levels of food insecurity, and we will continue to monitor this.
“The experiences people are reporting to us are vitally important to the FSA's work to protect public health and consumers’ wider interests in relation to food. We will continue to share our advice on food.gov.uk to help people make their food go further while staying safe.”
A total of 5,808 adults from 4,006 households across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland took part in this wave of the survey. For the first time, the fieldwork was expanded to include Scotland, and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) will be reporting on these findings separately later this year.
In other news, Co-op has recalled several batches of pate because packs may have been contaminated with Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes.
