UK food system is exposed to shocks

Charities press for a Good Food Bill to provide a legal framework protecting against shocks to UK’s “import-dependant” food system and ensure affordable food for all

Food insecurity has risen in the last six months with 6.3 million adults and 2.2 million children going without enough food in January 2026, according to figures from The Food Foundation.

Levels of food insecurity have remained high since the cost-of-living crisis in 2022 but there are concerns the war in Iran will increase food prices. The Food Foundation, together with Sustain and Green Alliance, are calling for a ‘Good Food Bill’ to protect people against the next cost-of-living crisis.

The charity revealed a typical shopping basket cost 33% more than in April 2022, with prices rising most steeply over the past year. Fruit and vegetables, which are twice as expensive per calorie than unhealthy options, are being sacrificed by 53% and 40% of food insecure households, compared to 10% and 5.1% of food secure households.

Research also found that food insecure households are more likely to visit the GP more often, and twice as likely to need four or more appointments in a month.

Anna Taylor, Executive Director of The Food Foundation, believes the Iranian conflict will push up food prices if it is prolonged. “But that question misses the bigger point. The real issue is that the UK food system has become dangerously exposed to shocks far beyond our borders.”

The Ukrainian war highlighted the UK food system’s reliance on the cost of energy, but also on imports from other countries; 65% of fruit and vegetables and 40% of all food is imported, making the UK vulnerable to global conflicts and changing weather patterns.

Taylor says our food supply is “tightly bound to geopolitical events” and that the current situation should serve as a warning that the UK’s “fragmented, heavily import-dependent” food system is “failing on multiple fronts”, including growing food insecurity for millions of households.

The proposed ‘Good Food Bill’ would provide a legal framework to protect against shocks to the food system and ensure affordable, healthy, and sustainable food is accessible for everyone.

“Without a fundamental shift in the way we plan things as a country, [food affordability] is only going to get worse.”

Kath Dalmeny, Chief Executive of Sustain, said: "Too many people in the UK are struggling to afford their shopping bill. Without a fundamental shift in the way we plan things as a country, that is only going to get worse.”

She adds that the current food system “is totally out of date” and “over reliant on cheap processed food imported from overseas”. Growing fresh, nutritious food closer to home would “cushion the blow to our shopping bills from pandemics, wars and climate shocks.”

Dalmeny believes new legislation on food would encourage successive governments to build a food system that keeps people healthy and food affordable: “The food system has simply got to change – and a Good Food Bill is how we change it."

Tim Lang, Professor Emeritus of Food Policy, Centre for Food Policy, City St George’s, University of London, said: “That the UK has 15% of households experiencing food insecurity is shocking. Something is fundamentally wrong with a society that accepts this as normal.”

He believes legislation will “put the UK food system onto a better footing. The UK has a sad history of ignoring food crises until we are in them. We are in one now today, not just in relation to food inequalities and poor diets institutionalising ill-health and bankrupting the NHS. Also, we are zigzagging into a geopolitical crisis of economics and built-in reliance on fossil fuels. The case for a Food Bill is a wake-up call for dangerous times.”