Play to the whistle
Another summer of extreme weather, coupled with the threat posed by the approaching El Niño, has prompted a fresh warning by industry whistle-blowers over the UK food system’s vulnerability to such shocks.
Senior executives working inside some of Britain’s biggest food producers, manufacturers and retailers warn that the current supply chain will not be resilient in the face of the climate crisis – and that the effects are already visible through material reductions in yield, quality and reliability of ingredient supply.
Rather than investing in more resilient, local food systems, the insiders claim businesses continue to prioritise short-term fixes like switching sourcing to alternative regions and ingredients. The existing corporate response will increase insecurity and push up prices for consumers seeking healthy food options, they argue.
In an open memo coordinated by the non-profit, Inside Track, the anonymous group of industry insiders – whose businesses account for 50% of the UK groceries market – note how the vulnerabilities highlighted in the long-suppressed Defra and joint intelligence service report are already beginning to play out, as climate and biodiversity risks and the approaching El Niño threaten the UK’s national security. They point to significant crop failures this year, with farmers also suffering across several key European and global sourcing regions.
The memo states: “There will be growing disruption unless we seriously act to reduce environmental impacts, ensure farmers can access long-term and reliable income, and take much bigger adaptation steps ourselves… We cannot sacrifice actual resilience for the illusion of resilience in the short-term, or we will undermine the overall financial sustainability of our sector.”
Corporate boards are not getting the insight, training or advice they need to understand and mitigate climate risk, according to the insiders, who add that “unrealistic expectations” around short-term returns will undermine long-term value for investors, as well as quality and choice for customers.
They urge investors to “challenge us and hold us accountable to the risks we are disclosing”. This, they say, will enable them “to work towards a more secure food system which is in the interests of our companies, our investors, our government, the communities we source from, and our customers”.
“Investors have had access now to much of the information in suppressed government reports which cover climate threats to the food system. Now these are being corroborated by senior professionals who are seeing threats become realities,” said Ana Cuddeford, head of investor engagement at Inside Track, which works to enable anonymous networks of senior executives in the world’s most powerful companies to expose the most material social and environmental impacts of their industries.
Cuddeford added that food companies are opting for short-term tactical fixes rather than investing in mitigation and resilience. “Our insiders tell us that boards are neither asking the right questions to understand the risk the industry is facing nor allocating the time, energy or budget to materially reduce that risk,” she said.
The memo is the latest intervention from industry whistle-blowers who warned in April last year of a sector-wide failure to tackle a series of interconnected crises – from extreme weather events to water scarcity – that threaten the future viability of their businesses.
Although the current group of industry insiders is formed of producers, manufacturers and retailers, Footprint understands that a new, separate group of concerned senior executives working within the eating out of home sector will launch soon and work in parallel with their counterparts from the wider food industry.
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Small Bites
Food absent from Burnham’s big pitch
Andy Burnham set out plans for sweeping reform to social care, water and energy at this week’s Labour Party conference, however food policy did not get a look-in during his most significant speech to-date as prime minister. The headline proposal was for a new National Care Service which would be free at the point of service and part-funded by an end to the triple lock on pensions. As part of his government’s mission for the state to take back control of “the basics”, Burnham also announced plans for a strengthened Water Bill that will enable water companies to be taken into public ownership, and the creation of Great British Grid, a new branch of Great British Energy that will help speed up grid connections for businesses. Food and farming policy, however, received no mention in a speech that lasted for more than an hour, while the only reference to the climate crisis concerned the need for pragmatism over decisions relating to exploiting North Sea oil and gas reserves. Farmers have warned they are facing a deepening cash flow crisis driven by input cost inflation linked to the Iran conflict and exacerbated by poor yields following this summer’s extreme weather. Thousands of farmers were also locked out of the latest round of funding for the government’s Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme. “Farmers charged with producing the nation’s food, delivering for nature and building the resilience of their businesses have been left high, dry and desperate,” NFU president Tom Bradshaw told MPs at this week’s Labour Party conference in Liverpool.
‘Right to food’ needed to tackle household hunger
A ‘right to food’ should be established within the UK’s political and legal framework as part of an urgent set of measures to tackle food insecurity. That’s according to the Right To Food UK Commission, which was established independently of government in September 2025 to investigate the scale and causes of food poverty and hunger across the UK. Following an evidence-gathering process that included public consultation and community sessions, the commission concluded that affordability is the primary driver of food insecurity with the interaction between inadequate incomes, rising living costs, limited access to essential goods and services, and rising debt combining to undermine people’s ability to access adequate food. It argued that the cost of providing a healthy diet for the whole UK population would be approximately £51bn per year, less than a quarter of the £298bn in hidden health-related food system costs calculated in a newly published analysis by Professor Tim Jackson for the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. It noted that efforts to improve UK food security to address the impact of climate change, while important, will not put an end to household hunger in the UK. Among a series of recommendations, the commission called for the establishment of a legally enforceable right to food, and the creation of a funded ten-year programme to eliminate food insecurity by 2035.
Businesses should make inclusivity a priority
Hospitality sector operators are being urged to build fairer, more inclusive workplaces that will ultimately drive stronger business performance. Better Hospitality is a new campaign by Be Inclusive Hospitality, which calls on employers to publicly commit to six priorities that will help support fair access to opportunity among employees of all identities. The priorities – spanning data, resource, training, representation, policy and collaboration – are set out in a new Better Hospitality report published this week. The report features findings from a 405-strong anonymous employee survey along with insight from senior sector leaders from brands representing more than 80,000 employees across 2,800 UK sites. The survey found that 57.3% of respondents believe high employee turnover is a direct result of unfairness and exclusion, with 38% saying unfairness and exclusion directly contributes to people leaving the hospitality industry altogether. Half of respondents (50.1%) say their employer shows little or no meaningful action on fairness and inclusion, while 21.1% of respondents from ethnic minority backgrounds believe they have been overlooked for progression because of their identity, compared with just 6.4% of white respondents. “This industry has the power to create opportunities, build careers and change lives. It is also one of the UK’s most diverse and dynamic industries. Yet a diverse workforce does not automatically mean that everyone feels included or has fair access to opportunity,” said Lorraine Copes, founder and CEO of Be Inclusive Hospitality.
Chef’s Special
There can be various reasons why restaurants and caterers choose to reduce portion sizes in out-of-home settings – from cost saving and food waste reduction to a desire to cater to smaller appetites. A new rapid evidence review by Food Standards Scotland has examined the evidence for how portion-related interventions in out of home settings actually reduce the energy consumed from meals, snacks or drinks. The regulator found that smaller portions were generally more acceptable when they were clearly offered, framed as a normal option, and accompanied by proportionate price reductions. For businesses worried that smaller portions could impact perceived value for money, the research found that redesigning meals to reduce higher-energy components and increase lower-energy ingredients – without changing their size – can also result in reduced overall intake. The provision of information on energy content alone, by contrast, was found to have a limited effect, albeit it appeared more useful when paired with changes to the ordering environment, pricing, defaults or menu architecture. FSS noted that the evidence base has important limitations. Few studies, for example, measured compensatory behaviours, such as people ordering additional side plates or snacking later in the day. Evidence on business outcomes from portion-related interventions – including sales, customer satisfaction, operational burden and commercial feasibility – also remains limited.
Last Orders
Five recycling providers have been appointed to deliver the infrastructure needed to support the UK’s deposit return scheme (DRS), which is set to go live in one year’s time. Exchange for Change, which will act as administrator for the scheme across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, has announced that Suez, Cirqlr, Re.Group, Bywaters and Re-Gen will between them be responsible for collecting the returned bottles and cans from return points and processing them so that the material can be recycled into new drinks containers. Three dedicated DRS processing facilities in Scotland, Scunthorpe and Guildford, two dedicated DRS processing lines in Isle of Dogs and Newry, and one shared-use plastics recycling facility in Avonmouth will be operational from October 2027. A further three new purpose-built processing facilities in Ely, Knowsley and Avonmouth will be operational from October 2030. Around 400 new recycling vehicles are also expected to be involved in the collection of DRS materials from every corner of the UK. Monday’s Footprint In Focus feature will explore how prepared the hospitality industry is for the introduction of DRS, which represents a seismic shift in how packaging for drinks consumed both in and out of the home is managed.
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