The food industry has been challenged to turn the “junk food cycle” identified by Henry Dimbleby into a “virtuous food circle” driven by growth.
Chairing the first meeting of the new Food Strategy Advisory Board (FSAB) yesterday, food security minister Daniel Zeichner vowed Labour would provide the cross-government backing needed to make the new strategy succeed where its predecessor had foundered on the rocks.
He also promised that the new food strategy would be firmly rooted in the government’s growth mission.
However, he warned that nothing was ruled out when it came to the possibility of new regulations in areas such as obesity, with campaign groups already stepping up their demands for government intervention and the new board containing a raft of key figures backing new junk food taxes.
“I was really thrilled with the way the first meeting went,” Zeichner told The Grocer.
“There was a really good initial discussion and what struck me most was the energy, the ambition and the sense that this is a real opportunity to change our food system.
“But I also quickly got the sense that there is an appetite for much more detail and agreement on the need to prioritise action because people are mindful of how these sort of attempts have foundered in the past.”
Defra announced a panel of leading food industry figures, including food manufacturers and retailer CEOs and leading figures on health and the environment, on Friday, setting out goals for the strategy including tackling “sky-rocketing” obesity figures, creating a fairer and more resilient food chain and safeguarding biodiversity.
Zeichner said his opening message to the board had been that this was the most important event in his political lifetime, which has total backing from government right up to prime ministerial level.
He confirmed that one of the key plans of the group will be to take the work of former food tsar Dimbleby, who produced his National Food Strategy report in 2021, and overlay it with the government’s current growth agenda.
“We acknowledge the junk food cycle which Henry identified in his report and we’re now talking about a virtuous circle where you get growth and better outcomes.
“We won’t start again from scratch, because an enormous amount of data and work was produced, but at the same time the work foundered sadly for a range of reasons and didn’t turn into action.
“One of the strongest messages that came across to me today was that people are determined this time we get action.
“That is the change in thinking which we think gives us a much better chance of success.”
Zeichner said the government had not yet set any timeframe on the goals of the strategy but that it wanted to achieve results “at pace”, adding it was “an urgent issue for us and the country”.
When asked if ministers were willing to introduce new rules such as taxation of HFSS and ultra processed foods, in response to calls from campaigners, he replied: “Nothing is ruled in, nothing is ruled out.”
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