In the wake of the latest outbreak of foot and mouth disease, Gordon Brown must rethink how food is grown, processed and distributed

Those who thought Mr Brown's premiership would be a triumph of the boring, predictable and dour are eating their words! He's rapidly working down the political scourge list: two wars (inherited), floods, and now pestilence: foot and mouth. Is it only time before he faces drought and famine?

On this Atlantic island, one doubts the arrival of Saharan-type drought but water issues are already not far away, reshaping geopolitics. And secure food supplies, rather than famine per se, are quietly re-emerging as a hot policy issue. Ensuring decent food supplies is a core duty of any state. The question is not whether to have food security but how best to achieve it and what it would look like.

Defra economists recently made the formal case for not worrying too much about supplies. As a rich country, Britain can always buy its food on world markets, using cheaper land and labour. Leave it to market forces. Today that means 'leave it to four supermarkets'.

But it's not that easy any more. Mr Brown's challenge is not just quantity, safety and quality but sustainability. This is more than just ensuring food is in the shops. It means a rethink about how food is grown, processed, distributed and consumed. It's way beyond current contingency thinking about probabilities of threats and resilience capabilities. We know software collapses or oil/gas cut-offs are U-boat equivalents for today's just-in-time food economy. There's less thought into how to balance nutrition with environment, consumer needs with wants, normality with sustainability, health with price. This is the big picture Mr Brown must address after foot and mouth. Not day-to-day market realities but where and how to shift the entire market.

We know from trying to assess carbon in supply chains that aspiring to sustainability is easier said than done. Sustainability is about ensuring food systems deliver without compromising future generations' capacity to feed themselves well, while protecting the planet.

Foot amd mouth reminds us what can go wrong. Amidst this week's crisis micro-management, the need for panoramic thinking resurfaces. Government closed its last committee with a food policy overview a few years back. It currently favours short-life bodies like the Food Industry Sustainability Strategy or the Curry delivery team. But isn't now the time to create a permanent Committee on Sustainable Food, addressing cross-cutting issues?n

Tim Lang, professor of food policy, City University