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The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published the UK Food Security Report 2024. This report sets out an analysis of statistical data relating to food security. This report examines past, current, and future trends relevant to food security, to present the best available understanding of food security at the time of publication; the headlines under the following 5 themes are:

Theme 1: Global Food Availability

• Continued stable growth in the production of food, despite geopolitical
  and climate shocks.
• The global trading system in food has also been stable.
• The number of undernourished people around the world is increasing.
• Climate change, nature loss and water insecurity pose significant
  risks to the ability of global food production to meet demand over the
  longer term.
• There is weak productivity growth globally which makes this more
  challenging.

Theme 2: UK Food Supply Sources

• The UK’s overall balance of trade and production is broadly stable.
• Extreme weather events continue to have a significant effect on domestic production.
• The UK continues to be highly dependent on imports to meet consumer demand for fruit, vegetables and seafood.
• Long term decline in the UK’s natural capital is a pressing risk to UK food production.

Theme 3: Food Supply Chain Resilience

• Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a spike in input costs such as energy and fertiliser.
• Agri-food sector labour shortages continue.
• While there was a sharp fall in volume of imports of Feed, Food and Drink to the UK in 2021, imports have increased slightly since then and the EU remains the UK’s largest external supplier.
• Single points of failure in food supply chains pose resilience risks.
• Many food businesses have shown resilience and recovery in response to shocks, but investment levels are not back to levels before the price shock in 2022.

Theme 4: Household Food Security

• While a large majority of households in the UK continue to be food secure, there has been a notable decrease in food secure households.
• There has been a notable rise in inflation both overall and for the category of food and non-alcoholic beverages since the beginning of 2021.
• Most people do not meet government dietary recommendations, with those from lower-income groups less likely to meet recommendations than those from the highest-income groups.
• Rates of food insecurity vary greatly by demographics, with a notable difference in levels and experiences between income groups.

Theme 5: Consumer Confidence and Food Safety.

• The results of UK consumer surveys indicate that the levels of trust in Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) have remained relatively high.
• There has been an increase in consumers reporting concerns (prompted) about food prices since 2021.
• Laboratory confirmed reports of pathogens that can cause foodborne gastrointestinal disease and the proportional trends in foodborne disease outbreak surveillance data generally remained relatively stable over the period 2019 to 2023, with the exception of the COVID19 pandemic years.
• Of the businesses inspected, analysis indicates an upward trend in food business hygiene compliance. However, there is still a backlog in the number of businesses awaiting inspection.

I was proud to serve on the Expert Elicitation Group for Theme 5 and we are delighted to see that the Food Authenticity Network is featured as Case Study 1 under 'Sub-theme 2: Food Safety and Authenticity'.

Also under this sub-theme, section 5.2.5 Food Crime describes the work of the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) and Scottish Food Crime and Incidents Unit (SFCIU), and also includes 'Case Study 4: Strengthening the lines of defence against food crime'. 

Read the full report at: UK Food Security Report 2024

KEY FINDINGS

1 Despite vital emergency measures in place, more people are food insecure now than before the pandemic.
• Pre-pandemic, we saw a rising trend in levels of household
food insecurity. But Covid-19 has left more people than
before struggling to afford or access a nutritious diet.
Emergency interventions appear to have prevented the
situation from worsening in recent months but turning off
the tap of support risks seeing elevated levels of hunger
and deprivation becoming the new normal.
• Despite community and voluntary sector groups heroically
stepping in to help millions of vulnerable people, our
evidence shows too many food insecure households have
struggled to access support. Reliance on overstretched
food banks and food aid charities is not a sustainable
safety net for individuals and families who can't afford a
decent diet.

2 Households with children have been hit hard, with many
children still falling through the cracks in support.
• Households with children have consistently found it harder to put food on the table, particularly lone parents, large families, and low-income families. Recently, slight improvements in levels of moderate/severe food insecurity among households with children suggest targeted policy interventions have mitigated a significant deterioration. But children reporting experiences of mild to severe food insecurity had not improved this January (2021) compared to six months ago.
• Free School Meal vouchers have represented a vital lifeline for eligible children and their families during Covid, but a series of issues with provision during school closure left many eligible children unable to rely on a regular, quality meal. Many children not currently eligible for Free School Meals face the daily stress of not knowing where their next meal comes from. An increased number of children reported they or their families visited a food bank
this Christmas compared to during the summer holidays. 

3 Existing support schemes have made a difference, but gaps have meant many people still struggle to eat adequately.

• Covid-19 has deepened the financial hardship faced by lowincome households and has also created a newly vulnerable group who were financially stable pre-Covid. Households are balancing on a financial tightrope, increasing debt and using up savings to survive. With household budgets on a shoestring, the end of the Furlough Scheme and the proposed cut to the £20 uplift to Universal Credit can only increase the challenges faced by individuals and families already struggling to pay their food bills.

4 Covid-19 has dramatically widened inequalities in food security and nutrition.
• Exposure to food insecurity is not equal across all households. Throughout the crisis, BAME communities have consistently encountered disproportionately higher levels of food insecurity compared with white ethnic groups. Comparing our data to before the pandemic, inequality in food insecurity has widened between those from BAME backgrounds and white ethnic groups.
• Adults with disabilities have also consistently been more acutely affected by food insecurity during the pandemic compared with those without disabilities. Our most recent data show people with severe disabilities have five times greater levels of food insecurity than those without.
• Despite undertaking essential work like stocking our grocery shelves, food sector workers have reported much higher levels of food insecurity than the general population.

Read full report.