UK food analysis from the Cabinet Office
At the request of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a broad-ranging analysis of food trends and issues has just been published by the UK Cabinet Office. It estimates that better diet could save 70,000 lives a year in this country.
The study is one of the first projects that the Prime Minister asked the Cabinet Office’s Strategy Unit to work on when he got the top job in 2007. It takes a food systems approach to look at environmental issues, health, our changing food culture, social justice and the economy.
The report is a preliminary analysis of this on-going food project which is expected to inform government policy on such issues as climate change, food air freight, food safety and biofuels.
Director of the Food Ethics Council, Tom MacMillan, is a member of the project’s independent expert panel, which provides advice and critical debate for the project –
“The Strategy Unit project is a welcome and timely effort to grapple with the cross-cutting challenges we face around food, including climate change, public health and the future of the countryside. It is good to see government focus on the heart of the matter, which is how to address each of these challenges without making a pig’s ear of the others.”
“This first report collects a wealth of information and will feed a lively debate with stakeholders. I’m delighted that it has been published. The task now is to see how this analysis can help government take a lead on issues where it lags behind industry and civil society,” says Tom MacMillan.
Posted in News and events, Research
