UK has not done enough to prepare for shocks to food supplies, says watchdog
National Audit Office urges government to act as climate crisis, disease and cyberattacks pose growing risks The climate crisis, disease and cyber-attacks pose growing risks to the UK’s food supplies and the government needs to act to make the system more resilient, according to the public spending watchdog. The National Audit Office (NAO) is urging the Department for Food, the Environment and…
The National Audit Office (NAO) has criticized the UK government for failing to adequately prepare for potential disruptions to the country's food supplies. The watchdog's latest report highlights concerns over the ability of the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) to safeguard the nation's food security amid growing risks from climate change, disease outbreaks, and cyber-attacks.
Defra has taken some steps to improve resilience but has not done enough to engage citizens, households, communities and businesses in planning for emergencies, according to the NAO. Over one-third of Britain's food is imported, primarily through four key ports, making the supply chain particularly vulnerable to potential disruptions.
The NAO report cites previous warnings from experts about the UK's food supply chain resilience and notes that Britons are less prepared than citizens in several other European countries. While the pandemic and the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict caused strain on the supply chain, food businesses generally managed to maintain distribution without significant government assistance.
However, Defra is now less confident in the private sector's ability to withstand future shocks, such as extreme weather events, without greater government intervention.
Industry representatives praised Defra's engagement during the pandemic but claim communication has decreased since then. The report suggests that businesses have had limited input into government plans for reacting to supply disruptions, potentially leading to ineffective proposals. Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, emphasized the need for Defra to learn from other countries' approaches and strengthen preparedness for emergencies through testing plans with local government and industry.
Food industry representatives argue that designating food as one of 13 critical national infrastructure sectors falls short, calling for the inclusion of cold storage facilities and food transport hubs in the critical list to ensure their power supplies remain intact during widespread outages. The NAO report follows recent criticism from the Cold Chain Federation, which accuses the government of complacency over national food storage and urges ministers to address potential disruptions to the UK's food system as an immediate priority.
Written by urgent.news from Guardian Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
