Recipe for growth: “Prioritize and champion UK’s largest industry,” urges food and drink collective’s new report

20 Jun 2019 --- More than 30 organizations from across the UK’s food and drink supply chain have joined forces to publish a “call to action” urging Government to champion Britain’s largest industry, which contributes £121 billion (US$154bn) to the economy. The collaboration and consequent publication – “A Recipe for Growth, Prosperity and Sustainability” – is designed so Government can get behind the industry as the countdown to Brexit continues, such as by creating a dedicated trade policy for UK food and drink. The organizations want to ensure the UK food chain is “dynamic and competitive” in the years ahead.

It is hoped the publication will provide “food-for-thought,” as the Government begins drawing up plans for a holistic National Food Strategy, with a focus on post-Brexit food policy. It sets out a clear vision for how for policymakers across Whitehall and the devolved nations can support the industry. It is broken down into policy areas based around topics including future regulation and trade policy, and tackles obesity, developing skills and talent, investing in exports and innovation and environmental sustainability. 

“The food and drink industry produced ‘A Recipe for Growth’ to look at the future of our industry beyond Brexit. This is the first time that organizations from across the food chain have come together to set out a collective vision to Government. We have seized this opportunity to come together and showcase what the UK’s largest industry needs in order to remain world-leading,” a Food and Drink Federation (FDF) spokesperson tells FoodIngredientsFirst. 

The food and drink industry wants to be prioritized by the government, as stated in its forthcoming strategy and urges interventions that will help businesses. The UK food industry has been lobbying government for many months calling for clarity over Brexit, urging politicians to avoid a “catastrophic” no-deal scenario. 

“There should be incentives that encourage business investment. For all of this to succeed, the UK food and drink industry needs a stable and consistent regulatory framework between the UK and EU, as well as a dedicated trade policy for UK food and drink,” adds the FDF spokesperson. 

The mantra of the report is quite clear; “Food is a matter of national security and is part of the UK’s critical national infrastructure. Food is a major public good and one that governments should be proud to support. A government’s first duty is to feed the country – if you can’t feed a country, then you don’t have a country,” it says. 

“FDF has written to Government ministers and officials regarding the UK food and drink industry’s ‘Plan for Success’, and we expect to hear back in due course,” the FDF spokesperson concludes. 

The report also provides suggestions on how Government can work with the industry to support evidence-based interventions to address unprecedented threats such as climate change and obesity.

The publication also includes proposals that would unlock the growth and productivity potential of the sector which “provides the nation with an unparalleled choice of safe, affordable, and nutritious food and drink at all price points,” notes the FDF.

It is hoped that the suggestions will encourage governments to ensure the future success of the food and drink supply chain, which touches every constituency in the UK, safeguarding it against uncertainty in the period following the UK's exit from the EU, adds FDF Chief Executive, Ian Wright. 

“The calamitous struggle of Brexit must end – whoever the Prime Minister. Then we must look to the future and how to deliver success for the UK's largest manufacturing sector, the four million people who work in food and drink and this industry which is at the heart of our national life,” he says. 

“Our industry is ready and willing to deliver economic growth, healthier consumption, environmental benefits, and higher skilled jobs that will benefit every community. Now we need Government to work with us in partnership to deliver a thriving UK food and drink industry,” he concludes.

By Gaynor Selby