On 15^th July 2021, Henry Dimbleby has published his long awaited review of what is needed to produce a sustainable and healthy national food strategy for England. Part 2 looks at the entire food chain, from farm to fork, examining how changing the way food is produced and sold in England can help address our health problems, including obesity, and protect the environment.

Calling on ministers to “break the cycle” of a diet he claims is dominated by junk food and excess meat consumption, Part 2 makes no fewer than 14 recommendations.

Dimbleby recommends new taxes on wholesale salt and sugar to encourage reformulation (£3 per kilogram of sugar and £6 per kilogram of salt); and he urges the Government to spend at least part of the revenue raised from these measures on policies to promote health, including making fruit and vegetables more available to people on low incomes.

The report also proposes that we should eat 30% less meat by 2032.  It suggests conventional meat could be replaced by “cell-cultured” meat and says that Ministers should invest in research into novel proteins and meat substitutes, including insects and fermented microbes such as algae.  The report recommends more investment in sustainable farming techniques and calls on the Government to protect UK food and animal welfare standards in new trade deals with countries such as the USA and Brazil.

The report also recognises the importance of food education. It calls for a new “Eat and Learn” initiative for all children aged 3–18 and the re-instatement of an A-level in food. In a measure unlikely to be welcomed by the food industry, it also recommends mandatory reporting for large food companies, which it says should publish annual sales reports by food type in both revenue and volume terms, thus revealing the significance of their sales of “unhealthy” food products. The report argues that this would encourage food reformulation, the provision of more healthy options and improve the marketing of healthy products.  Mr Dimbleby also wants the Government to strengthen the Government’s public sector food procurement guidelines to ensure that taxpayer money is spent on healthy and sustainable food.  Defending his recommendations, Henry Dimbleby said that many food industry leaders had told him privately that they would welcome interventions that created a level playing field while enabling them to produce healthier products, so that they could contribute to ending the “junk food cycle”.

To read Part 1 and Part 2 of the report, click here.