UK Food Supply at Risk: Experts Urge Urgent Action

The UK's food supply is at risk due to a combination of factors, including fuel shortages, cyber attacks, and extreme weather. The Cold Chain Federation (CCF) has urged the government to make potential disruption to the UK's food system an immediate national priority.

Britain's food system has not been significantly tested since the second world war, and the country relies on overseas imports for more than a third of its food. The CCF said international conflicts or hold-ups at the UK border could stop food flowing into the country, while fuel shortages or the failure of cold-storage sites because of flooding or extreme heat could cause gaps on supermarket shelves.

The continued closure of the strait of Hormuz has interrupted global flows of fertiliser, necessary for half the world's food production, further raising fears over shortages. Many everyday grocery items, including meat, vegetables, fish, dairy products, bread, fruit, and ready meals, rely on the cold chain, as well as medicines, vaccines, and blood and plasma products.

The CCF accused the government of failing to take steps to make the UK's food supply more resilient. "We are recognised as critical national infrastructure by Russian cybercriminals, not by the UK government," said Phil Pluck, the chief executive of the CCF. "We are at the mercy of so many different factors now, which are becoming increasingly dangerous to food supply in this country."

The CCF has produced a white paper that calls for staff at the UK's large cold stores and transport hubs to be given permanent essential-worker status, and for the Cabinet Office to take overall responsibility for cold-chain resilience and security.

A government spokesperson said: "The food sector is one of the UK's 13 critical national infrastructure sectors, and the cold chain is important to food supply to increase adaptability to disruptions that can occur."

The UK's food system is under threat, and experts are urging the government to take action to prevent a potential food crisis.