A British Heart Foundation and Children's Food Campaign proposal for a statutory system to regulate non-broadcast junk food advertising and marketing to children

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The Ethical Hijack report sets out the case for why the terms “local”, “seasonal” and “farmers’ market” should be defended from abuse by the food industry. It gives many examples of how these attractive descriptions have been hijacked by food companies and supermarkets to apply to products that do not have the ethical or environmental benefits that these were originally intended to support. It also features case studies from nearly all the major UK supermarkets, as well as a particular focus on the case of Heinz canned soup that claims to be inspired by farmers' markets.

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The report 'Green grocers?' (2009) rates the UK's leading supermarkets against each other, showing big differences between the supermarkets in terms of how they promote sustainable food to their customers, and make more sustainable food choices attractive and affordable. It is one of a series of 7 reports published by the National Consumer Council, working with Sustain and the Food Commission, that also measured and reported on supermarket progress across several years on health and sustainability, 2004 to 2009. Links to all 7 reports are provided on the "more information" page.

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The report 'Season's promise' (2007) explores how the UK's leading supermarkets could do more to promote fresh, healthy and seasonal food. It is one of a series of reports published by the National Consumer Council, working with Sustain and the Food Commission, that also measured and reported on supermarket progress across several years on health and sustainability, 2004 to 2009. Links to all of these reports are provided on the "more information" page.

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This 2007 report marked the first step in a campaign to ensure that the food associated with the London 2012 Games matches the values enshrined within the Olympic Charter, and the promises made in the London 2012 bid for the “most sustainable games ever”. Specifically, the bid promised “to support consumption of local, seasonal and organic produce”. With this report, we hoped to strengthen the resolve to meet these promises by providing both a rationale and a practical plan of action for making the London 2012 Olympic Games the first Games to serve sustainable food.

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This paper explores how sustainability could be represented on food labelling, depicting and balancing a range of sustainability factors such as fair trade, water use and carbon footprint, to give an overall score. The paper proposes a flower motif, with sustainability 'petals' to rate progress on the range of key themes.

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This London Food Link report provides insights into the practices and attitudes around food sustainability in the restaurant, hotel and catering sectors in London, and early initiatives to support improvements. It features many examples of good practice showing how restaurants around the capital have incorporated sustainability including Leon, Acorn House and the Duke of Cambridge. The report also explores ways to stimulate a more sustainable food system, and the people and organisations best placed to make this come about. The report shows that many of London’s restaurants are missing out on a booming market for local and ethical food and those who are already using sustainable ingredients could do more to communicate this effectively to their customers.

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Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) businesses are vital for the cultural and economic vibrancy food in London, and Britain. Yet this ground-breaking report shows that, like the rest of the food sector, many businesses have not yet grasped the market opportunities presented by our growing appetite for sustainable food. The report recommends that Government provides both money and a higher profile for measures to stimulate the supply of sustainable food from Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) as well as the demand for sustainable food, including from schools, hospitals and other public sector caterers. As well as calling for Government action, Recipe for a Greener Curry gives well-deserved publicity to the current “green” entrepreneurs in the BAME food sector, and also aims to inspire others to build on their achievements, finding new and exciting ways of bringing culturally distinctive, delicious and sustainable food to our plates.

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Food labelling should help consumers to eat healthily and to use their buying power to support sustainable food and farming. However, food labelling is currently confusing, with new proposals to label food for health and sustainability hotly contested by the food industry and government. This 36-page report was prepared as a technical submission to the Quality of Life Commission in 2007. It investigates the history and purpose of food labelling, and explores how food labelling could be used to support public policy goals, to improve health and the sustainability of the food system.

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Despite bottled water costing around 500 times as much as tap water, analysts predict we will buy more than 2 billion litres this year. Are you going to "bottle out" of your responsibility to the planet, and carry on drinking increasing quantities of bottled water?

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