Unpicking Food Prices

We chose to research the following five everyday household items: sliced loaf of bread (800g), 4 beefburgers (450g), carrots (1kg), apples (1kg) and cheddar cheese (480g). We did so for the following reasons: availability of data, frequency and volume of purchase, spread of food groups, and mix of processed and fresh.

Download: Unpicking Food Prices

The results were stark showing that farmers often recieve less than 1% of the profit made in the supermarket. More concerning, is how this complex and consolidated supply chain strips out money for costs, making it highly inefficient and lacking opportunity to give a fairer return to farmers.

That is why Sustain is calling on the UK Government to:

• Implement rules for more transparency in the supermarket chain
• Provide funding to grow diverse and better routes to market
• Review reporting requirements for supermarkets and large intermediaries

It is critical that the UK Government takes action to tackle these major problems in order to deliver a more resilient domestic food supply.

You can download the Unpicking Food Prices report here.