Everyone has a right to healthy and affordable food. But we need to make it easily accessible, as well as nutritious and culturally appropriate.
To achieve a UK shift in diets, we need to change our food environments, from schools to our local high streets. People experiencing food poverty need adequate incomes and reliable access to nutritious food, so we can end the reliance on emergency food parcels and wider charitable food aid.
Currently, 8.4 million people in the UK struggle to get enough to eat. People are being left with no option but to turn to food banks due to things out of their control, like rising living costs, unaffordable housing, and a lack of support from our social security system.
Meanwhile, one in three children leaving primary school is now living with overweight or obesity, with those living in the most deprived neighbourhoods at the highest risk, leaving serious consequences for the individual, the NHS and the economy.
We need to strengthen regulation of the food industry and unhealthy food adverstising which is directly affecting the food environments of infants, children and young people, and elevate the standard and status of food in schools and early years settings, so that all our children can thrive.
We need to make good food easily accessible and affordable. This will require concerted action by Governments at UK-wide, national and local levels on the adequacy of income through social security payments and wages, and intervention by a range of food system actors, as part of a coherent, joined-up approach to food system strategy, policy and governance.
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What we're fighting for today
Healthy and nutritious food in schools and children’s settings, including free school meals, holiday provision with food and Healthy Start or Best Start vouchers.
Healthy, organic fruit and veg to be accessible to people on low incomes living in cities.
Advertising policies that switch the spotlight away from unhealthy foods.
Industry levy to build on the success of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy.
Action to address the root causes of food poverty and build community food resilience.
Our campaigns
The Children’s Food Campaign secured some of the strongest legislation in the world to protect children from junk food advertising on television, resulting in a 37% reduction in advertisements aimed at children for products high in fat, salt and sugar, and further restrictions in non-broadcast media since 2017. They also worked with the Food Poverty team to secure over £500 million in support from Government during the Covid-19 crisis, including the extension of free school meals.
Sustain helped secure the first school food standards, and has been championing increased access and eligibility to free school meals, most recently through our Say Yes! campaign.
Bridging the Gap, launched in 2022, aims to make climate and nature friendly food available to everyone by demonstrating ways to build better supply chains for fairer, long term access.
Commercial Determinants supported new TfL advertising policy which led to households consuming 1000 calories less a week.
Recipe for Change campaign is calling for an industry levy like SDIL to help make food healthier.
