New national food strategy offers ‘little more than crumbs’

Responding to the publication of England’s National Food Strategy, Sarah Woolley, General Secretary of the Bakers and Allied Food Workers Union (BFAWU) said:

“With 10 million people across the UK facing food poverty, this new strategy needed to bring meaningful change and recommend a ‘Right to Food’ law, instead it offers little more than crumbs in the fight against hunger.

“Food sector workers like our members who have produced the food to keep shelves stocked throughout the pandemic, often come home to empty cupboards, due to low pay and insecure work.

“Our recent report on the need for a ‘Right to Food’ law exposed that almost one in five food workers had run out of food because of a lack of money and 40% knew they were eating less than they should because of a lack of cash.

“Any National Food Strategy worthy of the name should be producing recommendations that end food insecurity and hunger.”

“A food strategy that still leaves people going to bed hungry each night is not credible and frankly ignores the shameful realities of food poverty facing so many people in Britain today”.

“We won’t sit back while people are struggling to survive and the campaign for the ‘Right to Food’ to be enshrined in law will only grow until we end the scandal of food poverty.”