This report establishes how the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) are responding to rising levels of food insecurity in the UK. With the price of food rising alongside other costs, UK consumers are reducing their spending on food, and decisions over what food to buy are coming under increased pressure. With the statutory objective of protecting consumers, the FSA is changing its practices to understand how food insecurity pressures are increasing the risk of unsafe practice and unsafe or inauthentic food.  

In this blog post published by the Food Research Collaboration, Prof Erik Millstone argues that upcoming legislation (the Retained EU Law (Reform and Revocation) Bill) could threaten food safety standards in the UK. The Bill, although not aimed specifically at the food sector, will enable the revocation of European Union laws in the UK. Millstone notes that Prime Minister Liz Truss has expressed support for deregulation of the food sector, for example by removing the sugary beverages tax. Food Standards Scotland has also warned that food standards relating to food labelling, chemical contaminants and hygiene levels could be lost unless new laws are introduced rapidly.

This paper sets out proposals for reforming the global food system to reduce the risk of disease outbreaks and pandemics originating from wildlife. It proposes limiting human encroachment on tropical areas of wilderness by shifting to diets low in animal-source foods; reducing urban demand for tropical wild meat while protecting access to wild meat by indigenous and subsistence communities; and improving biosecurity measures to prevent transmission of diseases between wildlife and humans along animal source food supply chains.

This report from UK NGO Sustain examines how a proposed trade deal between the UK and Brazil - on which discussions are still only in the early stages - might increase harm caused by pesticides. Pesticide regulations have weakened since Bolsonaro took power in 2019, with harm to environmental or human health no longer informing whether a pesticide should be approved for use.

The UK’s Food Standards Agency has released the results of its “Food and You 2”, a biannual survey of consumer knowledge, attitudes and behaviours related to food safety in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The survey was conducted between April and June 2021, and hence records food behaviours linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This report from the UK government’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs presents detailed statistics on food security in the UK, covering global food availability, UK food sources, food supply chain resilience, household food security, and food safety & consumer confidence. 

This report from the John Hopkins Center for a Livable Future addresses a common concern among urban farming communities: is food grown in the city safe to eat? Focusing on Baltimore, it finds that soil, water and produce from the urban farms and gardens studied have safe levels of harmful metals, with some rare exceptions. TABLE staff member Matthew Kessler contributed to this project. 

Insects are one step closer to being available as snacks or food ingredients in Europe. The European Commission’s Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed has approved a draft legal act that, once adopted by the Commission, would permit dried yellow mealworm (the larvae of the beetle Tenebrio molitor) to be sold in the European Union for consumption by people. The yellow mealworm will be the first insect to be approved under the Novel Food Regulation. 11 further applications for edible insects are waiting to be evaluated by the European Food Safety Authority. 

This series of seven briefing papers from the International Livestock Research Institute and CGIAR uses a One Health approach to highlight the linkages between the health of livestock, crops, people and the environment.