This report from Eating Better assesses the meat and dairy sourcing policies of 10 supermarkets in the UK against the “Sourcing Better” framework. It finds that progress is uneven across different impact categories, and that there are no commitments to raise fewer animals or reduce the amount of meat and dairy sold. Broadly, the report finds that retailers are more active in aiming for responsible antibiotic use, good animal welfare and no deforestation, and less active in areas including local pollution, water use, soil health and using less land for feed.

This report by the Dutch think tank Questionmark examines how Swedish supermarkets encourage the consumption of meat, notably by multi-buy discounts where customers only receive a discount if they buy multiple items. Furthermore, the types of meat that are promoted by the four biggest supermarkets are very rarely (in only 3% of meat promotions) rated “green” (i.e. most sustainable) by the Swedish WWF meat guide (see also the TABLE blog The Swedish Meat Guide – multidisciplinary research that reached society).

Farmers in the UK are receiving only a tiny fraction of the supermarket price of five common foods - often receiving less than a penny of the purchase price - according to this report from UK NGO Sustain. Other stages of the supply chain - notably processors and retailers - often receive a much greater portion of the profit. The report also notes that growers could receive more profit by supplying through alternative supply chains, such as non-profit food hubs.

UK NGO Eating Better reports that the UK’s four biggest supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons) are using promotions such as multi-buy or price reduction to encourage meat sales. The report argues that this contradicts the climate commitments made by supermarkets.

This policy brief from the UK’s Food Research Collaboration argues that thinking of vegetable supply chains in the UK as interactive and entangled networks of state, community and commercial actors, rather than primarily as markets, can give communities greater influence over supply chain governance and provide growers with alternatives to supermarket supply chains.

The UK’s Food Ethics Council has released a write-up and recording of its latest “Food Policy on Trial” event, which was held at the Oxford Real Farming Conference 2022. Four speakers, including dairy farmers and a commercial cheese buyer, discussed the fairness of rules governing the dairy sector and milk contracts. One farmer explained that the short shelf-life of milk puts farmers at a disadvantage when negotiating contracts.

This progress report from the UK’s Food Foundation shows that UK businesses have served an additional 636 million portions of vegetables over the past four years, as part of the Peas Please initiative. The report features several case studies, including Sainsbury’s, Birds Eye, Food Cardiff, Lidl and Healthy Start, and the Community Supported Agriculture Network UK.

This study surveyed people from 119 countries about their experiences of food environments and food acquisition practices during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020). Many respondents experienced physical distancing requirements at food shops (90% of respondents), restricted access to stores (77%), stockpiling foods (67%), increased awareness of food waste (63%) and buying more food due to fear or anxiety (47%).

This discussion paper from the UK-based Food Research Collaboration presents an alternative interpretation of supermarkets’ business models. Instead of offering low prices purely through economies of scale, the report suggests, supermarkets are running a finely balanced model with very low profit margins and large sale volumes. To keep prices low, supermarkets both persuade customers to buy additional items (which may ultimately go to waste) and charge fees to suppliers in return for marketing and selling their products. Without these supplier fees, supermarkets in the UK would be running at or near a loss.