(Taken from Sustainable Development in Government website, article written by Nick Saltmarsh, 4 April 2011)

In a new report, the Sustainable Development Commission reviews progress towards sustainable food policy in the UK over the last decade and looks ahead to policy implications of the increasing challenges of public health, climate change and oil prices.

Looking back, Looking Forward: Sustainability and UK food policy 2000 - 2011 argues for the four Governments of the UK "not to step back from the challenge of making our food systems more sustainable, calling on them to raise their game and speed up the pace and scale of change".

Recommendations for sustainable food

While the story of UK food since World War 2 has been one of success in increasing production, lowering prices and reducing ill health from nutritional deficiency, the report stresses that our current food system fails on environmental, social and economic measures of sustainability.

Multiple values are identified for a more sustainable food system - from taste, pleasure and safety to biodiversity, resilience and transparency - with four priorities for action:

• Government leadership for sustainable food;
• Sustainable food supply chains;
• Sustainable consumption;
• Fairness.

Amongst detailed recommendations under these headings, the report advises that the governments of the UK must:

• Prioritise reversing the decline in UK food production, helping expand vegetable crops sustainably and increasing UK fruit production;
• Enable the meat and dairy industry to reduce its reliance on grain feedstuffs to lower land use and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
• Work to create local food partnerships to harness local government, health authorities, community groups and local business to meet local sustainability goals;
• Increase efforts to reduce food waste, planning for zero food waste to landfill by 2015;
• Ensure practical food experience in schools including cooking skills and food growing;
• Reflect the cost of ensuring a nutritious and sustainable diet in minimum wage and benefit levels;
• Mandate health and sustainability standards for all publicly procured food.