Eating Better

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) just published its 7th Carbon Budget (known as CB7). This set out the legal limit for UK net emissions of greenhouse gases over the years 2038 to 2042. It also contained the different options available for the UK Government to choose and the different ‘pathways’ to get to net-zero, with advice for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to be published later in 2025. This is a vitally important milestone in fixing our food system. But what does it all mean for healthy and sustainable diets?

We are excited to release the updated Better by Half Roadmap, Eating Better’s guide for achieving nutritious, healthy and sustainable diets across the UK, with a focus on less and better meat and dairy. This revision builds on its creation in 2019. It is a reflection of our shared objectives as an alliance, formed through collaboration between our 68 member organisations.

A new UK Government was elected earlier this month, with the widely expected result of Labour replacing the Conservatives as the governing party and Keir Starmer becoming our new Prime Minister. This presents an exciting opportunity for a change in direction on UK food policy.

On April 22nd, the Scottish Government’s consultation for a Good Food Nation plan closed. This consultation followed the passing of the Good Food Nation Act in 2022, where the Scottish Government put into law their vision for Scotland to be a ‘a Good Food Nation, where people from every walk of life take pride and pleasure in, and benefit from, the food they produce, buy, cook, serve, and eat each day’. 

For healthy and sustainable diets to become the norm in the UK, we need national policies that support our farmers, safeguard our environment, and ensure everyone has access to safe and nutritious food. But how well are the four governments across the UK tackling this challenge? Eating Better’s new resource shines a light on the current state of play.

Georgie Branch, Healthy Zones Programme Manager at Eating Better alliance member School Food Matters, explains how schools working with the charity have embraced less and better meat, and how government school food standards need to be improved.

Our recent report ‘It’s time to act on processed meat’ highlights the need to reduce processed meat for our health and the planet. Processed meat intake in infants and children is particularly concerning due to the high level of salt. We spoke to Eating Better alliance member First Steps Nutrition Trust about processed meat and young children’s health.

A new resource from Eating Better considers the health impacts of processed meat and highlights the need for public sector caterers and health organisations to focus efforts on reducing processed meat consumption in the UK.

Maddy Haughton- Boakes, Campaigns Advisor at the Changing Markets Foundation introduces their new report ‘Feeding us Greenwash’, which lifts the green veil and highlights the extent of greenwashing by food companies and how consumers respond to these environmental claims.

Eating Better partnered with the Faculty of Public Health and the UK Health Alliance for Climate Change (UKHACC) to produce a new report 'Health professionals and sustainable diets: Policy and understanding'

‘Producing, Buying and Serving Better’ is the latest film by Eating Better, highlighting the exemplary work taking place in Scotland. This is an inspirational story that can help other local authorities, producers and retailers see the potential of local food systems.

Eating Better alliance member Sustain publishes new report on how UK councils are tackling the climate and nature emergency through food.

The spotlight is on school food this week, as the annual LACA show and forum takes place in Birmingham. The theme of this year’s event by catering leaders across the school sector, or “The School Food People” as LACA likes to be known as, is “Get back on track” with keynote speakers and panel discussions on how to make school food healthier and more sustainable, at a time when budgets are being squeezed and public sector caterers are facing further challenges from rising food costs, supply chain issues and staff shortages.

Ensuring everyone has access to a healthy diet that doesn’t cost the earth is a critical priority. The Food Strategy falls desperately short on effective, evidence-based measures to achieve this.

As the UK’s civil society was coming to terms with the lack of ambition of its government’s National Food Strategy, which according to the Committee for Climate Change “will do precious little to tackle emissions from agriculture which is now one of the most serious contributors to climate change”, alliance member Changing Markets launched a new study looking at how much different measures can contribute to methane reductions in agriculture. The study confirms that policies promoting healthier diets could lead to the biggest methane cuts in the EU. Blog for Eating Better by Nusa Urbancic, Campaigns Director at the Changing Markets Foundation

The government has published its first food strategy in 75 years, in response to the independent review by its lead food adviser, Henry Dimbleby. Although the government has accepted some of the review’s recommendations, there is still a lot missing from the document, in particular the lack of acknowledgement on the need to reduce meat production and consumption to tackle the climate, nature and health crises.

How many people know that even if we ended fossil fuel use tomorrow, without making significant changes to our global food system, we would still be heading towards catastrophic levels of warming, far beyond 1.5 degrees?  

The EU’s trade policy is currently the best example of successfully enforcing standards of environmental protection, animal welfare and climate resilience in trade. 

Rose Vouchers are a local, charity led project that helps families on low incomes to buy a good variety of fresh fruit and vegetables at local markets.

Sheffield has declared a nature emergency and is working to ensure that local planning decisions help nature to recover.   

Mandeville Primary school in Hackney weaves food education into the curriculum, teaching children how to grow, cook and eat fresh food that’s healthy and sustainable. Lessons take place on site at Hackney School of Food, bringing together chefs, gardners and educators to support children and their families to learn to cook from scratch.

Leeds City Council is normalising sustainable diets through public procurement and helping schools lower the carbon footprint of the meals they serve through a range of measures.

Denmark is one of only a few countries to have introduced dietar y guidelines ​​that focus on both population health and that of the planet. Recognising that citizens were eating too much meat, the Danish Government drew up a new food policy

A better food environment needs a more holistic, inclusive approach to policy making. The City of São Paulo has a programme called ‘Ligue os Pontos’ or “Connect the dots,” recognising that an integrated food and farming policy supports rural economies, while supplying the city with fresh, organic produce.