Climate risk to Britain’s food supplies

BRITAIN could run out of key food items because of climate change, MPs have warned.

‘Climate breakdown’ will threaten our food security because 40 per cent of fruit and vegetables are imported – with half of this from countries likely to be hit hard by global warming, they added.

The public will also face the risk of new diseases that thrive in the warmer weather while the young and elderly will be affected by ‘heat stress’, politicians claimed.

The Commons environmental audit select committee said the Government could reduce the impact by promoting healthier and more sustainable diets, including a reduction in meat.

It should also be made more difficult to open fast-food outlets in the planning laws, so people do not eat so many unhealthy meals, and greater restrictions should be placed on advertising ‘high fat, sugar and salt products’.

A reliance on imports, together with government ‘complacency’ over the impact hotter climates could have on food production, is risking national food security, MPs said, adding that more fruit and vegetables should be grown in the UK.

The committee said 4 per cent of fruit and vegetables came from ‘highly climate-vulnerable countries’ such as Belize and India, and 14 per cent from ‘moderately vulnerable’ countries such as South Africa and Brazil. Committee chairman Mary Creagh said: ‘Everything we do to the planet, we do to ourselves. The health of the planet matters because it affects what we eat and whether we can eat in future.

‘We are facing a food security crisis, exacerbated by uncertainty over the UK’s future trading position with the EU and the rest of the world.’

A government spokesman said: ‘ We already have a highly resilient food supply chain in the UK, and our National Food Strategy review is considering how we can further address the challenges of a changing climate.’