Call for report into food security
While farmer anger at Westminster’s failure to enshrine protection for the country’s high production standards in the UK Agriculture bill continued to simmer, a call was made for the commissioning of a report into the country’s food security status to be fast-tracked in order to set a benchmark for a timely review.
In an open letter to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, The Rt Hon George Eustice MP, the National Beef Association (NBA) said that the completion of such a report would allow for any potential food security issues to be identified - and for corrective measures to be taken early, rather than a further five years down the line.
The letter, sent by NBA interim CEO Neil Shand, called on the minister to prevent food imports from countries adopting inferior production processes or which had poorer animal welfare standards, entering the UK – and drew particular attention to the issue of hormone beef.
The association also claimed that the UK Government was not taking food security as seriously “as it should be, or is sensible”.
Highlighting that the Covid pandemic had disrupted supply chains and caused food short ages with bare supermarket shelves commonplace around the country, Shand said: “Never has home-grown and home-produced food been more important than it is now, and the NBA says it is vital that strong and stable frameworks are put in place to protect Britain’s home producers.”