CCF raises concerns on UK food security

UK: A new white paper launched in Westminster, yesterday, warns that growing pressures on the cold chain are increasing risks to food security, public health and economic resilience.

The report published by the Cold Chain Federation (CCF) – The Critical Link: A Resilience Strategy for Protecting UK Food Supply Against Growing Threats to the Cold Chain – sets out ten recommendations, including recognition of the cold chain as critical national infrastructure.

It highlights how risks including energy instability, cyber-attacks, climate impacts, labour shortages and global supply chain disruption are placing increasing pressure on critical food supply infrastructure.

Without stronger resilience planning and recognition of the cold chain’s essential role, the report warns that disruptions to the food supply could significantly affect food availability, affordability, and access to essential products, particularly for vulnerable communities.

The recommendations focus on strengthening preparedness and response planning, embedding cold chain considerations into future food security policy, and ensuring the sector is properly recognised within national resilience planning.

The event saw CCF CEO Phil Pluck and deputy CEO Tom Southall presenting the report’s key findings, backed by discussions with Professor Tim Lang, the professor emeritus of food policy at City St George’s, University of London, and Kristopher Gibbon-Walsh, deputy CEO of FareShare and the Felix Project.

In brief, the ten recommendations set out in the white paper are:
1. The designation of cold chain infrastructure as critical infrastructure
2. Development of a National Risk Register
3. Recognise cold chain workers with permanent essential worker status.
4. Assign clear Cabinet Office responsibility for cold chain resilience and security
5. Development of early warning systems
6. Development of an Incident Response Plan (IRP) and a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)
7. Ensure minimum stocks of essential products are held within the UK as a civil contingency
8. Ensure specific reference to cold chain as critical national infrastructure requiring special local planning considerations within the National Planning Policy Framework.
9. Introduce the requirement for an industry-government collaboration to undertake a national assessment of our critical cold chain infrastructure
10. Support initiatives to promote critical occupations in the cold chain.

The white paper can be viewed and downloaded here.