The Guardian reported yesterday that:
Phil Pluck, the chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation (CCF), which represents businesses involved in supplying and transporting temperature-sensitive food and pharmaceuticals, said: “The potential for a major food crisis is as great now as it ever was. We are at the mercy of so many different factors now, which are becoming increasingly dangerous to food supply in this country.”
They added:
Britain's food system has not been significantly tested since the second world war, a time when about half of the nation's cold stores were in public ownership, said Tom Southall, the deputy chief executive at the CCF. “This alludes to an element of complacency about how and where we store our food in the UK.”
And then they noted:
Britain relies on overseas imports for more than a third of its food, most of it entering through four ports, making supplies particularly vulnerable to potential interruption.
The CCF said international conflicts or hold-ups at the UK border could stop food flowing into the country, while fuel shortages or the failure of cold-storage sites because of flooding or extreme heat amid the climate crisis could cause gaps on supermarket shelves.
Let's be clear, all og this material obviously came from a rehashed press release from the Cold Chain Federation, but the sting was in the tail:
The continued closure of the strait of Hormuz has interrupted global flows of fertiliser, necessary for half the world's food production, further raising fears over shortages.
Many everyday grocery items, including meat, vegetables, fish, dairy products, bread, fruit and ready meals, rely on the cold chain, as well as medicines, vaccines and blood and plasma products.
And, yes, this may be a trade association seeking publicity, but I think it is doing so advisedly.
There is a crisis jeading our way.
Britain's food system has not been significantly tested since the Second World War.
And right now, as a crisis is unfolding in plain sight, ministers appear to be doing precisely nothing about it, and are instead obsessing about the Makerfield by-election. That may be important, but feeding the nation is very much more so, and they appear to be either unaware of that or are indifferent to it. As a result, they are actively turning what might need only be a crisis into what could be a disaster.
Seen like that, Makerfield might turn into insignificance in national history as a result.
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You are right Richard, and if you add to this the highly likely (almost certain) ‘super’ el nino due later in the year global food production will be stressed even further. The UK is highly vulnerable as we import such a high proportion of our food. It’s a dereliction of duty for Governments not to prepare for these events.
Thank you
Going off the subject but on LBC the presenter was saying where would money for defence come from.This week the government announced there will be £1.3 billion to help with a new Universal Studios Park in this country.If there is money for this why not for defence? None of it makes sense to me.Are they saying a visit to such a place is more important than protecting us? It seems the park won’t be open for 5 years but will create jobs.Is this then a wise use of money? Shouldn’t Universal be paying this sum as they will presumably be the beneficiaries of profits made by such an attraction.I’m lost.
Also what do you think of the governments plans to invest in companies? Is this good for us all or a dangerous gamble?
Just a few questions from someone who feels lost in such things.
Thanks
Mark
I’ve always thought that the most secure countries are those that are the most self-sufficient.
Our governments should have been working always to make us as self-sufficient in food and energy as possible over the long-term.
With all the severe weather events, be they due to global warming or not, countries will have less to export to us and food prices will rise.Quoting GDP figures at us won’t help if we have food problems.
Starmer has poked fun at nature at times and people seem to think that our food is produced by supermarkets and that we don’t need insects, water, soil etc to produce it. We seem to think we can survive without the environment and we have become divorced from reality.
The Nordic countries seem to be happier as they value nature and children spend more time in it.Didn’t the Tories sell parks off?
I’m proud that all my life I’ve done conservation tasks, litter picking in parks etc and know the value of nature and how vital it is for us all.
Sorry to go on
Thanks
Mark
With flooding or draught increasing worldwide due to accelerating climate change, food shortages seem to be inevitable. Let alone the extreme vulnerability of the precarious just in time food supply chain system. Ever since the Rio international climate conference in 1992 every government has been fully aware of the impending climate crisis. Despite policy agreements made at Kyoto and Paris, very little has been done to ameliorate the situation and we have now got to the stage where collapsed is inevitable.
Agreed
‘Totally agree with the post, but a word of caution here offered only as a possible feature of this phenomenon – human beings are very good at adapting to things over time. Since BREXIT, Covid, a large ship blocking the Panama canal, there have been plenty of shortages in our supermarkets, shops and other outlets (chemists) of stuff we buy. My concern is that things will have to get really bad before ‘we’ notice what is actually happening as shortages have become the norm. What we might see instead is a creeping crisis that all of a sudden balloons into something bigger. And as you point out, we are just not set up to deal with it, we’ve widened our import systems just avoid going back into Europe for goodness sake. We are really isolated at the moment.
Much to agree with
The Wezzie village. A requirement for membership: a) picked by McSwine /tory oafs, b) little or no knowledge of how things work, c) zero interest in how things work, d) focus on the bribery trough and making sure one is as close as possible to the spigot. UK ministers since the 1990s have for the most part been incapable of any kind of critical thinking – because if they were they would not be ministers. When things go “tits up” UK serfs & peasants may care to reflect on that reality. That said, “the system” is designed for exactly the outcomes it produces – useless, incompetent ministers, know nothing and don’t give a stuff about UK peasants.
Proof? One example: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/07/social-housing-119-years-waitlist-current-building-rate
I went to see my local Labour MP – a government minister – about this. He listened, took notes, agreed with my suggestions and said he would raise it with DEFRA.
A couple of weeks later I got a letter from Mary Creagh the DEFRA minister which addressed points I hadn’t raised and claimed the UK’s food supply was robust.
I heard Angela Eagle the Food minister say on Radio 4 that she *was* concerned so I wrote to her and raised the point about the inappropriate reply that I received from Creagh at DEFRA.
I got a letter back from a Ministerial contact unit saying basically the same thing as Creagh, that everything is fine.
The author of the National Preparedness Commission report “Just in case” Prof Tim Laing was told by a senior civil servant “we don’t want to frighten the horses” by telling the public to prepare or that the government is building up a national stock pile of food like in some other European countries. Well what do they think people will do if there is a crisis?
I find it hard to ascribe all this just to incompetence.
It is not incompetence
It is deliberate.
And then rationing will be by price because “there’s nothing we can do about it now”.
The vandal architects of Brexit and the incompetents who engineered our actual exit took no account of food security, despite being warned of the consequences again and again.
This post is not to excuse the evils of the EU’s CAP, but as an experienced retired farm vet, I found it hard to credit the irresponsible stupidity of those who reassured us that effectively we didn’t need to worry about food security, we could always import our food. (Yes, Michael Gove, I mean you!)
Our political class will not notice the oncoming food and utility crises, as they can claim these on expenses. This will only become a problem for them when they whine about the rise in cost of their subsidised food and booze. They truly live in a bubble.
I have been preparing by sewing winter vegetables and stocking up on dried pulses and beans, flour and yeast, bulk of tinned food etc and I’m wondering whether to get another hen or two.
What worries me is how the people who are living from hand to mouth right now, because of the rise in the cost of fuel and rents. What will happen to them if food becomes scarce comma families with children?
What could we do now to prepare to help support these people?
I have already bought a copy of Jack Monroe’s book Cooking on a Bootstrap and I am wondering whether to create a social media page for recipes for nutritious meals that cost very little or using basic foods that are available, and also where people can share with others.
It’s a massive task though, even in the ordinary town I live in, there are thousands and thousands of people who would need help in really difficult times.
And a lot of these people don’t routinely cook in the kitchen themselves but rely on reheating ready-made meals. It’s going to be an enormous wake up call.
Agreed