UK unprepared for food security crises, experts warn

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 15 Oct, 22:32 · Archive

Experts warn the UK lacks a plan to feed people during crises as cyber-attacks and supply disruptions threaten food security.

One hundred and fifty experts have warned the British government that it does not have a plan to feed people in a crisis, as the west enters an era in which food could be weaponised. The warning preceded a cyber-attack in France in which hackers forced up the temperatures of refrigerators in hundreds of food stores to as high as 50C, resulting in waste and fires. Researchers had tried to sound the alarm about such risks months earlier.

The UK imports about 40 per cent of its food. Experts say the public has been led to assume that food will simply be there, without understanding how vulnerable modern systems are. The Covid pandemic demonstrated this vulnerability, as did Brexit, climate stress and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, all of which have raised prices.

Food security depends on overall supply, but also on affordability, logistics, distribution and nutrition. While food inflation has slowed from its peak, the cumulative impact has been severe. The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit says that by September 2027, UK food prices are likely to be 50 per cent higher than at the start of the cost of living crisis in mid-2021, a scale of increase that previously took almost two decades.

How it is being reported

• Researchers warned attackers could 'defrost the food' months before French supermarkets got hitThey tried to sound the alarm in AugustThe Register · 15 Oct, 20:23
• The Guardian view on food security: we have just-in-time, we need just-in-case | EditorialExperts are warning that the UK is unprepared for crises. A refrigerator cyber-attack scare in France is the latest reminder of the risks What’s worrying French supermarket bosses should be prompting British ministers to action. On Sunday, hackers forced up the temperatures of refrigerators in hundreds of food stores across France to as high as 50C, resulting in waste and fires. Beyond the immediate destruction and inconvenience, it raised the prospect of other malicious actors finding new ways to play havoc with the food chain. Only weeks before, 150 experts together warned the British…The Guardian · 15 Oct, 18:25

In this story: United Kingdom · France · Ukraine

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