Defra yesterday set out the 10 objectives it will place on the food industry if it is to achieve the “radical overhaul” in health and sustainability demanded by its new Food Strategy.

And while the document is noticeably vague regarding how its goals are to be achieved – in part due to the sweeping nature of its objectives – there are plenty of positives about the new strategy and Defra’s approach thus far.

Lack of investment

The rush of support from supermarkets, supplier bodies and NGOs shows the department has successfully managed to draw together a broad coalition of the industry to get behind its plans, beyond the expert advisory board of industry CEOs and other key figures that helped it define the objectives.

And in the shape of Daniel Zeichner, the minister heading up the talks, we clearly have a minister who is passionate and committed to the cause. That’s a lot more than can be said for many of the ministers who proceeded him over the past few years.

However, The Grocer’s revelation that plans for the government to publish a food white paper in 2026 have been pulled sadly raises fears that perhaps the most crucial ingredient of all is missing: the full backing of No 10 and the Treasury.

Sources close to the process suggest a reluctance from Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves to bring in the necessary regulation and give the go-ahead to the investment that will be needed to back up the strategy. There were no mentions of a white paper in the final document – while in the draft document, circulated earlier this year and seen by The Grocer, the commitment to follow up the bold words of the strategy with concrete plans for policy announcements and legislation featured prominently. All these mentions have been erased, only to be replaced with far more woolly-worded intentions.

For a government which has already backtracked on a series of environmental and economic plans, this suggests Defra and the food industry cannot rely on Treasury backing for the necessary system overhaul. A leading industry source suggested: “Defra’s place in the Whitehall hierarchy is as low as it’s ever been.”

The pessimistic take on the government’s ’cross-departmental’ support was echoed by another source, who said: “It seems like Defra has been speaking to everyone apart from the ones that hold the purse strings.”

The 10-year health plan

This all seems in stark contrast to the NHS 10-year plan which came out earlier this month, with much greater fanfare.

Heath secretary Wes Streeting, backed by Labour’s obvious determination to prioritise the NHS, revealed proposals for mandatory reporting and target setting on health – and was even able to call on Starmer himself to write the foreword to the plan.

In contrast, Zeichner launched the food strategy on a low-key trip to a food market in Bradford, with little to no coverage in the national press.

Yet it’s vital the food strategy dovetails with the 10-year plan if it is to tackle the “skyrocketing” levels of obesity in the UK. Defra will also require the appropriate government backing to tackle the big health, environmental and food supply chain resilience challenges at stake.

As Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts, one of those on the FSAB board, calls for, we need “bold ambition” from the government, while ministers and industry need to work alongside each other if they are to make the food industry a “powerhouse of economic growth”.

Whitehall sources insist the deletion of any reference to the food white paper doesn’t mean it won’t happen. They say it doesn’t rule out future significant new policies or legislation, and is merely a sign that the government recognises it needs to carefully considers its options before it decides on the right policies.

But momentum is everything, and it should ensure all sides of the coalition are seen to be equally committed.

The Good Food Cycle the government craves won’t be squared unless the programme has buy-in right from the very top.

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