In the week the extent of Gregg Wallace’s misdemeanours was laid bare, the food industry has also come under fire for an “endemic” sexual harassment issue.

Wallace, long-time MasterChef host and now also apparently long-time harasser, has had 83 allegations made against him, 45 of which have been upheld by an independent inquiry this week. Most of the substantiated claims from across the 19-year period related to inappropriate sexual language and humour, but also included culturally insensitive or racist comments.

The former greengrocer and presenter has since apologised for the distress he caused and said he “never set out to harm or humiliate”. He has also emphasised that “none of the serious allegations against me were upheld”.

Regardless of the severity of the allegations, the sheer scale of allegations being levelled at just one man is unbelievable. Or, more depressingly, not. And what’s worse is that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to harassment in the food industry.

Sexual harassment ‘endemic’ in food sector

This week a survey from Unite found that sexual harassment is “endemic” within the food, drink and agriculture sectors, with as much as a third of women reporting they had been sexually assaulted in the workplace.

The poll, which formed a key component of the union’s Zero Tolerance to Sexual Harassment campaign, also revealed that 57% had been the recipient (or target?) of sexually offensive jokes. More than half (53%) had experienced unwanted flirting, gesturing or sexual remarks, a similar number (49%) had been inappropriately touched and almost a third (32%) had been shared or shown pornographic images by a manager, colleague or third party.

The scale of the problem is horrifying but for many women it is not surprising – after all, 71% of women report being sexually harassed in public. While the hope would be that does not translate to the workplace, that is clearly not the case.

One of the main hurdles the food industry has in righting this issue is that there are simply not enough women working in the sector, with just 36% of employees in global food manufacturing are female. But how can you expect to persuade women into the food workforce when they are so likely to face sexual harassment?

Zero-tolerance culture 

Back in March, major food businesses including ABP, Avara Foods, Cranswick, Greencore and Hilton Foods, alongside Morrisons and Tesco, signed up to a landmark charter pledging to increase female representation in the food sector to 40% by 2035. It was designed to “remove barriers and create meaningful opportunities for women at all levels” – but at the moment those only appear to be opportunities for assault and mistreatment.

It will take the industry working together to stamp out the culture of sexism and sexual harassment and men have a vital role to play here. Firstly, in not harassing their colleagues, and secondly, in facilitating a zero-tolerance culture for actions of this nature.

As the Unite survey revealed, almost three quarters (74%) of respondents did not report incidents of sexual harassment, which meant “many perpetrators are free to offend again”. Something the BBC has found to be proven true with the Gregg Wallace allegations.

The union is calling for more legal protections alongside sexual harassment policies, mandatory training and for the deadline for being able to make a claim in an employment tribunal to be extended from three to six months after the incident occurred.

This would go some way to protecting employees from harassment so they are able to enjoy their jobs more. It also has the added benefit of protecting food businesses from a Gregg Wallace-sized crisis. 

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