In the UK, in 2025, 4.3 million children are growing up in poverty. Over the summer holidays that number rises, as budgets are stretched and food insecurity increases.
Retailers and suppliers have been quick to step up, going out of their way to make sure children and families don’t go hungry over the summer holidays. Through social impact initiatives and campaigns, they’re helping to tackle the issue while supporting the communities they serve.
This makes it hard to understand why food businesses have remained largely silent on the shocking situation in Gaza, where hunger is being weaponised and Palestinians – including children – are systematically being denied access to food.
Other than The Co-op, which stopped stocking products sourced from Israel in June, the silence from across the grocery sector has been deafening.
This week, as the humanitarian situation has become increasingly intolerable, some of those brands have chosen to speak out. Led by Pip Murray of Pip & Nut, more than 150 food and drink companies have urged the UK government to act against the “systemic starvation” of an entire population. One of the core demands in the open letter is simply “access to food”.
The juxtaposition of this situation with a sector currently tying itself in knots over doing the right thing, as industry bodies bicker over the detail of a food strategy designed to make us all healthier and happier, could not be starker. While undeniably important, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to talk about the importance of healthy eating or to discuss the relative merits of weight-loss drugs when two million people face starvation because they are being denied access to food.
UK food and drink businesses pride themselves on feeding people – on bringing them joy, excitement and new experiences – but most importantly, nutrition. Food should not be a privilege, and silence in the face of starvation should not be an option.
In Murray’s words: “When you work in a food business, you can’t look away from what’s happening in Gaza. This is not a political issue – it’s a moral one.”
The shameful scenes playing out in Gaza, with each day bringing new, heart-breaking updates, are a humanitarian tragedy. UK grocery has shown leadership on hunger at home. Now it is time to do the same abroad.
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