2 Sisters Food Group president Ranjit Boparan has warned that the UK’s food security is under major threat.
In a statement released this week, the food industry boss called for coordinated action from government and industry to make the country more self sufficient.
Boparan warned that the UK food sector was now in a “perfect storm” and said global supply chain challenges were exposing Britain’s reliance on imports and threatening price rises for consumers.
”Extreme weather conditions, which will continue into this autumn/winter and next summer, ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East, and persistent cost pressures are all putting supply chains under huge strain,” he added.
“Without action, families face even more food inflation.”
Boparan’s concerns join a rising tide of warnings from the food sector, including from the NFU, that next year’s food production could be at risk without immediate government action.The Food Foundation said that the UK was over-reliant on fruit and veg from countries at risk from climate change.
Boparan said that 2 Sisters was doing all it could to strengthen Britain’s food security, “but we cannot do it alone”.
“Government must work with industry to improve critical national infrastructure, such as water,” he added. “We need less talk and more action.”
The statement comes as 2 Sisters continues to truck water into its Willand processing plant to maintain production six weeks after South West Water reduced the amount of water available to the site.
2 Sisters has announced a £2bn investment through its NextGen strategy to build a “stronger, more sustainable and more affordable British food supply chain”, including in factory and farm modernisation, raising welfare and environmental standards and meeting its net zero by 2035 target.
Despite the “huge opportunity” to back farmers and food producers, Boparan said rising costs, weak infrastructure and planning delays were “holding us back”.
“Farms and food production sites should be prioritised, with decisions made at pace,” Boparan said. “We have farm planning applications that have been held up in the system for well over a year.”
Following the announced closure of the 2 Sisters-owned Bernard Matthews processing plant in Derby in August, the business said it had been urging the government to act on supply chain resilience, planning and taxation for two years.
“We have warned successive governments that the UK food supply chain is fragile,” Boparan continued. “We need a combined strategy and we need action now, not more discussion.”
He added: “Without targeted action on resilience, planning and critical infrastructure, farms and food manufacturing sites will close and costs will increase, leaving Britain even more reliant on imports, compromising quality and animal welfare standards, and weakening both food security and national security.”
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