Proposals for a new, government-backed mechanism to boost supply chain resilience and protect food security need to be “a priority” in light of the mounting challenges posed by climate change and geopolitical turmoil, experts have urged.
Despite recent progress on the issue, via the confirmation of a new Supply Chain Centre within the Department of Business and Trade in June, immediate government action to map out the vulnerabilities facing food supply chains was still required, warned Marco Forgione, director general of the Chartered Institute of Export and International Trade.
The creation of the Supply Chain Centre was confirmed in a low-key policy paper, published by DBT, some three days before Keir Starmer’s resignation as prime minister on 20 June.
Its mission statement includes six main objectives: to anticipate future risks, identify essential inputs, build domestic capacity, diversify global partnerships, manage disruptions and support businesses.
Forgione described the SCC as a “welcome development”. However, The Grocer understands industry is still waiting for more detail about the initiative, following Andy Burnham’s appointment as prime minister.
And citing the outcome of a recent meeting at thinktank the Centre for Economic Security, he echoed its calls for the creation of a regular government Cobra committee-style forum, in tandem with industry, “to convene during a trade crisis but to also scenario plan outside of crises” and identify critical consumer vulnerabilities.
The UK needed a “standing national mechanism for supply resilience: one with the authority, seniority and convening power associated with COBRA, but focused on strengthening economic resilience before disruption becomes crisis”, Forgione told The Grocer.
“A National Supply Resilience Council, or similar high-level forum, would not replace existing institutions or add another layer of bureaucracy,” he added. “It would provide an integrating mechanism, bringing together the excellent work already underway across departments and combining it with operational intelligence from industry.”
Industry ‘must sit at table’
Industry “must sit at the table”, he urged, and “not as consultees invited on an ad hoc basis but as strategic partners helping government understand how modern supply systems actually function”.
And this should not be seen as a body that only meets during emergencies, Forgione pointed out.
“Its greatest value would come long before any crisis arises. In peacetime, it would continually map network dependencies, identify emerging risks, conduct resilience exercises and test scenarios ranging from cyber-attacks to shipping disruption.”
This would enable government and industry to “develop a shared understanding of risk” he added. “Resilience is not built during a crisis but through preparation.”
Forgione also argued the term ‘supply chain’, suggesting a “simple sequence of links”, was “not how modern trade works”, and instead should be seen as “spider’s web” linked by vulnerable and often hidden dependencies.
Risks were “still commonly categorised by commodity and departments naturally focus on their own responsibilities”.
A disruption affecting a single producer of a specific chemical could “rapidly affect pharmaceuticals, food production, defence, manufacturing and clean energy technologies simultaneously”, he suggested.
“A cyber-attack on a port is not simply a transport problem but can quickly become a retail problem, an industrial problem, an inflation problem and potentially a national security problem.”
Forgione’s comments were echoed by Tom Campbell-Smart, operations director at import agency and wholesaler Brand Organic.
“Modern supply networks are so interconnected and co-dependent that it is almost impossible for any one business or department to see the full picture,” he said.
Chance to ‘spot risks early’
“Bringing government and industry together through a senior supply resilience forum would give the UK a much better chance of spotting risks early, sharing intelligence and future-proofing in order to keep essential goods moving.”
The pair’s comments come amid mounting scrutiny around the vulnerabilities of the UK’s critical supply chains. The National Preparedness Commission warned in a February 2025 report that the UK was “not prepared” for major sudden shocks to its food supply chains.
Report author professor Tim Lang said “there is too much complacency about UK food security and civil food resilience barely features at all in forward planning”.
Food resilience was “not just about surviving a crisis but thriving despite it”, he warned.
This sentiment was shared in a report published by the Cold Chain Federation in June, which said the temperature-controlled network underpinning up to half of Britain’s food supply was largely overlooked in national resilience planning and “not acknowledged as critical national infrastructure”.
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