Hopes of smooth running for the government’s new food strategy have suffered a setback after tensions emerged over the way the talks are being conducted.
The Grocer has learnt that multiple sources close to the discussions have raised issues over the role of IGD in the strategy.
When minister for food security and rural affairs Daniel Zeichner unveiled the Food Strategy Advisory Board in March, he appointed IGD CEO Sarah Bradbury as a co-secretariat to support the strategy alongside Defra.
IGD was appointed to “support the effective and proper functioning of the FSAB” with a wider job of “helping co-ordinate government and industry“.
This came aftter environment secretary Steve Reed called for the govenmment and industry to work together as a coalition to tackle issues including “skyrocketing” obesity levels.
However, senior industry figures told The Grocer they believed the IGD’s role had strayed from that of co-secretariat to influencing the government’s policy, with particular concern over its agenda on health.
Last month, Zeichner unveiled 10 key priorities for the strategy, including more resilient food supply chains, improving access to affordable and nutritious food, and supporting children to thrive through better nutrition and food education.
IGD has played a key role in supporting the development of the strategy.
It has also strongly backed calls announced in the NHS 10-year plan for the food industry to face mandatory reporting on health as well as targets and a new, yet to be developed health standard, based on a shake-up of the existing nutrient profiling model.
IGD has called it an opportunity for the industry to work differently with government to face up to the obesity crisis.
But one leading industry source said they believed it had gone too far.
“People are asking what is the role of the IGD in the food strategy,” said the source.
“Everybody is slightly suspicious that the IGD is pushing its own agenda on health through the food strategy.
“There are concerns, not so much about mandatory reporting but what the next steps for that might be. Reporting is one thing and I think most people can get behind it, but this vague stuff that’s come out around the strategy about targets and a health standard and how that might work, that’s where people are more concerned.”
The source also took aim at IGD’s forthcoming conference in October, the agenda for which features the likes of FSAB member and IGD president Simon Roberts, the CEO of Sainsbury’s, and several other key figures from the strategy, as well as former food tsar Henry Dimbleby.
“The IGD conference in October looks like basically a food strategy review, but you’ve got to pay £500 to attend,” added the source.
“Again, it begs the question what’s the IGD’s role in this. Is it partly to raise finances to the IGD and do you need to be a member of the IGD or somebody with deep pockets to be involved in the future of the govenment’s food strategy?”
Another source claimed talks on the strategy had so far featured ”very little focus on growth” but a huge emphasis on “social and health”.
“The IGD’s role in this has been raised as a problem because there are areas it’s pushing.
“The workshops that have been held have been very truncated and siloed and people are really not happy with it, or the IGD’s role.
A third senior industry source added: “There’s a fine line between representation and leadership in this game.
“When IGD was doing the latter in skills and employment it didn’t really matter, but some of this is very real and existential for some in the supply chain, hence why people are starting to question what IGD are up to.
“There is a concern they’ve crossed the line from information to influence.”
‘Unite and inspire’
However, when approached by The Grocer, IGD strongly defended its role in the strategy and stressed that its purpose was to “unite and inspire” the industry to develop a thriving food system
It stressed the FSAB was a “purely advisory body” with no policy or decision-making powers. It said the food strategy‘s stated aims had shown a balanced approach across four pillars: economic growth, health, nature and environment, and food security.
“As a charity, IGD exists to serve the public good,” Bradbury said.
“We are proud to support Defra as co-secretariat to the Food Strategy Advisory Board. Our role is clear: to convene, to listen, and to support, not to set policy.
“We believe that strong collaboration between industry, government, and civil society is essential to building a thriving food system that is more sustainable, healthier, and resilient for everyone. It’s clear that the industry must work more closely together, and that everyone has a part to play.”
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