- New analysis commissioned by the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC) has found that the costs of Britain’s unhealthy food system amount to £268 billion every year – almost equivalent to the total annual UK healthcare spend.
- The current food system is costing 4 time more in health-related costs than it would cost to fix it.
- For the first time ever, direct and indirect costs of diet-related ill health have been calculated by combining healthcare costs, social care costs, welfare spending, productivity losses, and the human cost of chronic disease and identifying what proportion relates to food.
- This report will add to the weight of evidence being presented at a landmark ‘Citizens Food Summit’ on Tuesday 19 November. A cross section of business leaders, farmers, healthcare experts and citizens are coming together to call for urgent change to the way food works in the UK.
New analysis from economist, Professor Tim Jackson for the Food Farming and Countryside Commission reveals that the way we eat, grow and produce food is imposing a staggering financial burden on the British economy. The report, The False Economy of Big Food, outlines the financial consequences of the current system and the level of strain it puts on the public purse.
£268 billion is the food-related cost of chronic disease in the UK – calculated by combining healthcare (£67.5), social care (£14.3), welfare (£10.1), productivity (£116.4) and human cost (£60) of chronic disease attributable to the current food ecosystem. The UK’s entire annual healthcare spend totals £292 billion.
Prof Tim Jackson, Economist and the Director of CUSP, the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity, University of Surrey, said, “The connection between diet and health is often discussed, but the economics of that link are staggering. When we factor in the health impacts, we discover that the true cost of an unhealthy diet is more than three times what we think we’re paying for our food.
“Some of these hidden costs, like lost economic productivity, can be hard to see. But over a third – an astonishing £92 billion each year – is directly shouldered by governments and households to address the illnesses caused by a food system that’s, quite literally, making us sick. Most shocking of all is that solving this crisis would cost just a fraction of what we currently spend ignoring it.”
Ultra-processed foods constitute over half of the UK adult diet and almost two thirds of the adolescent diet. The UK has the highest proportion of ultra-processed foods in its diet among western nations, except for the US. That market has grown rapidly over the last two decades and is set to grow even faster (8.4% per year) over the next. That’s considerably higher than the projected growth rate for food as a whole (6.5%) and almost three times the projected growth rate in global GDP (3%).
The research calculates the incremental cost to the nation of providing the Government recommended Eat Well diet. This is found to be less than 25 per cent of the total cost of the unhealthy food disease burden at £57bn.
The analysis answers questions raised by citizens in FFCC’s Food Conversation, the UK’s largest-ever citizen deliberation on food systems. There is widespread concern about the unfairness of a system that squeezes farmers at one end and shoppers at the other. It’s not about bad choices or lack of interest, but a food system stacked against them and structured in favour of Big Food.
Sue Pritchard, CEO of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission said, “There is a clear and urgent economic case for changing the UK food system. The state of the nation’s health is not simply the result of under-investment in the NHS. It represents the longstanding failure to take seriously the critical relationship between food and farming, health and inequalities.
“As things are, Big Food companies are profiting from developing, making and marketing unhealthy food, leaving people with too many unhealthy options – while farmers struggle to make ends meet. Taking food systems seriously and laying the groundwork for a new economy of food and farming, government can join the dots, save public money and make a material difference to the quality of people’s lives.
“We have been talking to people across all four countries of the UK asking the simple question; what do we really want from food? The resounding response is change.”
At a first-in-kind Citizens Food Summit on 19 November farmers, health experts, businesses and citizens are expected to call for urgent reform to the UK’s food system to address public health, environmental, and economic issues.
Speakers include Dr Rowan Williams (Former Archbishop of Canterbury), Dr Chris Van Tulleken (Associate Professor at UCL), Andy Cato (farmer and Wildfarmed co-founder), Mary Portas OBE (Retail Expert, Broadcaster, Author, Activist and Founder of Portas Consultancy), Baroness Walmsley (Chair of the House of Lords’ Food, Diet and Obesity Committee), Dr Beccy Cooper MP (Labour MP for Worthing West and Health and Social Care Select Committee member) and more.
What should be done?
The report argues for enshrining the right to healthy food into law, establishing leadership for food across government, regulating the food environment and rebalancing power, redirecting money towards a healthier, greener, fairer and more resilient new food economy.
A Policy Framework to Transform the UK Food System
Root the right to healthy food in policy:
- Enshrine the right to healthy food in law
- Embed leadership across government
- Empower local producers
Regulate the food environment to prevent harm:
- Regulate Big Food
- Protect consumers
- Enforce penalties
Redirect the money:
- Tax the bad
- Resource the good
- Lead by example