The UK’s Plant-Based Food Alliance (PBFA) has called on the country’s newly elected Labour government to prioritise plant-based diets to improve health and sustainability.
The PBFA points out that the government’s commitment to Net Zero will not be possible without transforming the food system, since animal agriculture accounts for a significant proportion of emissions. Consequently, the PBFA has made six requests:
- Promote the role of plant-based foods in sustainable and healthy diets — Policymakers at all levels of government should work to increase the public’s consumption of sustainable, healthy foods, and climate and health strategies should include plant-based foods.
- Develop a plant-based action plan — The UK could follow in the footsteps of Denmark and develop a plan to ensure it becomes a leader in the plant-based sector. This could include R&D funding, support for farmers to grow crops for plant-based products, and investments in new on-farm plant-based production facilities.
- Update the Eatwell guide — The Eatwell guide, which provides nutritional recommendations, should be updated to align with the latest evidence on the health and sustainability benefits of plant-based foods.
- Prioritise sustainable foods in public procurement — The Government Buying Standards and School Food Standards could be updated to ensure food sold in public sector catering meets health, sustainability, and animal welfare metrics. This would be linked to the updated Eatwell guide. According to the PBFA, there should be at least one nutritious plant-based meal on public sector menus every day, and the availability of fruit and vegetables should be increased.
- These standards should be enshrined in law, and could be made more dynamic so local businesses and farms can benefit from procurement contracts. A factsheet published by the Coller Animal Law Forum in May found that public procurement policies could help steer the food system away from intensive animal agriculture.
- Grow more fruits, vegetables, pulses, and fungi in the UK — a plan should be developed to reduce the UK’s dependence on imported plant-based foods. This should include innovation and infrastructure to help scale supply chains.
- Level the playing field for plant-based products — Plant-based labelling restrictions (such as those preventing dairy alternatives from using protected dairy terminology) should be reviewed. This is particularly important to allow a path to market for fermentation-derived products containing real dairy proteins produced without cows. Additionally, the government should help the retail and out-of-home sectors achieve price parity between plant-based and animal-based foods.
“The Labour Government is in a strong position to create structures that allow the country to harvest the abundant health, economic, and environmental benefits of increasing plant-based food consumption,” said Marisa Heath, CEO of the PBFA. “In particular, a coherent food strategy that ticks health and climate goals, like the one introduced last year in Denmark, will support consumers to make better choices, help the industry innovate, and ensure that UK farmers also benefit from a booming plant-based market.”
