This policy pathway, produced in collaboration with Green Alliance and The Good Food Institute, outlines a series of pragmatic and easily implementable policy recommendations for the government to include in the forthcoming Food Strategy.

These actions would give people much greater access to healthier and more sustainable plant-rich diets in a way which would improve the nation’s health, maintain our food security whilst bolstering our nutrition security (by producing more fruit, vegetables and legumes), and support the livelihoods of our farmers.

Producing and eating more plant-rich diets would bring an array of health, environmental and economic benefits to the UK. With a new government and a new food strategy underway, now is an opportune time to act and deliver a UK food system that supports both people and the planet.

policy brief

https://foodfoundation.org.uk/sites/default/files/2025-04/Low Hanging Fruit Policy Pathway.pdf

Executive summary — Low hanging fruit: A policy pathway for boosting uptake of plant-rich diets (Food Foundation, Green Alliance, GFI Europe, 2025)

Context and stakes

• Diet-related disease is a leading cause of preventable ill-health in the UK, with overweight and obesity costing the economy £98bn per year. :contentReference[oaicite:0]
• Affordability is a binding constraint: in the most deprived quintile, a government-recommended healthy diet would require 45% of disposable income, rising to 70% for households with children; only 58% of the lowest-income decile meet fruit and veg recommendations vs 88% on higher incomes. :contentReference[oaicite:1]
• Modest shifts deliver large gains: moving toward plant-rich foods and eating about one rasher of bacon less per day could cut diet-related deaths and disability by ~10% (~6,000 fewer deaths and 28,857 fewer years lived with disability annually). :contentReference[oaicite:2]
• The Climate Change Committee advises that plant-rich dietary shifts support legal climate targets and yield nearly £1bn in health benefits. :contentReference[oaicite:3]

Food-system emissions and land use

• Food is ~20% of UK domestic emissions (~30% including imports). Agriculture could be the #2 source by 2040 and #1 by 2050. Livestock accounts for ~65% of agricultural emissions, uses 85% of UK farmland, yet provides 32% of calories. :contentReference[oaicite:4]

Market signals are misaligned

• Only 2% of media ad spend promotes fruit & veg, while 10.6% of supermarket multibuys are processed meat vs 5% for fruit & veg. :contentReference[oaicite:5]
• Public procurement is a major lever: ~£5bn/year is spent on public-sector catering. :contentReference[oaicite:6]

Citizen demand and farmer pressures

• 57% of people are open to healthier, more sustainable diets; 4 in 10 intend to increase plant-based foods (54% among under-35s). :contentReference[oaicite:7]
• >60% of British farmers are worried about their future; horticulture already contributes >£5bn/year and >50,000 jobs. :contentReference[oaicite:8]

Trade, imports, and alternative proteins

• The UK imports ~£5.8bn of meat annually and ~£7.8bn of animal feed, externalising environmental impacts abroad. :contentReference[oaicite:9]
• The alternative-protein sector could reach £6.8bn/year by 2035 and create 25,000 jobs. :contentReference[oaicite:10]

Policy pathway — near-term, pragmatic actions

1. Grow demand and unlock efficiencies

• Mandatory public reporting by large food businesses on standardised health and sustainability metrics (including Scope 3, healthy-sales share, animal vs plant protein sales) to de-risk investment and enable smarter policy. :contentReference[oaicite:11]
• Strengthen procurement rules (including School Food Standards): make health, sustainability and environmental standards legally binding across £5bn of public catering; remove high-emission food requirements (e.g., 3-day meat minimum in schools); prioritise British produce. :contentReference[oaicite:12]
• Advertising reform: restrict HFSS advertising across physical platforms; invest in campaigns for British fruit, veg, beans and pulses (e.g., building on Veg Power). :contentReference[oaicite:13]
• Update the Eatwell Guide (last updated 2016) at least every 5 years to reflect climate-and-nature evidence. :contentReference[oaicite:14]
• Close the HFSS multibuy loophole so processed meats are covered from Oct 2025 restrictions. :contentReference[oaicite:15]
• Expand and uprate Healthy Start (index to inflation; include fortified, unsweetened plant-based milks) to reduce barriers for low-income families. :contentReference[oaicite:16]
• Review VAT options to incentivise plant-rich, healthier out-of-home meals. :contentReference[oaicite:17]

2. Expand production of healthy, sustainable foods

• Ambitious edible-horticulture growth plan across the UK to expand fruit/veg/bean/pulse production and reduce import dependence. :contentReference[oaicite:18]
• £30m UKRI plant-based innovation fund with Defra to accelerate taste, affordability, convenience, nutrition and domestic supply chains. :contentReference[oaicite:19]
• Implement a Land Use Framework aligning farm support with climate/nature targets and horticulture expansion. :contentReference[oaicite:20]
• Invest £3.1bn/year (England) in farming budgets to ensure fair farm incomes while delivering environmental targets. :contentReference[oaicite:21]
• Strengthen supply-chain regulation (expand Groceries Code Adjudicator remit to intermediaries) for fairer, longer-term farmer contracts. :contentReference[oaicite:22]
• Protect UK trade standards by enshrining core environmental and animal-welfare minima for all agri-food imports to avoid undercutting domestic producers. :contentReference[oaicite:23]

Bottom line
A coordinated “farm-to-fork” package that makes plant-rich diets appealing, accessible, and affordable can deliver measurable health gains (including ~10% fewer diet-related deaths/disability), climate progress (tackling a ~20–30% emissions slice), economic value (£6.8bn potential in alt-protein; £1bn health benefits), and resilience for UK growers and public services. :contentReference[oaicite:24]

Technical report

https://foodfoundation.org.uk/sites/default/files/2025-04/LHF Technical report final_0.pdf

Executive summary — Low hanging fruit: A policy pathway for boosting uptake of plant-rich diets (technical report)

Bottom line: The report assembles evidence for a near-term policy package to shift UK diets toward plant-rich foods by fixing data gaps, marketing distortions, public procurement rules, affordability barriers, supply-chain fairness, and under-investment in UK plant-based innovation. Headline numbers below.

Demand is real but access lags

• ~25% of UK households regularly buy plant-based alternatives; 38% of adults intend to eat more plant-based in 2025 (54% among under-35s). Yet only 48% say plant-based options are readily available vs 84% for meat/dairy. :contentReference[oaicite:0]

Data transparency: current reporting is thin

• Of 36 major UK food businesses analysed, only 28% set and disclose sales-based targets for healthier vs HFSS foods; just 11% (all retailers) do so for fruit & veg. Only Lidl GB and Compass Group UK & I disclose targets to raise plant-protein share. :contentReference[oaicite:1]

Marketing is skewed toward junk; public campaigns work

• 36% of food & soft-drink ad spend goes to confectionery/snacks/desserts/soft drinks; just 2% to fruit & veg. :contentReference[oaicite:2]
• Veg Power’s “Eat Them to Defeat Them” has engaged 1.7m children in 5,000+ schools; by 2023 51% of UK families knew the ad and parents report 1.36m children ate more veg as a result. :contentReference[oaicite:3]

Promotions favour meat; plant-based misses out

• In three big UK supermarkets (Jul 2023), 21.5% of multibuy deals were on meat/dairy vs 4.5% on fruit/veg; 2.2% were on plant-based alternatives (and 80% of those were non-HFSS). :contentReference[oaicite:4]

Public procurement: big lever with clear savings

• Public sector food procurement totals ~£5bn/year; GBSF standards aren’t mandatory in schools where ~60% of public-sector food spend occurs. :contentReference[oaicite:5]
• NYC hospitals (11 sites) made plant-based the default: £0.46 saving per meal in 2023. If the NHS (~199m meals/year) reached 55% plant-based uptake, savings ≈ £54.9m/year. :contentReference[oaicite:6]
• A peer-reviewed estimate suggests an EAT-Lancet-aligned diet would be 17% cheaper than the UK’s 2017 average diet; accounting for health/climate costs and halving food waste, 35% cheaper. :contentReference[oaicite:7]

Affordability & access for families

• 23.6% of households with children under 4 faced food insecurity (Jan 2024); among food-insecure households, 57.2% cut back on fruit purchases and 41.6% on vegetables. :contentReference[oaicite:8]
• Healthy Start payments have been frozen since Apr 2021; meanwhile inflation has risen. SACN’s 2024 draft advises that fortified, unsweetened soya/almond/oat drinks are acceptable alternatives to cow’s milk for children ≥1y and adults; yet plant-based milks average 67% higher price than dairy milk. :contentReference[oaicite:9]

UK horticulture & resilience are slipping

• Domestic vegetable production fell 13% (to 2.2 Mt) between 2021–2023; fruit production fell 12% (to 663 kt) between 2022–2023. :contentReference[oaicite:10]
• 32% of fruit/veg imports came from climate-vulnerable regions in 2013 (+60% vs 1987). ~40% of UK fruit/veg is grown on lowland peat, the UK’s highest CO₂-emitting land use—requiring careful transition. :contentReference[oaicite:11]

Innovation funding gap

• Plant-based meat in UK supermarkets can be 73% more expensive per 100g than equivalent meat, limiting uptake (especially for lower-income groups). :contentReference[oaicite:12]
• UK invested ~£21m (2020–May 2024) in plant-based meat & dairy R&I; the report proposes a £30m UKRI fund focused on taste, affordability, convenience, nutrition and UK supply chains. :contentReference[oaicite:13]
• International peers are scaling faster: Denmark £66.5m over five years plus a national plant-based action plan; Canada’s Protein Industries Canada totals CAD $353m (~£191m) 2018–2028. :contentReference[oaicite:14]

Supply-chain fairness for farmers

• Cereal-farm business income fell by almost three-quarters in 2023/24; supermarket-supplier farmers often earn <1p profit on common items. The Groceries Code Adjudicator has limited scope; only 2 investigations (2015–2022) and 7 staff. :contentReference[oaicite:15]

Core policy pathway (evidence-backed)

1. Mandate public reporting (scope 3, healthy sales, plant vs animal protein share). 2) Reform advertising (tighten HFSS limits; fund pro-veg campaigns). 3) Update the Eatwell Guide with sustainability. 4) Close HFSS promotion loopholes (e.g., processed meats). 5) Strengthen procurement (make standards mandatory; remove weekly meat-minimums). 6) Improve Healthy Start (eligibility, value indexation; include fortified plant milks). 7) Explore fiscal levers (VAT tests for health/climate). 8) Back UK production (horticulture strategy, peat transition). 9) Create a £30m plant-based innovation fund and build UK processing capacity (e.g., pea fractionation). 10) Tighten supply-chain regulation (fair dealing beyond retail; resource the GCA). :contentReference[oaicite:16]