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| Monday, August 31, 2009 | 09:30 |
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Company News
Time to Turn Vision Into Action, Say Manufacturers
(Drinks Media Wire). Responding to the Government’s ‘Food 2030’ paper published today (Monday), Andrew Kuyk, Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Director of Sustainability and Competitiveness, said:
“It’s great that the Government is waking up to the importance of these debates. Along with our food chain partners, we have been pressing Ministers for some time to make sustainable food production a top Government priority in its own right - so the publication of Food 2030 is a step in the right direction.
“But we need a genuine long-term vision and strategy for farming and food production – one that is designed to ensure the nation’s food security against the combined effects of climate change, higher global demand and increasing pressure on finite resources. The published food security assessment looks only at the next five to 10 years, which is not sufficient to reflect the longer term risks we already know are out there.
“Food manufacturers must play a leading role in developing any such strategy. As well as being a vital component of the economy, we are critical to the future success of the UK food chain. Without a competitive UK food manufacturing base, UK farmers would lack a ready market, consumers would be more dependent on imported supplies and there would be less resilience across the food chain.
“Our industry is already leading the way on many of the difficult issues facing society. For example: our members are working under FDF’s Five-fold Environmental Ambition to make a real difference to the environment on issues such as water efficiency, waste reduction and reducing carbon emissions. We are also helping to improve the health of the nation through our groundbreaking work to change the recipes of favourite British brands.
“But it’s time we started to turn the debate into action. Given that it is now a year since the Cabinet Office published its Food Matters report, we would urge Government to accelerate its efforts to work with manufacturers and our food chain partners to develop a food vision and strategy that takes full account of our economic, strategic and social importance to the UK.”
For more information, please contact Keren McCarron, Sarah Lovell or Rebecca Wilhelm on 020 7420 7132/31/40.
Notes to Editors
The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is the voice of the food and drink manufacturing industry - the UK’s biggest manufacturing industry. It is a vital high value manufacturing sector offering world class capabilities in areas of production, logistics, sales, marketing and innovation – which combine to create annual Gross Value Added of £20bn. It employs 440,000 people directly and indirectly account for a further 1.2 million jobs in the food chain. There are 7,000 enterprises in our sector generating £72.6bn of turnover. We are highly innovative – spending £300m on R&D and launching 8,000 new products every year. Top-performing food companies can expect around 15% of growth to come from innovation. We are a vital export sector – selling products worth more than £9bn a year to overseas customers (including alcohol that figure would be £13.6bn) – much of it processed in some way. For more information about FDF and the industry we represent visit: www.fdf.org.uk.
Defra Press office has issued this story with an embargo of 06.00 on Monday. They intend it for broadcast media on Monday morning and for Tuesday’s papers.
Contact
| Name: Nicki Hunt |
| E-mail: Nicki.Hunt@fdf.org.uk |
| Web: http://www.fdf.org.uk |
| Company: Food and Drink Federation (FDF) |
| Address: 6 Catherine Street - WC2B 5JJ London |
| Country: UNITED KINGDOM |
| Phone: +44 (0)20 7420 7132 |
| Fax: +44 (0)20 7836 0580 |
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