Food Supply: Emergencies
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to develop food storage and distribution capacity for use in national emergencies.
Answered by Dame Angela Eagle
The UK does not have national food stockpiles or current plans to create these. The UK has a resilient food supply chain that is well equipped to deal with potential disruption. This high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources including strong domestic production and imports through stable trade routes.
Defra published the second edition of the UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) in December 2024. The UKFSR sets out an analysis of statistics relating to food security, serving as an evidence base to inform Government policy and public understanding. It tracks trends in domestic production, import reliance, inflation, and supply chain. The next UKFSR will be published in 2027.
The annual UK Food Security Digest is published in the years between the UK Food Security Report, with the first one released in December 2025. It covers a selected range of priority indicators that are of high interest and/or highly variable.
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