Food Foundation’s Broken Plate 2026 report: comment

“The increasingly unaffordable cost of a healthy UK diet is hugely concerning and highlights the vulnerability of the nation’s health to climate related impacts.  

“Our own analysis shows that food prices are on track to be 50% higher by November compared to 2021, in part due to extreme weather driven by climate change. [1] We also know that global crises – such as those caused by climate-related shocks and the current oil blockade in the Middle East – send food prices shooting up, before they resettle at a new and higher baseline. [2] As the Broken Plate Report 2026 shows, many Brits are already not accessing essential nutrients, so anything that pushes healthy food further out of reach deepens those health inequalities.  

“Healthy UK diets are also vulnerable because of our reliance on climate stressed countries for a significant volume of our fruit and vegetables. For example, tomatoes alone account for around 13% of our vegetable consumption, so are hugely important nutritionally, but 80% are imported. Just three countries – Italy, Morocco and Spain – account for more than half of these imports, but all face significant water and heat stress.  

“Nations most exposed and least resilient to climate change-driven extremes are also the source of 13% of UK food imports overall, worth £8.9 billion. This is especially concerning with a powerful El Niño event now confirmed as 80% likely in the coming months by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). [3]

“What we are eating is also contributing to those climate shocks that send food prices higher: As the Food Foundation report shows, UK diets are responsible for an estimated 204km2 of deforestation in other countries, with beef and dairy contributing the most due to their reliance on imported soy feed. That land footprint extends here too – around 40% of the UK’s productive arable land is currently used to grow feed for livestock, [4] yet our farmers have suffered with three of England’s worst harvests on record in the past five years due to extreme weather driven by climate change." [5]