Eating Better

The EU’s trade policy is currently the best example of successfully enforcing standards of environmental protection, animal welfare and climate resilience in trade. 

Rose Vouchers are a local, charity led project that helps families on low incomes to buy a good variety of fresh fruit and vegetables at local markets.

Sheffield has declared a nature emergency and is working to ensure that local planning decisions help nature to recover.   

Mandeville Primary school in Hackney weaves food education into the curriculum, teaching children how to grow, cook and eat fresh food that’s healthy and sustainable. Lessons take place on site at Hackney School of Food, bringing together chefs, gardners and educators to support children and their families to learn to cook from scratch.

Leeds City Council is normalising sustainable diets through public procurement and helping schools lower the carbon footprint of the meals they serve through a range of measures.

Waitrose’s farming commitments demonstrate its leadership in farm animal welfare and deliver “better.” It holds 14 Retailer Awards from Compassion in World Farming, including five Good Farm Animal Welfare Awards. Waitrose is ranked as tier one leaders by Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare.

Sainsbury’s has taken the first steps toward embedding a sustainable diets strategy across the business. The food retailer’s ‘Helping Everyone Eat Better’ brand commitment is focused on supporting healthier and more sustainable diets through a number of strategies.

Initially developed with Tesco, WWF is now working with five UK supermarkets to halve the environmental impact of UK baskets by 2030, using the WWF Basket metric to track progress.   

The Co-op is encouraging its customers to reduce meat consumption and eat more plants by pricing plant-based foods competitively against meat products. The retailer is doing this as part of its Climate Plan and Count Us In programme.

Eating Better’s public attitudes survey found almost three-quarters of the UK public would like to do more to support farmers that have high animal welfare and environmental standards.

With restaurants across the UK, Wagamama is helping people eat more plants by broadening its menu to make plant-rich dishes as tasty and accessible as possible. 

By making plant-based dishes sound just as appealing as meat ones, food service can nudge diners towards more sustainable choices when eating out.   

Denmark is one of only a few countries to have introduced dietar y guidelines ​​that focus on both population health and that of the planet. Recognising that citizens were eating too much meat, the Danish Government drew up a new food policy

The University of Winchester developed its sustainable food policy, LIFE (local, independent, fair and ethical) in 2010, to ensure that provenance and ethical standards were a driving factor for food purchasing.

A better food environment needs a more holistic, inclusive approach to policy making. The City of São Paulo has a programme called ‘Ligue os Pontos’ or “Connect the dots,” recognising that an integrated food and farming policy supports rural economies, while supplying the city with fresh, organic produce.

Plant-based cookery school, Made in Hackney has joined Eating Better, bringing a wealth of experience and expertise of community-led, scratch cooking, using local, seasonal and sustainable fruit and veg.

A new study shows retailers are failing on climate commitments by encouraging customers to buy more meat, which is bad for our health and the planet.

Tesco, Sainsbury's, Co-op, Aldi, M&S, Youngs and Greggs are among food businesses supporting the call for new, primary legislation to tackle the impact of our food system on climate, nature and health.

Defra has published its priorities for the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway, aimed at managing disease, improving the lives of all farmed animals and supporting farmers, financially, to make the transition to higher welfare.

Our Better By Half roadmap calls for sustainable food to be normalised in schools, hospitals, care homes and other public institutions, but convincing councils to improve procurement and shift to sustainable menus, requires effective lobbying and co-ordinated local action to put pressure on policymakers and procurement managers to make the necessary changes.

The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) has launched the ‘One Planet Plate’ campaign with backing from a host of famous chefs including Raymond Blanc, Asma Khan and Thomasina Miers. 

Jenny Chandler, self professed pulse addict, author of Pulse and Super Pulses, European Special Ambassador for the International Year of Pulses 2016 and chef for the HSI Forward Food Programme looks at the potential of putting more pulses on catering menus.

Eating Better’s new year began with a panel and screening event at The Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC) 2022, which was moved online due to Omicron cases rising steeply.

M&S and Hubbub have launched Sparking Change: The Challenge to support M&S customers to live healthier, more sustainable lives. This builds on the impact and learning from a pilot of the campaign we ran last year.