Organiser's Description:
Join Feedback and Action on Sugar for a parliamentary panel event to discuss our latest research on why and how the government must tackle oversupply of sugar in order to effectively address overconsumption.
UK sugar supply is currently three times the recommended maximum intake, driving tooth decay which hospitalises over 600 children a week, and contributes to levels of obesity that cost the NHS around £6.5 billion a year.
Yet despite this damage, the UK uses around 100k hectares of prime agricultural land to grow sugar beet, providing just over 50% of the UK’s sugar supply. This is wreaking havoc on topsoil and impacting biodiversity through an increasing reliance on neonicotinoid pesticides. The UK also imports sugar, both in the form of beet and raw cane sugar.
To date, policies on sugar have focused mainly on reducing high sugar consumption while failing to address the oversupply of sugar flooding the market. So far, this strategy has not paid off: the final report from the government’s voluntary reformulation programme found an increase in total sugar sold of 7% across all foods included in the programme.
It is time to address supply and demand in an integrated way, freeing up land for the production of nutritious food to address the food security and cost of living crises, and reducing the health burden imposed by an oversupply of sugar.
Speakers:
- Rupa Huq MP
- Kate Quilton - Journalist and Presenter of ‘Food Unwrapped’
- Jessica Sinclair Taylor - Head of Policy, Feedback
- Dr Sandra White - Clinical Director for the Association of Dental Groups, and former Director of Dental Public Health for Public Health England
- Vicki Hird - Strategic Lead on Agriculture, The Wildlife Trusts
