Cold Chain Federation warns UK government of complacency over food supply risks

The Cold Chain Federation (CCF) has accused the UK government of complacency over risks to food supply, citing fuel shortages, cyber attacks and extreme weather, and urged ministers to make food system disruption an immediate national priority.

Phil Pluck, chief executive of the CCF, which represents businesses involved in supplying and transporting temperature-sensitive food and pharmaceuticals, said: "The potential for a major food crisis is as great now as it ever was." Tom Southall, deputy chief executive at the CCF, said Britain's food system has not been significantly tested since the second world war, a time when about half of the nation's cold stores were in public ownership. "This alludes to an element of complacency about how and where we store our food in the UK," Southall said.

Britain relies on overseas imports for more than a third of its food, most of it entering through four ports, making supplies particularly vulnerable to interruption. The continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz has interrupted global flows of fertiliser, necessary for half the world's food production, further raising fears over shortages. The CCF said international conflicts or hold-ups at the UK border could stop food flowing into the country, while fuel shortages or the failure of cold-storage sites because of flooding or extreme heat could cause gaps on supermarket shelves.

Many everyday grocery items — including meat, vegetables, fish, dairy products, bread, fruit and ready meals — rely on the cold chain, as well as medicines, vaccines and blood and plasma products. These products are chilled or frozen before being transported from 460 cold-storage sites by approximately 100,000 lorries on their journey from growers and manufacturers to food retailers, hospitality venues and public institutions such as schools, hospitals and care homes.

The CCF accused the government of failing to take steps to make the UK's food supply more resilient. "We are recognised as critical national infrastructure by Russian cybercriminals, not by the UK government," said Pluck, warning that companies in the cold chain have in recent months frequently faced attempted cyber-attacks.

Supplies of food items have been interrupted on several occasions in the past few years, including shortages of fresh produce such as tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers after poor weather in Europe and north Africa hit imports in February 2023 at the same time as UK and Dutch glasshouses cut back production amid soaring energy bills. Several UK supermarkets temporarily rationed sales of certain items in response.

The CCF has produced a white paper that calls for staff at the UK's large cold stores and transport hubs to be given permanent essential-worker status — which they temporarily had during the pandemic — and for the Cabinet Office to take overall responsibility for cold-chain resilience and security.

A government spokesperson said: "The food sector is one of the UK's 13 critical national infrastructure sectors, and the cold chain is important to food supply to increase adaptability to disruptions that can occur. We have committed to maintaining domestic food production; we are investing billions in the development of new technology to increase yields, develop climate-resilient crops and help farmers produce more food."