Food sovereignty and food security : concepts and legal framework (original) (raw)

Thinking about ‘food security’: engaging with UK consumers

Critical Public Health, 2011

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Addressing the challenges of UK national food security

2008

Food security has risen up the political agenda, but sufficiency of supply is not the whole challenge say Dr David Barling, Professor Tim Lang and Rosalind Sharpe. Instead, we should look at ‘food capacity’ and the sustainability of our models of production and consumption.

A food Brexit: time to get real

2017

The implications of Brexit for food are potentially enormous. This verdict applies, whether there is a ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ Brexit. The UK food system, consumer tastes and prices have been thoroughly Europeanised. This will be impossible to cut out or back by March 2019 without enormous consequences. The UK food system faces real challenges on food security. This paper summarises 15 major issues on which Food Brexit has the potential to threaten UK food resilience and security: 1. Vision. What goals would any new post-EU food system have? Will these address the looming sustainability challenge which is a mix of ecosystems, social and public health challenges? 2. New food legislation will be needed. Will this be a transfer of EU legislation followed by the Secretary of State sitting with his or her 'delete’ button? 3. Food security. The UK’s home production has been steadily declining. The UK food system ought to be improving its resilience. It isn’t. It’s like the rabbit caught in t...

Food security in the United Kingdom: External supply risks

Food Policy, 2013

This paper examines some of the factors that contribute to an understanding of the notion of food security for a developed country like the UK. These include the level of self-sufficiency, the agricultural sector's dependence on imported inputs, and openness of the economy. An interesting parallel between the food security debate and that of security of energy supplies is also explored. A quantitative assessment of the security of external food supply, based on indices borrowed from the recent literature on energy security, shows that whilst the position of the UK may have worsened slightly, the level of external supply risk is very low. In consequence, security of food supply in the UK does not appear to be an issue that warrants alarm or undue concern, although the debate is likely to rumble on.

Brexit food safety legislation and potential implications for UK trade: the devil in the details

2019

The Government’s approach, as set out in the EU Withdrawal Act (2018), is to transfer EU law into UK law and address any ‘deficiencies’ in that law (such as references to EU institutions) by secondary legislation. • This has resulted in a large body of new food safety legislation that replaces EU legislative processes and institutions with those of the UK. • Detaching UK food safety regulation from EU bodies, while maintaining agricultural and food systems that are no less harmful to the environment and public health, is a challenging task. This is because the UK must develop capacities, competencies and procedures that have not been required or available domestically for many years.• It is thus implausible to suggest, as the Government argues, that new UK food safety laws constitute minor technical changes and avoid ‘new legal frameworks’.• Further, this new legislation gives ministers powers to change retained EU law without any primary legislation in the future. Only primary legi...

THE FIRST STAGE OF A LONG MARCH TO A SPECIAL LAW OF FOOD SECURITY, 2013

The fact that a concept is long in forming in the mind of Man and to bear fruit in his world does not mean that it is, in principle, unworthy of legal study. It is sometimes important to know how to look beyond legal concepts with deep historical roots, in order to distinguish what exactly makes new concepts singular and worthwhile. Gilles Martin, who explored the realm that slowly but surely became environmental law, saw that very early on. He showed the way. And he paid the price that explorers pay. It is a pleasure to pay tribute to him as we set out on a long march along a path that, as we will see, crosses his.

The impact of Brexit on the UK agri-food chain - A case of the empty supermarket shelf syndrome?

European Food and Feed Law Review, 2022

Brexit was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020. The UK is the only member state to have left the EU, after 47 years of having been a part of the union — the EU and its predecessor the European Communities (EC), which included the European Economic Community — since 1 January 1973. Following Brexit, EU law and the Court of Justice of the European Union no longer have primacy over British laws, except in select areas in relation to Northern Ireland. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 retains relevant EU law as domestic law, which the UK can now amend or repeal. This article is dedicated to a first analysis of the impact of Brexit on the food supply chain, taking into account the precariousness of the agreement on the status of Northern Ireland, the workers’ emigration and the future of British regulations, probably more competitive than that the old EU legislation.