The False Economy of Big Food: 2026 Update

In November 2024, the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission’s report on The False Economy of Big Food asked two questions: how much does the UK’s current food system cost the nation through diet-related ill health; and how much additional household expenditure would be required to ensure access to a healthy diet for everyone?

In this report, Professor Tim Jackson revisits these questions using updated evidence and statistics. He also takes into consideration new insights and research, published since the earlier work, highlighting the decline in health conditions and increase in food inequality within the country. 

Within this context, the report concludes that the 'hidden' health-related costs of our food system have intensified whilst the household spending needed to achieve healthy diets for all has only narrowed slightly. This updated evidence leaves the fundamental argument from the original report unchanged: the UK spends vast sums managing chronic illness while maintaining a food economy that makes healthy eating difficult and, for many households, unaffordable.

In light of this, the report recommends five policy principles for a new economy of food:

• treat food and health policy as economic policy
• establish affordable healthy food as a practical right
• reshape the food environment with enforceable standards and product transparency
• redirect financial flows to align commercial returns with public value
• build a cross-government food and health mission