Food Ethics Council

Fri May 09 2008

The Food Ethics Council challenges government, business and society to make wise choices that lead to better food and farming. Uniquely, we focus on how choices are made and we champion decisions that are:
  • Principled – aiming to benefit people, animals and the planet, and to treat each fairly and with dignity.
  • Informed – based on sound knowledge and diverse experience, but ready for surprises.
  • Inclusive – involving and answerable to the people they affect.
We are a charity and we work as an independent think tank and advisory body. Our fifteen council members bring a broad range of expertise to our work, from academic research through to practical knowledge of farming, business and policy.


Latest news


Flying food - responsible retail in the face of uncertainty

The question of air freight has raised the temperature of the ‘food miles’ versus ‘fair miles’ debate in the UK.  Greenhouse gas emissions from flying are pitted against benefits for poverty alleviation in poorer countries that produce fruit and vegetables for the UK market. 

May 7 2008

Ethics - a toolkit for food businesses

We have published a toolkit that introduces key ideas in ethics and provides a framework for making better decisions. Download it here.

April 28 2008

Where next for ethical labelling?

Labelling and accreditation systems such as Fairtrade have played a central part in raising the profile of ethical issues in food and farming. Yet debate rages over their future role. Moves towards carbon footprinting and labels, and interest in treating water the same way, have made this a particularly urgent issue.

April 2 2008

Food prices – time for a rethink?

With countries across Asia stockpiling food staples and banning rice exports, increasing concern about the use of farmland for biofuel production, and drought and floods hitting farmers across the world, the summer edition of our magazine takes a hard look at the causes and consequences of rising food prices.

April 2 2008

Food ethics for industry

The Food Ethics Council has teamed up with the Food and Drink Innovation Network to run a one day seminar on Food Ethics on 16th April 2008.

March 4 2008

Water - the ethics of efficiency

The world uses 200,000,000 litres of water a second to grow its food – like gulping down the Amazon River day in, day out. By 2025 an estimated 1.8 billion people will be living without enough water to survive. We need to change how we use water, but is simply using less the answer? In the latest edition of Food Ethics we find out.

March 4 2008

Quizzing Tesco, Cadbury and HSBC on environment

We have brought leading food industry figures together for a panel discussion at Oxford University’s major conference on Food Security and Environmental Change, on 3rd April.

February 7 2008
business forum image

Work in food or farming? Join our Business Forum.

Food Ethics magazine

Think critically. Keep informed. Read our magazine.

Where next for ethical labelling?

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