Business Forum: tomorrow's food environment?

Business Forum: tomorrow’s food environment?

In-person Business Forum dinner meeting

In 2025, our Business Forum is exploring what a good food environment in 2030 looks like and what is needed to get there. In this first meeting of 2025, we will ask what should tomorrow’s food environment look like and how different that will be to what we see today.

This is not just about which products will be on retail shelves and foodservice menus – although that is an important part of it. We will also dive into the future of food culture, the role of food advertising & marketing, planning, regulation, the future of ultra-processed food and more. Much of the focus to date has (understandably) been on public health and nutrition, but surely we need to extend this and incorporate issues such as equitable access to good food, animal welfare, and impacts on climate and nature too.

Which trends do you want to see shift radically in the future? Are we at the tipping point of moving away from putting too much emphasis on individual choice and instead moving towards an acceptance that we need better options? How can we collectively shape a vision for our food environment where there are fairer, healthier options available and people are empowered & engaged?

This in-person dinner meeting in central London will provide an opportunity for participants to:

• Consider different food environment settings and how they might change in the next five years
• Discuss what kinds of food environment might be desirable in 2030
• Learn from how others are trying to shape healthier and more equitable food environments in the future and what the role for food businesses, if any, might be
• Consider practical steps and collaborative opportunities to shape food environments, including whether and how to link with the UK government’s planned new food strategy

Speakers include Sarah Newton (formerly Sarah Pullen), Food System Lead, Birmingham City Council, who will share insights from pioneering work via the Birmingham Food Revolution; Professor Christina Vogel, Director, Centre for Food Policy and Professor of Food Policy, City St George’s, University of London; and Nikita Sinclair, Co-Head, Children’s Health and Food Programme, Impact on Urban Health. Dan Crossley, Executive Director of Food Ethics Council, will chair the meeting.