The Food and Drink Sector Council (FDSC) is a formal industry partnership with government. The Council was set up to address strategic issues and seize opportunities across the UK agri-food chain. Key priorities for the FDSC are: the Future of the Food System; Sustainability; Workforce; and Food Supply Resilience. 

The Council brings together senior leaders from across the food chain including FDF’s CEO Karen Betts and FDF members Nestlé UK&I and PepsiCo. A full list of members can be found here. Beyond the main Council, businesses can get involved at a more detailed level through various working groups. Industry engagement is vital as we work to build a stronger voice for the concerns of the industry.  If you are interested in getting involved, please contact Caroline Keohane.

 

Updates & Milestones

FDSC May 2023 Meeting Summary

The Food and Drink Sector Council had their last meeting on Wednesday 24th May 2023.  The agenda included a discussion on the Food Data Transparency Partnership, the Sustainability / Net Zero Sub-Committee and the Farm to Fork Summit at No. 10.

A full summary of the meeting can be found here. The next meeting of the Council is scheduled for Wednesday 13th September.

Background

The Food and Drink Sector Council (FDSC) is a joint government and industry body formed in 2018 to create a more productive and sustainable food and drink sector.

The FDSC is sponsored in government and formally chaired by the Minister of State for Food, Farming and Fisheries, Mark Spencer MP. In July 2022, Tim J Smith CBE was appointed as the Industry Chair.

The members of the Food and Drink Sector Council are senior industry individuals with wide experience from across the sector. The Council will be a mechanism for the industry to engage with government in order to increase the sector’s productivity. The membership includes representatives from across the entire food chain, covering farming, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, wholesale and SMEs.

The current priorities of the Council include the Future of Food, Sustainability-Net Zero, Food Supply Resilience and Workforce. This will include engaging with the Food Data Transparency Partnership, a multi-year partnership between government, industry, academic and civil society which aims to improve the availability, accessibility, and policy-use of data across key health, animal welfare and sustainability metrics. 

Related to workforce, the Council will be taking forward the recommendations from the recent Independent Review into Labour Shortages in the Food Supply Chain led by John Shropshire.  We expect this work to begin in Autumn 2023.

The Sector Council commissions and oversees policy work in areas of interest to the whole food supply chain. These are led by working groups that report back to the full Council.

FDF’s CEO, Karen Betts has an ex-offico seat on the Council, and FDF members Pepsico and Nestle both sit on the Council to represent the Food and Drink Manufacturing Sector.

For more information about the Council and how to get involved please contact Caroline Keohane.