British MPs say the government needs to recognise the risks to national food security from importing 40% of food, including a fifth of fruit and vegetables from countries at risk of "climate breakdown". The risks are heightened by uncertainty over trade after Brexit, according to a report from the Environmental Audit Committee.
Chair Mary Creagh said: "We are facing a food security crisis, exacerbated by uncertainty over the UK's future trading position with the EU and the rest of the world. Ministers must now publish all the information they hold from Operation Yellowhammer on food security and likely costs in the event of a no-deal Brexit.”
Imported fruit and vegetables
At Becketts Farm Shop just outside Birmingham, a closer look at the labels reveals that next to the English lettuce and tomatoes grown in Worcestershire are oranges from Spain and bananas from Jamaica. The farm's managing director Simon Beckett says they import goods because customers have come to expect to be able to buy the full range of fruit and vegetables all year round.
He believes a move away from reliance on food from abroad will have an impact: "Consumers will probably have to accept some form of change. Certain things they can get now won't be readily available, stuff we import. So bananas, for example, will not be readily available at all. But I'm sure that over time that agriculture will adapt, farmers always do. Glasshouses will go up and there'll be more of an annual production of produce."
Source: news.sky.com