Background to the Food and Fairness Inquiry

Just how fair is our food? News of hunger, obesity and bumper supermarket profits assail us over our Fairtrade breakfast brew. The world’s not perfect, but aren’t we doing enough? As the global food crisis and tight family budgets make this quandary sharper than ever, a major public inquiry wants your help.

We’ll be asking: how fair is the global food system? Who are the winners and losers? Who is responsible for making it fairer? Whether you work in farming or food, in business, policy or campaigning – or simply eat their products – you can give evidence until the end of 2009.

From fair trade to global hunger, food has seen some of the boldest efforts to tackle inequality, and some of the worst cases of exploitation. We want as many people as possible to contribute to our inquiry, and help increase the profile and clarity of debates about food and fairness.

We want to hear first-hand experience from consumers and people working in food and farming, and relevant research that sheds light on these questions and more.

The Food and Fairness Inquiry, commissioned by the Food Ethics Council, is led by a committee that includes leading figures from sectors and communities with a stake in food and farming.

Once the committee has received all the submitted evidence, it will examine what lies behind success stories and failures, and seek to understand the responsibilities of the British government, businesses and public in promoting a fair global food system. The Inquiry’s findings and recommendations will highlight consensus and differences among the members.

The Inquiry has been collecting written evidence since May 2009 and held public hearings in September, October and November, reporting in the spring of 2010.

You can download the terms of reference for the food and fairness inquiry and the report of the meeting at which the Food Ethics Council commissioned the Inquiry.
You can also read the biographies of committee members in the attached documents.

For further information please contact Santi Ripoll on 01273 766 654 or at santiago@foodethicscouncil.org.