In January 2010, DEFRA produced a handy assessment of the UK’s food security in a helpful matrix.  The assessment covers issues under the headings: Global Availability, Global Resource Sustainability, UK Availability and Access, UK Food Chain Resilience, Household Food Security, Safety and Confidence. The matrix describes and scores each category using a traffic light system of green, amber and red. If you would like an abbreviated overview of UK’s food security with bullet-point summaries then this matrix is likely to be of use.

One critique is that the matrix does not integrate international food insecurity into the UK’s food security ratings.  For example, although the international fish stocks are rated as “very unfavourable” there does not seem to be a reflection of this reality in the UK’s food security scores. So, while this is a useful tool for getting an idea of the state of specific issues its weakness is that it does not integrate its findings.

The matrix can be found here.

*It is recommended that the matrix be printed on A3 paper.