Mapping Southampton's food system: Towards a healthier and more sustainable future

Abstract

This policy brief is the result of a collaboration between the University of Southampton School of Biological Sciences and Southampton City Council. This work intends to shine a light on food inequalities at a local level, mapping the food system and listening to the voices of the community to inform policy.

Locally, almost 1 in 3 businesses in Southampton are part of the food system. These provide over 6,700 jobs and contribute up to £487.3 million to Southampton’s economy per year. However, over 40% of local people have reported experiencing food insecurity and rates of childhood obesity are significantly higher in Southampton than the average for England.

The food system is also linked to a third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, we must act now to influence and improve the sustainability and health of our food system and deliver numerous economic, environmental and social co-benefits.

The term ‘food system’ refers to the inter-connections between how we: produce, process, transport, buy, consume, and dispose of the food we eat and the way this affects us as individuals and communities. A food system is considered sustainable when it delivers food security and nutrition for all in such a way that the economic, social, and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generations are not compromised.

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ORCID for Jenny Baverstock: orcid.org/0000-0003-1777-2894

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