Sustainable food : eleventh report of session 2010-12, Vol. 1: Report, together with formal minutes and oral and written evidence

Obesity and diet related illness is on the increase, fewer young people are being taught how to cook or grow food, and advertisers are targeting kids with junk food ads.

At the same time the world faces growing fears about food security as the global population increases, more people eat meat and dairy, and the climate destabilises as a result of forest destruction and fossil fuel use.

The Committee, in summary, recommends: stricter advertising limits on junk food marketing; food skills, such as cooking and gardening, should be part of the curriculum in all schools; new national planning policy guidance for Local Authorities should ensure communities have access to healthy food and land to grow their own produce; Government Buying Standards for food must be improved on meat and dairy and extended to cover hospitals, prisons and schools; the Office of Fair Trading's remit should be amended so supermarkets are not blocked from cooperating on sustainability initiatives; and the scope for simple and consistent labelling on the sustainability of food products should be examined.

The report warns that there is no overarching food strategy in place. Defra's 'Green Food Project' due in June examines only part of the food system and the focus on 'sustainable intensification' risks ignoring wider social and health implications.

The UK does not currently have the basic science base to deliver more sustainable food and relying on markets to identify and to direct where the research is needed is likely to fail.

An independent body to research GM crops and their impacts should also be established