Right to Food - Foodrise

What's the problem?

Food is a fundamental human right – yet millions across the UK are struggling to access it.

In 2024 alone, around 8 million adults and 3 million children went without access to enough safe, nutritious food. That’s 15% of UK households in one of the world’s richest countries.

People often don’t choose to eat unhealthy food — they’re being priced out of access to healthy options. The most deprived fifth of the UK households would need to spend 45% of their disposable income to follow the government’s recommended diet, rising to 70% for those households with children (from The Food Foundation’s The Broken Plate 2025 report). And in many areas, there aren’t even shops that sell affordable, healthy food. The system makes good nutrition a luxury, not a choice, which has devastating impacts on health, dignity, and daily life.

And still, our leaders are not taking the action we need.

Food remains side-lined in local and national policy, with responsibility scattered across departments like health, economy, and tourism, and no one owning the bigger picture. Instead, we get quick fixes like food surplus redistribution from supermarkets, which don’t tackle the root causes.

We need bold leadership and real change that recognises food as a right, not just a commodity.

20%

of the UK's most deprived households would need to spend 45% of their disposable income to follow the government's recommended diet

Our solutions

Putting food in focus

We’re pushing for food to be placed at the heart of policy decisions, and for integrated governance that tackles root causes — not just short-term fixes. It’s time to confront the big issues: the lack of UK-grown fresh produce, strained and insecure supply chains and trade, and the dominance of meat and dairy industries.

Increasing access to nutritious food

Through initiatives like our Queen of Greens mobile greengrocer, which makes fresh produce accessible and affordable to communities across Liverpool and Knowsley, we are working from the ground-up to ensure food that is good for people and the planet is accessible to all, regardless of income or circumstance.

Our Gleaning Network empowers community groups nationwide to tackle food waste hands-on by rescuing fresh, surplus fruit and veg from farms where it would otherwise be wasted and delivering it to those who need. In doing so we are bringing an age-old practice of gleaning into the 21st century.

Food anchored in communities

Our work is place-based and rooted in communities, because real change starts with understanding people’s lives and contexts. Through projects like Healthy Food Healthy Planet — part of the Food Voices Coalition — we listen first, then act. We don’t impose solutions; we build them with communities, based on their needs, cultures, and realities.

Connecting grassroots and grass tips

We drive systemic change by turning grassroots insights into policy action. Our Used By report, rooted in community voices and experiences, reveals why food banks shouldn’t be a dumping ground for supermarket waste and offers policy recommendations to tackle root causes.