The aim of this work is to look behind the social problems faced in food and farming, to ask why and how the UK food system seems to have achieved efficiency at the expense of justice. It asks the question: what would our food system look like if fairness, as well as food safety and security of supply, had been a policy priority?

nef is using an analytical framework based on institutions and risk. This framework assumes that the institutions that shape and control the UK food system act, as in other systems, to distribute risk to the benefit of some parties and the disadvantage of others. We focus on three types of social injustice present in the UK food system: diet-driven ill health, worker exploitation, and the power asymmetries that distort and obscure relationships in the chain. By identifying and investigating the institutions distributing risk in these areas, we can begin to map a systemic response to social injustice in the food system. We hope that a model developed for application in the UK could be adapted for use at other levels: local, regional, global.

nef work on food and social justice is funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. For more information contact Lindy Sharpe at

lindy.sharpe@neweconomics.org, or telephone (+44 020 7820 3391).