CHEMISTRY & INDUSTRY MAGAZINE, FEBRUARY 2009
Failure to take action to secure world food supplies could lead to a repeat of some of the problems caused by last year's hikes in food prices, according to food experts. Speaking at the launch of a new report on food security last month, the UK secretary of state for the environment, food and rural affairs, Hilary Benn, warned that 'Although prices are falling, what happened last year gave us a glimpse of what may happen if we don't change course.'
By 2050, Benn pointed out that the world's population will have grown to 9bn people - the equivalent of feeding another two Chinas. 'We have the technology to do this, but the perfect storm of water, climate change and oil [problems] threatens our ability to succeed.'
The new report*, a joint publication by the Royal Society of Chemistry and the institution of Chemical Engineers, claims that science is the vital ingredient needed to achieve a sustainable food supply. It calls for more investment in science and technology 'to provide solutions for the sustainable production of nutritious food'.
Also present at the meeting, chair- designate on the Council of Food Policy Advisors, Suzi Leather, added that modern diets will have to change to reflect the problems faced in meeting the world's impending food crisis. Consumers will need 'to learn to adopt a low impact healthy diet', Leather said, pointing to the possibility that foods with high greenhouse gas emissions may be more expensive. Diets in the future will need to be 'green, healthy and fair,' she said.