The Food Foundation Podcast

This week, Vera Zakharov, the local action coordinator for Sustain on why families with no recourse to public funds deserve access to Healthy Start, a vital nutritional safety net for their youngest children.As a letter from 148 signatories lands this week on the desk of the new Minister for Primary Care and Public Health, Andrea Leadsom outlining an immediate call for a consultation on extending Healthy Start to all low income families with no recourse to public funds, Vera explains why it's essential for the health of the nation.Click here to read the letter and here for the surveyClick here for the Food Foundation manifesto.

Danielle Glavin, Head of Communications at Chefs in Schools on the result of a survey which found that a third of families can no longer afford hot school lunchesFood and children’s charities are calling on the Government to urgently expand eligibility for free school meals after new research found that a third of families can no longer afford hot school lunches. The polling of parents across England, carried out by Survation for Chefs in Schools also found that 41% were providing less nutritious packed lunches for children because of rising food prices.The research also reveals:● 56% of parents are struggling to make ends meet● 58% feel the current Free School Meals system, where eligibility variesdepending on location and age, is unfair● 83% of parents wanted eligibility expanded● 62% said they would be more likely to vote for a party which promised toexpand free school mealsClick here for more information on the surveyClick here for the Food Foundation Manifesto

In the fifth episode of this series on the broken plate, the Food Foundation's annual report on the state of the nation's food system, Dominique Woolf, author of Dominique's Kitchen and winner of The Jamie Oliver Great Cookbook Challenge on Channel Four looks at the impact of sugary cereals and yoghurts clearly marketed at children on their dental health. Click here for the full Broken Plate reportClick here for the Food Foundation Manifesto

In this Pod Bite, Shona Goudie, policy and advocacy manager at the Food Foundation brings us up to speed on the Kids Guarantee Scheme and what supermarkets are doing to provide the 900,000 school children in the UK living in food insecurity with a healthy packed lunch.Click here for the Food Foundation manifesto.

Sue Pritchard, chief executive at the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission on the National Conversation About Food.Sue explains the ideas behind this project which gathers citizens to understand what people really think about food and talk about how we can fix food, fix the planet and fix our health. Click here for more information on FFCC's work and here for the Food Foundation's manifesto.

In the 4th episode of this 12-part series on the Food Foundation's annual Broken Plate report on the state of the nation's food system, guest presenter, TV chef and author of Cook Clever, Shivi Ramoutar tells us about the rise in fast food outlets in the UK. Leticija Petrovic, City Food Policy lead at The Food Foundation tells us how Birmingham City Council, one of those deprived areas, is transforming its local food system. Justin Varney, Director of Public Health and Birmingham City Council and Vicky Hemming, Head of Food at its Active Wellbeing Society talk about joined-up thinking in creating a healthy high street. And  Fran Bernhardt, Children's Food Campaign Coordinator at Sustain reports on some of the positive initiatives taken by city councils all over the country.Click here for the Food Foundation manifesto.

Sarah Buszard, responsible investor engagement lead for the Food Foundation on our recently released briefing that looks at how important educational and information provision interventions are as tools for improving dietary health.

Chief Executive of the Food Foundation, Anna Taylor visits Chengdu, capital of the Sichuan Province in China where she was invited to share experiences from the UK on making food environments more healthy. As in the UK, diets dominated by highly processed products are driving the rise in childhood overweight and obesity in China, and Anna was keen to learn about the challenges the Chinese are facing.In the company of Roland Kupka, UNICEF's regional nutrition advisor for East Asia Pacific, Fiona Watson, nutrition strategy consultant, China country office and Professor Kathryn Backholer co-director of the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition at Deakin University in Melbourne, they explore some of the digital initiatives that are transforming the city's food experience. They also find out what's happening in the city schools, and Nini’s Food Education Centre right in the heart of the city with its own forest food garden for children.

Sarah Pullen, lead on the food system team within the public health department at Birmingham City Council, tells us about the Birmingham Food Revolution and the importance of this co-creative strategy for our cities food system transformation.Find out more about the Birmingham Food strategy hereFind out more about the upcoming online events hereClick here for the Food Foundation Manifesto