Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how the cost of living crisis has affected ultra-processed food consumption in lower socioeconomic groups.

Defra has not made an assessment how the cost of living crisis has affected ultra-processed food consumption in lower socioeconomic groups.

The Government’s food strategy sets out the significant investments that are already being made across the food system, which is from farm to fork and catch to plate. This includes over £130 million joint funding with UK Research and Innovation in food systems research and innovation; £100 million in the Seafood fund; £270 million across the Farming Innovation Programme; a new programme of food system trials to encourage and enable healthier and more sustainable diets, and an £11 million investment supporting new research to drive improvements in understanding the relationship between food and health.

Government advice on a healthy, balanced diet is encapsulated in the UK’s national food model, the Eatwell Guide.