The Broken Plate 2025: The State of the Nation’s Food System

By:
The Food Foundation
Date:
2026

This annual report by The Food Foundation provides a comprehensive assessment of the UK food system, examining how the food environment shapes diets, health outcomes, and environmental sustainability. Using a set of food environment and outcome metrics, the report shows that unhealthy and unsustainable foods remain more affordable, available, and heavily promoted than healthier options. Over a third of supermarket promotions and food advertising spending are directed toward foods high in fat, salt, and sugar, while only a small fraction promotes fruit and vegetables. The report highlights worsening affordability of healthy diets, with the most deprived households needing to spend up to 45% of disposable income on food to meet government dietary recommendations, rising to 70% for families with children. It also documents persistently high levels of childhood obesity, rising diabetes-related amputations, poor diet quality among children, and slow progress in reducing food-system greenhouse gas emissions. Drawing on national data, policy analysis, and lived-experience photo stories from Food Foundation Ambassadors, the report calls for decisive government action to reshape food environments through stronger regulation of marketing and promotions, planning controls on fast-food outlets, food reformulation incentives, and income and safety-net measures to ensure healthy and sustainable diets for all.