On 25 April, the Food Policy Coalition (FPC) held its first in person-meeting in Brussels to launch its report “Sustainable Food Systems Law: Policy recommendations for a meaningful transition“.

The FPC urged the need for a new legal framework for Sustainable Food Systems that looks at the whole food system: from production to processing, distribution, and consumption. Only by taking this systemic approach we can build a resilient food system able to resist external shocks instead of amplifying them.

The report presented a list of priorities which are essential building blocks that will enable the transformation of our food systems:

• take a food systems approach;
• set a new governance framework for the EU food system;
• develop enabling food environments;
• ensure strong accountability and fairness throughout the food chain.

The legislative framework for Sustainable food systems is a crucial opportunity to finally steer our food systems in a new direction, benefiting people, animals, and the planet. These priorities should not be watered down. The overarching objective of the SFS Law must be to enable an ambitious, just and systemic transition to environmentally-sound, fair and healthy food systems that operate within planetary boundaries.

Lukas Visek, member of the cabinet of Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans, responsible for the Farm to Fork Strategy, attended the event and agreed that the transformation needs to happen now, and it needs to be along the entire food chain, not only at the farm level. “If we do not fix it, no one will do it… and the earlier we do it, the cheaper it will be“.