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Public food procurement as a tool for building food system resilience in the UK

Nature Food volume 6, pages 123–126 (2025) Cite this article

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Public institutions, as essential providers of meals to diverse communities, have a responsibility to support sustainable and equitable food systems through strategic procurement policies. By adopting robust sustainability criteria and supporting rural economies, they can strengthen food system resilience. By also ensuring nutritious food is accessible, public-sector catering plays a key role in the transition to a resilient, equitable food future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School for Business and Society, University of York, York, UK

    Ulrike Ehgartner & Bob Doherty

  2. Sustainable Consumption Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Ulrike Ehgartner

  3. Centre for Novel Agricultural Products - CNAP, Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK

    Alana Kluczkovski

Authors
  1. Ulrike Ehgartner
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  2. Alana Kluczkovski
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  3. Bob Doherty
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ulrike Ehgartner.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Food thanks David Barling and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Ehgartner, U., Kluczkovski, A. & Doherty, B. Public food procurement as a tool for building food system resilience in the UK. Nat Food 6, 123–126 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01118-x

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