The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) is calling for food education to be given greater priority across the UK, arguing that stronger food knowledge and practical skills could contribute to healthier, more sustainable food systems and help develop the next generation of food and farming workers.

Its new white paper, Food education: The missing ingredient in a healthier, more sustainable future, sets out eight recommendations aimed at policymakers, educators and industry. For food and drink producers, the proposals point to a wider role for the sector in helping young people understand food — from nutrition and food safety to sustainability, food production and careers.

The BNF says food education provision varies significantly between schools, with funding, curriculum time, staff expertise and school priorities influencing what pupils receive. It also identifies rising childhood overweight and obesity, food insecurity, declining cooking skills and the spread of nutrition misinformation online as issues that make food literacy increasingly important.

From cooking skills to understanding the food system

The BNF’s position is that food education should extend beyond teaching children how to cook.

Its recommendations encompass nutrition, food safety, sustainability, food origins and understanding the wider food system. The organisation also wants food education linked more closely to workforce, skills and economic growth policy.

That has implications for producers because the food industry is part of the system that young people are being asked to understand.

For manufacturers, this creates potential opportunities to engage with education around how food is produced, how ingredients are sourced and processed, how food safety is managed, and how manufacturing is adapting to sustainability challenges.

It could also give companies a more direct route into introducing young people to the range of technical, engineering, production, quality and scientific careers available across food and drink manufacturing.

A potential route to future skills

Workforce development is one of the BNF’s eight recommendations, reflecting the connection between food education and the industry’s future skills needs.

For producers facing increasingly sophisticated manufacturing environments, introducing young people to food manufacturing could become part of longer-term skills strategies.

Factory visits, careers programmes, practical demonstrations and partnerships with schools could help demonstrate that modern food production encompasses much more than traditional perceptions of manufacturing.

The BNF’s call therefore potentially broadens the conversation around industry engagement with education: rather than simply promoting food and drink as a career, manufacturers can help explain the technologies, processes and skills behind the products consumers buy.

Sustainability becomes part of food literacy

The BNF also wants food education connected to sustainability and food systems policy.

For manufacturers, this is particularly relevant as businesses invest in areas such as resource efficiency, waste reduction, alternative ingredients, packaging innovation and lower-impact production.

Better food education could give future consumers a stronger understanding of the trade-offs involved in producing food, while giving manufacturers an opportunity to explain how sustainability initiatives work in practice.

However, the BNF’s recommendations also highlight the importance of providing young people with balanced information rather than treating food education simply as an opportunity for commercial messaging.

What producers may need to consider

If the recommendations lead to greater emphasis on food education, manufacturers could have several roles to play.

• Industry engagement: companies could work with schools and education organisations to provide access to manufacturing environments, technical expertise and careers information.
• Skills development: businesses could use food education as an earlier stage of their workforce pipeline, introducing students to food science, engineering, automation, quality assurance and production careers.
• Food literacy: producers could contribute practical information about ingredients, processing, food safety and how products move from raw materials to finished food.
• Sustainability education: manufacturers could demonstrate how changes to production, ingredients, packaging and resource use are affecting the food system.
• Responsible communication: greater engagement with schools would also require companies to distinguish education from marketing and ensure information is accurate, evidence-based and appropriate for young audiences.

The BNF’s white paper ultimately places food education within a much wider conversation about health, sustainability and skills. For producers, the significance is that the food industry’s relationship with education could extend beyond recruiting apprentices and graduates.

If food literacy is given greater prominence in education policy, manufacturers could become more visible contributors to helping young people understand how food is made — and to showing them the increasingly technical range of careers behind it.