Governments, retailers, NGOs and consumers must all work together to create a workable and sustainable food policy, according to professor Tim Lang of Food Policy at City University London.

Professor Lang is set to tell delegates at the annual Rachel Carson Lecture in London on December 6, that it is no longer sufficient for groups to work in isolation in order to achieve food security and sustainability.

Professor Lang, will share his vision for food security and democracy during the lecture, set up by the Pesticide Action Network UK’s (PAN UK), where he will also state that governments need to be more proactive and that, “the long struggle for food democracy must not get submerged by the urgency of the new environmental and societal pressures”.

While acknowledging the strides made by some retailers on for example, pesticide reduction, largely in response to consumer demand, Professor Lang will also argue that leaving it to private companies to set standards may be too fragile and too dependent on volatile corporate policy.

Linda Craig, director of PAN UK, said: “We see the need to set all PAN UK’s work on pesticides in food into the context of wider food and farming policies and Professor Lang is at the forefront of this debate.”

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