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Stop selling sustainability. Start selling health.
The consequences of our broken food system are no longer abstract; they are playing out in consumer food choices every day.
Recent DEFRA reports echo this, that “the UK cannot currently produce enough food to feed its population, based on current diets and prices”. We are over-reliant on imports for fertiliser, stretched on soil health, and losing the biodiversity that underpins long-term food security. The ability to access healthy, affordable food and the sustainability of the system that produces it are not separate conversations. They are the same one.
So, how do we change the trajectory? Revitalising our food system won’t emerge from supply alone — it needs an appetite for change to match.
The good news is that consumers are already waking up to it. Ingredient labels are being read. Ultra-processed food is under scrutiny. Scratch cooking is trending. Shoppers are seeking out local, organic and more transparently produced options – not just because it feels right for the planet, but because it feels right for their bodies. Health is becoming the entry point that sustainability alone never quite managed to be.
This shift matters enormously. Because if human health becomes the primary lens through which people make food choices, the downstream benefits for our food system, for soil, for biodiversity, for resilience – could be profound and lasting.
Where we can really turbocharge this impact is with Gen Z. They have a ‘say-do’ gap when it comes to their values and purchasing behaviour. But they also have the greatest economic and social influence of any generation to date.
In our session at Reset Connect, we will explore the link between human and planetary health as a lever for change, and how Gen Z can help. What is really driving decision-making in the food & beverage sector, how transparency leads to trust, and what sustainable claims, nutritional information and on pack communication does and doesn’t that influence choice.
