What Do We Know About the State of Good Food in Bristol?

The report, written by Beth Webb, Beth Bennet-Britton, and Claire Lowman, can be found here.

Summary

In 2013 the Good Food Plan for Bristol was launched. This sets out 8 themes for changing the food system. The Bristol Food Policy Council, established in 2011, needs to measure progress towards achieving this change. The Food Policy Council Communication Subgroup was therefore asked to assemble all available baseline information that could provide potential measures and indicators to monitor progress towards the aims set out in the Good Food Plan for Bristol.

Key headlines that have been highlighted in this report about the current food system are:

  • There are over five times more fast food outlets than fresh food outlets in the city
  • Almost one fifth of children leaving primary school in Bristol are obese
  • 16% of households in Bristol suffer from income deprivation and so are at risk of experiencing food poverty
  • There are 180 shops owned by specialist retailers in the city
  • There are 45 community based growing projects which between them cultivate 296,570m2 of land within the city
  • 23,620 Food for Life Catering meals are served each day in Bristol
  • 39 schools and 106 businesses in Bristol have made Fairtrade pledges.

We recommend that the Bristol Food Policy Council and the Green Capital Food Action Group work with others to monitor, develop and use measures and indicators of the state of Good Food in Bristol in order to chart progress with achieving the aims of the Good Food Plan for Bristol.