The National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that households should be encouraged to stockpile food to cope with growing risks to the UK's supply chain, including extreme weather, cyber attacks and disease outbreaks. In a new report, the spending watchdog said the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) had done "too little in recent years" to help families and businesses prepare for potential food shortages, leaving UK households less resilient than those in comparable countries.

The report found that Defra's engagement with food firms had declined, with businesses saying they were not being consulted on future plans, and that the last major test of the department's readiness for a catastrophic supply disruption took place back in 2023. The NAO also said Defra lacks the legal powers needed to direct companies to take emergency action during a crisis. NAO head Gareth Davies pointed to the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine as evidence that risks are "increasing in likelihood and severity," while the National Farmers Union warned that wildfires and drought are already forcing dairy farmers to use winter feed early. Supermarket chiefs, including Tesco's Ken Murphy and Sainsbury's Simon Roberts, have separately called for greater food self-sufficiency, and Defra said it would consider the report's findings as part of efforts to build a more resilient food system.