A resilience strategy for protecting UK food supply against growing threats to the cold chain
Access to safe, reliable food and essential pharmaceuticals is often taken for granted across the UK. Yet behind supermarkets, restaurants, foodbanks, hospitals, schools and home deliveries sits a critical system that keeps perishable products moving safely every day: the cold chain.
From refrigerated storage and distribution to temperature-controlled transport, the cold chain underpins national food resilience, public health and economic stability. Despite this, its role within UK resilience and security planning remains significantly under-recognised.
At the same time, the risks facing the UK’s food supply are increasing. Energy instability, cyber attacks, geopolitical conflict, climate impacts, labour shortages, and global supply chain disruption are placing growing pressure on the cold chain’s ability to operate effectively during periods of national stress.
The Critical Link white paper sets out why stronger recognition of the cold chain is essential for protecting UK food supply and resilience, the growing risks facing the sector and presents ten urgent recommendations to strengthen national preparedness, resilience and long-term food security.
Why the cold chain matters
Every person in the UK relies on the cold chain, whether they realise it or not. From the food we eat and the products in our fridges to essential pharmaceuticals and healthcare supplies, the cold chain underpins everyday life. Its scale and reach make it a critical part of the infrastructure that keeps the country supplied, communities supported, and food security protected.
Without a resilient and functioning cold chain, disruption to food supply can rapidly impact availability, affordability and access to essential products, particularly for vulnerable communities.
Growing risks to UK food resilience
The UK’s cold chain is facing increasing pressure from:
- Supply chain disruption
- Cyber attacks
- Energy instability
- Climate impacts
- Labour shortages
- Geopolitical conflict
Without stronger resilience planning, disruption to the cold chain risks shortages, price shocks and impacts on vulnerable communities.
Ten urgent recommendations
The white paper sets out ten urgent recommendations designed to strengthen the resilience of the UK’s cold chain and better protect access to essential food during periods of disruption.
The recommendations focus on improving recognition of the cold chain within national resilience planning, strengthening preparedness and response capabilities, and ensuring future food security policies properly reflect the sector’s critical role in food security, public health and economic resilience.
Together, they provide a practical and collaborative roadmap for government and industry to strengthen resilience, reduce vulnerabilities and better safeguard UK food supply against future threats.
Government recognition of the critical role cold chain plays to food security and resilience
- Recognition as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
- National Risk Register inclusion
- Essential worker recognition
Support for the cold chain to, prepare, react and recover from threats to food supply
- Assigning Cabinet Office responsibility
- Early warning systems
- Incident Response Planning (IRP) and Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP)
Embedding cold chain requirements into future food resilience and security policies
- Infrastructure planning and expansion
- Specific acknowledgement as CNI within National Planning Policy Framework
- Industry and government collaboration
- Workforce support
Representing the cold chain sector
The Critical Link forms part of our ongoing work to ensure the voice of the cold chain sector is represented in national discussions around food security, resilience and infrastructure planning.
As the UK trade association representing the temperature-controlled logistics industry, we work closely with government, policymakers and industry stakeholders to advocate for the sector, raise awareness of the challenges facing cold chain businesses and support long-term resilience across UK food supply chains.
Find out more about our policy work and the businesses that make up the UK cold chain sector:
We’re not the only ones raising concerns
Concerns about the resilience of the UK’s food system are being raised by academics, policymakers, industry leaders and research organisations alike. Increasingly, experts are warning that food security cannot be taken for granted and that greater attention must be given to the systems responsible for producing, storing, transporting and distributing food.
Explore some of the reports and research contributing to this growing national conversation around food security and resilience.
- Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU)
- National Preparedness Commission
- Climate Change Committee (CCC)
Read the full whitepaper or get in touch
Download the full whitepaper or contact the Cold Chain Federation policy team to continue the conversation: Maddy Coupe | Policy Manager | [email protected].