A leaked version of the government’s new food strategy advises people to eat wild venison as a low-carbon alternative to beef and grow their own cucumbers to save the planet, reports claim.
The 27-page document, due to be officially released on Monday, follows two reports carried out by the co-founder of restaurant chain Leon, Henry Dimbleby, into the UK’s food system.
His probes into obesity and the environment, commissioned by former environment minister Michael Gove, resulted in recommendations to expand free school meals, impose a long-campaigned for salt and sugar tax, and introduce GP prescriptions for fruit and veg.
But according to a version of the strategy, seen by The Guardian and The Telegraph, these proposals have been ignored in favour of “a statement of vague intentions” – Rob Percival, head of food policy at the Soil Association, said.