London Food Board

What we do

Historically, the Mayor and GLA's Food Programme has funded the delivery of policies and projects including but not limited to:

• The Good Food for London and Beyond the Food Bank reports, which are published annually by Sustain and use a range of indicators to track the progress London's local authorities are making in improving access to healthy, sustainable food and tackle food insecurity respectively. 
• The Healthier Catering Commitment, a voluntary accreditation scheme delivered in partnership with the Association of Environmental Health Managers (ALEHM), which encourages food outlets to make incremental, healthy changes to their ingredients, cooking processes and portion sizes.
• The Mayor's Healthier Food Advertisement Policy, which restricts the marketing of food and drink products high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) across Transport for London's advertising estate.
• The Mayor's Fund for London's Kitchen Social programme, which supports holiday provision settings to deliver healthy food and social activities over the school holidays.
• The Capital Growth programme, London's largest food growing network, which supports over 2,700 food growing spaces by providing access to discounted training, networking events, support with growing to sell and discounts on equipment. 

Since the outbreak of Covid-19, the GLA and London Food Board has worked closely alongside local authorities and VCS organisations across London to respond to the pandemic's impact on food insecurity and ensure Londoners can continue to access food. Initially, this involved helping the London Food Alliance to establish at least one Community Food Hub in all 33 London boroughs, which enabled the onward distribution of increased quantities of food to frontline food charities and those in need. 

Following the successful establishment of this infrastructure, the London Food Board established a Food Aid Sub-Group to monitor levels of demand for food aid, food supplies and onward distribution arrangements. The Sub-Group also supported every London local authority to develop a Food Transition Plan to prepare for an increased demand for food aid, including in the event of a second wave.

This has all taken place alongside the Mayor calling on Government to tackle the underlying drivers of food insecurity.

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Areas of expertise