The latest report from The Food Foundation, The Broken Plate 2025, highlights just how unfair the UK’s food system is. Many people struggle to get affordable, nutritious food, and this has serious consequences for their health. As someone who learnt about food deserts and food swamps as part of my PhD studies on sweetened beverage consumption is areas of socio-economic deprivation, I see this report as yet another reminder of the barriers that prevent people from eating well.

What Are Food Deserts and Food Swamps?
Food deserts are areas where it’s hard to find affordable, healthy food because there are few supermarkets or fresh food markets nearby. Food swamps, on the other hand, are places overloaded with fast food outlets and convenience stores selling mainly unhealthy, processed foods. The Broken Plate 2025 shows that these aren’t just abstract ideas - they’re everyday realities for millions across the UK.
The report reveals that many low-income areas lack supermarkets but are packed with fast-food outlets, making it difficult for people to access fresh fruit, vegetables, and other nutritious options. On top of that, healthier food tends to be much more expensive than processed alternatives, reinforcing a cycle where unhealthy diets become the norm. This contributes to rising obesity rates, malnutrition, and other diet-related health issues.
The UK’s Food System: A Reality Check
One of the report’s most striking findings is that healthier foods cost more than twice as much per calorie as unhealthy options. For the poorest 20% of the population, following a government-recommended healthy diet would take up 45% of their disposable income. If they have children, that figure jumps to 70%. These numbers show just how difficult it is for many families to afford good food.
This focus on cost per calorie is important because it helps explain why many people turn to cheap, high-calorie foods. When money is tight, people prioritise getting enough energy to sustain themselves, even if that means sacrificing nutrition. But while calories are a useful way to measure affordability, they don’t tell the whole story. Healthier foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins, may be more expensive per calorie, but they provide essential vitamins and minerals that processed foods lack.
The report also highlights that fast-food outlets make up a quarter of all food businesses in England, and in the poorest areas, that number rises to nearly one in three. This means that for many people, unhealthy food is not just the cheapest option - it’s also the most accessible. These environments make it incredibly hard to maintain a healthy diet, leading to widespread health problems like diabetes and heart disease.
But it’s not just about availability and cost - it’s also about exposure. The more we see fast food and processed snacks in advertising, the more normalised they become. Studies show that repeated exposure to food advertising, especially highly processed, high-sugar, and high-fat products, influences purchasing decisions and eating habits. Children and low-income communities are particularly targeted by aggressive marketing campaigns that push unhealthy food choices. This constant exposure reinforces the idea that these foods are the default, making it even harder for people to choose healthier options, even when they are available.
The Bigger Problem: Systemic Inequality in Our Food System
There’s a common argument that we shouldn’t judge people for their food choices, and that’s absolutely right. People eat what’s available and what they can afford. But too often, this idea is used as an excuse for inaction by policymakers and businesses. It’s not enough to acknowledge the problem - we need to fix it.
The widespread presence of food deserts and food swamps isn’t a coincidence. It’s the result of urban planning decisions, economic policies, and corporate control over the food market. The Broken Plate 2025 makes it clear that many people in the UK simply don’t have the financial means to access healthy food, and businesses continue to prioritise profit over public health.
How This Connects to a Bigger Crisis
This issue ties into a wider crisis in the UK’s food system, which I previously discussed in my blog, The UK’s Food Industry and Rising Vitamin Deficiencies: A Call for Action. Poor access to healthy food contributes to nutrient deficiencies, and the overwhelming presence of ultra-processed foods only makes things worse. Together, food deserts, food swamps, and poor dietary habits are fuelling a public health crisis that needs urgent attention.

What Needs to Change?
To tackle these issues, we need serious policy changes, including:
Making healthy food more affordable: The government should introduce subsidies to lower the cost of fresh, nutritious food, particularly in low-income areas.
Regulating fast-food outlets: There should be limits on how many fast-food places can operate in areas already oversaturated with unhealthy options, alongside incentives for healthier food retailers.
Urban planning for better food access: Cities should encourage the development of supermarkets and farmers’ markets in food deserts through planning policies and financial support. Unlike strict zoning laws in other countries, the UK operates on a planning permission system, meaning local councils can regulate food environments through policies like restricting the number of fast-food outlets in certain areas or prioritising healthier food businesses in underserved communities. Some councils have already implemented strategies such as limiting fast-food outlets near schools and using ‘saturation zones’ to prevent unhealthy food clustering. Expanding and enforcing these policies could make a significant difference in ensuring better access to nutritious food.
Educating and empowering communities: People need better access to information about nutrition and healthier eating, alongside greater community action to demand better food choices.
Final Thoughts
But where will all this money come from? Some may argue that funding such changes would be too costly, but the reality is that poor nutrition already places an enormous financial burden on the NHS. Diet-related illnesses like obesity, type II diabetes, and heart disease cost billions each year in treatment and care. Investing in healthier food environments and preventative measures could significantly reduce these long-term healthcare costs while improving overall public health.
The findings in The Broken Plate 2025 show why we need to rethink how food is distributed and accessed in the UK. Without serious action, food deserts and food swamps will keep deepening the divide in health outcomes between rich and poor. Food access isn’t just about personal choice, it’s about the system we live in.
Policymakers, businesses, and communities must come together to create a system where nutritious food is affordable, accessible, and sustainable. This issue is too important to ignore. It’s time to move beyond talking about the problem and start making real changes to fix it.
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