The Food Foundation wins Outstanding Achievement Award

The Food Foundation and our Executive Director Anna Taylor have won the BBC's Derek Cooper Outstanding Achievement Award.

The announcement was made during a ceremony held in Glasgow as part of last night's BBC Food & Farming Awards.

Running since 2000, the awards were set up to mark the 20th anniversary of Radio 4's The Food Programme with the mission statement "to honour those who have done most to promote the cause of good food".

Anna Taylor and our Head of Campaigns Jo Ralling at the event 

Celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who helped judge the awards, said: "The Food Foundation is an extraordinary organisation that underpins so much of the research and campaigning that is paving the way for better food for the nation, especially for young people struggling in poverty whose lives would be so transformed by dependable access to good nutrition."

Laura Sandys founded The Food Foundation in 2014 to challenge the current food system and how it was impacting the public’s health, and the affordability of healthy food, particularly focused on lower income families.

The charity is now well known for our annual reports The Broken Plate and The State of the Nation’s Food Industry, our regular tracking of food insecurity levels across the UK and our podcast, which discusses issues and challenges impacting the food system.

Reacting to the award, Anna Taylor, Executive Director of The Food Foundation, said: "We are completely thrilled to receive this award – the Food Foundation turns 10 years old in 2025 and this couldn’t be a better birthday present.

"I know it is a cliché to say that it’s an award for every single member of team, but when you’re in a small organisation you really do see the impact of every individual’s efforts.

"We’re tackling a major national challenge – how to make it easier for everyone in Britain, including those with the least money,  to eat well – so they can protect their health, and we can all protect our fragile planet.

"While we’re working as hard as we can, we urgently need our politicians to take action – our failing food system has been ignored for too long."