Eustice holds further talks with retailers on coronavirus
George Eustice © David Hartley/REX/Shutterstock Defra secretary George Eustice will hold further talks with supermarket chiefs and the food industry to discuss their response to the coronavirus.
The meeting on Monday (9 March) will consider support for vulnerable people who may be in isolation and follows a meeting last Friday in which retailers insisted they had plans in place to keep shelves stocked.
Defra said it was in regular contact with the food industry to ensure it is well prepared to deal with a range of different scenarios.
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Retailers continue to monitor their supply chains and have put forward suggestions to the government about how they can support plans to minimise disruption.
The NFU encouraged farmers to follow government guidance for businesses and said it was “currently not aware of any issues on British farms as a result of the coronavirus”.
The union has been working with the government on food chain resilience and is a member of Defra’s UK Food Chain Emergency Liaison group, which met last Friday (6 March).
It meets regularly to identify and mitigate potential risks to the food supply and interdependent sectors.