To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the shortage of self-adhesive labels on the food supply chain.
Answered on
18 March 2022
The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, which has coped well in responding to unprecedented challenges. Defra is well-versed in responding to disruption if the dependencies captured were to lead to food supply disruption.
Defra is aware of the ongoing industrial action by workers at the UPM paper mills in Finland and is engaging with industry to understand the impacts.
Defra maintains a collaborative relationship with industry which allows us to effectively respond to disruption. This was successfully demonstrated in response to unprecedented disruption to both supply and demand throughout the COVID-19 response.