EAT-Lancet in Action: Why Justice Belongs at Centre Plate

The 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy, Sustainable and Just Food Systems updates and expands on the 2019 version, adding a social justice lens to its focus on public health and environmental responsibility. Here, we’ll explore what justice within our food systems should look like and how restaurant operators can help to build this throughout their own supply chains. 

What does food justice mean? 

As discussed in the EAT-Lancet report, everyone has the right to: 

True justice within food systems means fair treatment of everyone throughout the entire food chain, from farmers, fishers, pickers and producers — and their communities — all the way through to the individual diner or consumer. It also includes food sovereignty: the concept that people have the right to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and the right to define their own food and agriculture systems. This is especially relevant for Indigenous communities and marginalised groups. 

How just is our food system today? 

The EAT-Lancet Commission’s findings emphasise that building justice into our food systems will be essential to achieving improved health and social development outcomes. As Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, Commission Co-Chair and Director for Nutrition, Health and Food Security at CGIAR, explains, “Food is at the heart of both human well-being and planetary health. Right now, too many people who grow and process our food are underpaid and excluded from basic protections, while the environmental and health costs fall hardest on the most vulnerable. Our findings make it clear that transformation must go beyond producing enough calories. It must guarantee the right to food, fair work, and a healthy environment for all. Only when we share the benefits and burdens more equitably can we ensure that food systems are within planetary boundaries and create a safe and just space where all people can flourish.” 

How can we build more justice into our food systems? 

To ensure that our food systems are both environmentally and socially sustainable in the long term, we need a fairer distribution of resources, benefits and impacts. This will mean redesigning existing social structures to ensure that everyone has access to sufficient and nourishing food, decent conditions of work and a healthy environment.  

The EAT-Lancet 2025 report outlines some concrete shifts required to build a just food system. Among them: 

The 2025 report argues that food systems transformation is the single strongest lever we have to optimise both human and planetary health — but only if justice plays a central role. Changing how we produce, distribute and consume food can improve human health, social equity and planetary resilience. 

What actions can hospitality take? 

So, how can the global hospitality sector contribute to a fairer food future for everyone? Here are some steps you can take: 

• Evaluate your terms of trade. Ensure that your terms of trade are thorough, just, clearly defined and of benefit to the farmers and fishers at the other end of the supply chain. This includes fair pricing and timely payment; transparent and regular communication; agreed-upon dispute and/or conflict resolution procedures; and clearly outlined employment standards for farmers and fishers.
• Source directly where possible. Sourcing directly from primary producers like farmers and fishers helps by giving you greater visibility and control over your supply chain. It also cuts out any middlemen, meaning more money goes directly to those working on the front lines of the food system.
• Prioritise diversity in your supply chains. Sourcing from diverse producer organisations helps to foster economic growth and to ensure that money and power are not concentrated in the hands of the few. Prioritise sourcing from small-scale farms and fisheries, or those in disadvantaged communities; cooperatives or other community-run farms or fisheries; social enterprises; or minority- or female-owned and/or farms or fisheries.
• Choose native and heritage ingredients. Increase the diversity of the foods you serve, with a particular focus on the plants and animal breeds native to your region. When restaurants choose to include heritage foods on their menus, they create demand for these foods and help to preserve the traditional knowledge used to grow them.
• Support Indigenous producers. Wherever possible, buy these native ingredients from Indigenous producers as a matter of policy — and make sure they are well compensated. This is an important way to support and promote Indigenous foodways, empowering native communities and ensuring financial gain is not limited to majority groups.
• Assess impacts across your supply chain. Conduct an analysis of the environmental impacts of your supply chain, focusing on issues like deforestation, changes in land use, water scarcity and impacts on biodiversity. For example, farmed fish may be fed a diet of wild fish caught in the Global South, damaging local ecosystems; soy production is driving deforestation in countries like Brazil, and is largely used as feed for chicken and cattle.
• Pay particular attention to products with a higher risk of social and/or environmental abuse in supply chains, including forced or exploitative labour, child labour, land conflicts, climate change, the use of destructive chemicals, deforestation, biodiversity loss and contributing to drought. High-risk foods include avocados, bananas, beef, chillies, chocolate and/or cocoa, citrus fruits, coffee, high-risk seafood products such as prawns, nuts (including coconuts), palm oil (and products containing palm oil), rice, soy (and products containing soy), sugar and tea. For businesses that don’t take extra care in sourcing these foods, the issues inherent in these supply chains can often translate to reputational and financial risks. Using reliable third-party certifications like Fairtrade and the Rainforest Alliance is one way to ensure that the farmers and fishers in your supply chain are being treated fairly.
• Include your own workforce. Your employees are part of the food system, too! Ensure they are paid fairly (at least a living wage for your region) and treated well, with reasonable working conditions, maximum working hours, adequate DEI policies and zero tolerance for bullying and harassment.
• Share your story. It’s important to communicate about how you support fair pay and work conditions for those in your supply chain. For staff and suppliers, understanding your values in this area can help guide buying decisions and inform supplier practice in the wider network. Incorporating information on your ethical sourcing practices is also a valuable way to attract customers (and, increasingly, employees); moreover, it contributes to the broader discourse, educating more people about these issues and helping to make ethical sourcing practices the norm. 

You can learn more about the updated EAT-Lancet report here, and make sure to check out our previous articles on bivalves, beans, sustainable intensification and finding new uses for meat and dairy side streams. 

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