Food should never be a weapon – so this is why 150 food leaders spoke out on Gaza

In Gaza today, babies lie so weak they can barely lift their heads. Parents are killed trying to collect flour. Aid workers die while delivering baby formula. This is not a famine caused by drought or disaster. It is deliberate. It is human-made. And the UK is doing next to nothing.

Earlier this week, I brought together over 150 leaders from the food and drink industry to sign an open letter to the UK government, urging it to take immediate action to end the starvation of civilians in Gaza. We called for the opening of land borders, the restoration of humanitarian aid, and a ceasefire to allow food, water, medicine and shelter to reach families.

These are not radical demands. They are the most basic moral minimum for any government, especially one that claims to stand for human rights, international law and compassion.

Read more:

• Gaza’s health workers need more than thoughts and prayers – they need protection
• Letters: What is being done to the people of Palestine IS the crime
• ‘How many more children must die?’: British Palestinians plead with UK to act as Gaza’s people starve

Yet the UK’s response so far has been weak. The prime minister’s recent comments about recognising a Palestinian state “when the time is right” may be politically convenient, but it is morally hollow. While babies starve and aid is blocked, gestures and rhetoric will not save lives. What’s needed is real pressure to open the borders and let life-saving supplies in.

This is not about politics. It’s about principle. You don’t need a geopolitical briefing to know that letting children die from hunger is wrong. You don’t need to be an expert to say: stop the siege. Let the food through.

I know many in our sector have felt paralysed. This war is emotionally charged, politically complex, and deeply painful. But some things are not complex. Deliberate starvation is not a grey area.

And still, much of the food industry remains silent. That silence speaks volumes.

This is a sector that regularly talks about “nourishing communities,” “putting purpose first,” and “feeding the future.” We build campaigns around care, compassion and equity. But if we can’t speak up when food is being used as a weapon, when people are dying because basic nutrition is being withheld, then all those values risk sounding hollow.

We work in food. We feed people. And if we can’t speak out now, when food is being used to punish civilians, when will we?

Within 72 hours of posting an open call for signatories, over 150 leaders stepped forward. Some are household names – Co-op Group, Lucky Saint, PROPER Snacks. Others are small-scale founders and family-run businesses. What united them was a refusal to look away.

But too many still are. I don’t judge anyone’s fear, I’ve felt it too. But this is a line in the sand.

For too long, brands have been praised for being bold on easy issues. But true values show in moments of discomfort, when you speak up not because it’s safe, but because it’s right.

If we believe food is a force for good, we have to say something when it’s used to destroy.

This isn’t just about Gaza. It’s about what kind of society we want to be, and whether we’re willing to act when it matters.

Two million people are trapped. Aid is being blocked. Children are dying. And the world is watching.

We exist to feed people. If we can’t speak out now, when can we?

Pippa Murray is CEO and founder of Pip & Nut.

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