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Oats are a uniquely nutritious food as they contain an excellent lipid profile and high amounts of soluble fibre. However, an oat kernel is largely non-digestible and thus must be utilised in milled form to reap its nutritional benefits. Milling is made up of numerous steps, the most important being dehulling to expose the digestible groat, heat processing to inactivate enzymes that cause rancidity, and cutting, rolling or grinding to convert the groat into a product that can be used directly in oatmeal or can be used as a food ingredient in products such as bread, ready-to-eat breakfast cereals and snack bars. Oats can also be processed into oat bran and fibre to obtain high-fibre-containing fractions that can be used in a variety of food products.

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Global interest in food policy is emerging in parallel with mounting challenges to the food supply and the rising prevalence of diet-related chronic health conditions. Some of the foundational elements of food policies are agricultural practices, finite resources, as well as economic burdens associated with a growing and ageing population. At the intersection of these interests is the need for policy synchronisation and a better understanding of the dynamics within local, regional and national government decision-making that ultimately affect the wellness of the populous and the safety, quality, affordability and quantity of the food supply. Policies, synchronised or not, need to be implemented and, for the food industry, this has seen a myriad of approaches with respect to condensing complex nutritional information and health claims. These include front and/or back of pack labelling, traffic light systems, etc. but in general there is little uniformity at the more regional and global scales. This translation of the nutritional and health-beneficial messages accompanying specific products to the consumer will undoubtedly be an area of intense activity, and hopefully interaction with policy makers, as the food industry continues to become a more global industry.

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The COVID‐19 pandemic is a major shock to society in terms of health and economy that is affecting both UK and global food and nutrition security. It is adding to the ‘perfect storm’ of threats to society from climate change, biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, at a time of considerable change, rising nationalism and breakdown in international collaboration. In the UK, the situation is further complicated due to Brexit. The UK COVID‐19 F ood and N utrition S ecurity project, lasting one year, is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and is assessing the ongoing impact of COVID‐19 on the four pillars of food and nutrition security: access, availability, utilisation and stability. It examines the food system, how it is responding, and potential knock on effects on the UK’s food and nutrition security, both in terms of the cascading risks from the pandemic and other threats. The study provides an opportunity to place the initial lessons being learnt from the on‐going responses to the pandemic in respect of food and nutrition security in the context of other long‐term challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss.

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