‘We take these people for granted'

Ade Adepitan on celebrating the essential workers keeping our supermarket shelves stocked during lockdown

- HANNAH DAVIES

KEEPING BRITAIN FED

NEW WEDNESDAY / BBC2 / 8PM / FACTUAL

None of us will forget the scenes of panic buying that took place as news of the coronavirus pandemic broke.

Shelves were empty of loo roll and pasta, but since then an army of farmers, suppliers and supermarket staff have worked around the clock to make sure there’s enough food to eat, as Ade Adepitan and Sara Cox discover in BBC2’s new documentary Keeping Britain Fed.

While Sara finds out what goes on in one supermarket during 24 hours, including the vital task of restocking, Ade visits factories and depots as well as a farm in Kent.

‘How our food gets on to our plates is something I’ve previously taken for granted. But the people who make these supply chains work and who have dealt with the increase in demand are far more important than we could have imagined,’ says Ade, 47, who, here, tells TV Times more…

You speak to people working in our food supply chains – did the panic buying take them by surprise?