Calorie levels in sweet products sold in Scottish cafés, coffee shops and bakeries are falling steadily but the vast majority still exceed government health guidelines.
Food Standards Scotland (FSS) analysed the calorie content of products such as cakes, sweet pastries, and biscuits sold by the same 18 out of home businesses in 2022 and 2023. Although it found the average calorie content decreased from 465 to 449 calories per portion between the two years, more than three quarters (76.2%) of the 808 products assessed in 2023 were still above the recommended maximum calories per portion of 325 calories, compared with 82.4% in 2022.
More than two thirds (68.8%) of the 461 products available in both 2022 and 2023 had not changed at all in calorie content, despite a drive by the Scottish Government to support small- and medium-sized businesses to reformulate commonly consumed products.
A new category of milkshakes, frappes, and ice cream floats was included in the 2023 analysis with products found to contain an average of 451 calories per portion; 86% of which were over the UK Government target of no more than 300 calories per serving of milk-based drinks. FSS noted how just one of these drinks would make up nearly a quarter of a full day’s calorie requirement for an adult female.
“Our findings demonstrate that improvements are slowly being made to reduce extremely high calories within the sweet products we consume so frequently when eating out. However, there is still much more that needs to happen to see far more products meet the UK Government target of 325 calories,” said Laura Wilson, head of public health nutrition at Food Standards Scotland.
“There is a great opportunity for businesses to reduce the calorie content of these products. This could be achieved through simple measures such as reducing portion size to provide consumers with the same taste they enjoy but with less calories,” Wilson added.
To-date, voluntary reformulation targets in England have largely failed to drive a significant overall reduction in problem nutrients like sugar, salt and fat, despite evidence of improvement in certain categories and from certain businesses.
