It’s a sure sign that a new government strategy is imminent when key stakeholders rush to reverse their public position on a popular policy.
Perhaps the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) has had a genuine epiphany that voluntary anti-obesity measures simply don’t cut it anymore. Or maybe it has concluded that mandatory reporting is a done deal following a programme of engagement by officials working on Defra’s forthcoming food strategy. The Digest, being the benevolent kind of weekly news round-up, will give the FDF and its membership the benefit of the doubt. Certainly, the trade body’s decision to add its voice to calls for mandatory reporting on the healthiness of food sales should help give ministers, who have previously resisted policy measures that could add cost to businesses, the confidence to proceed.
To recap: mandatory reporting of food data was a key recommendation made by Henry Dimbleby in his national food strategy. It was one of the few recommendations to make it into the Conservative government’s subsequent food strategy and a food data transparency partnership (FDTP) was established to work out the detail. Then in September 2023, Footprint revealed plans to make reporting mandatory had been shelved in favour of a voluntary approach. Since then, we’ve had a change of government and the momentum behind the FDTP seems to have been lost. Minutes for health working group meetings have not been published since April 2024 (the eco working group continues to meet on a quarterly basis) and some big hitters have recently stepped into the void to try to get the policy back on track.
In May, Tesco group CEO Ken Murphy wrote an open letter to health secretary Wes Streeting calling for the government to require large food businesses to report on the healthiness of their sales. Morrisons, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Aldi and Lidl subsequently fell in behind Tesco’s call. Now, the FDF has ditched its previous opposition to the policy and joined their ranks.
“Bold, co-ordinated action is needed to improve the health of our nation,” wrote FDF chief executive Karen Betts in an article for The Grocer. “That’s why we support mandatory reporting on the sales of healthier and less healthy products across manufacturing, retail and out of home, and we urge government to include this in its food strategy.”
The explicit mention of out of home is notable. Betts went on to reference the “sandwich from a café, dinner in a restaurant, or a Friday night takeaway” in making the point that the government needs to take a consistent approach to health policy. This is a thinly veiled criticism of the sector’s perceived lack of voluntary action on health relative to manufacturers and retailers – a charge that carries some weight when you consider the poor progress out of home businesses have made on sugar reduction.
If mandatory reporting is to get the green light questions remain about what the reporting requirements will be and who will fall within their scope. Dimbleby wanted to see a statutory duty for all food companies with more than 250 employees to publish an annual report on metrics including sales of food and drink high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS); sales of protein by type and origin; sales of vegetables and fruit; and food waste.
There will surely be battles ahead over the detail and whether targets are also needed, but for now campaigners will celebrate what looks set to be a meaningful policy win.
Elsewhere in this week’s Footprint news:
- UK oyster populations are projected to grow significantly as they benefit from warming seas. More.
- Small food businesses will gain access to intelligence on food fraud under a new initiative. More.
- A group of MPs is urging the government to seize the economic opportunity of the circular economy. More.
