Food campaigners have been celebrating a second big policy win in the space of a few weeks after the UK Government confirmed it will require big food businesses to report on healthy food sales.
The news that ministers have finally acted on calls by charities and some businesses to set standards for transparency and accountability was welcomed as “game changing” by The Food Foundation, which for several years has documented a general lack of standardised reporting through its Plating up Progress initiative. “This simple act of transparency delivers the opportunity for systemic change – informing better policy design and triggering boardroom conversations,” said the charity’s chief executive Anna Taylor.
The announcement follows the recent news that the government will extend free school meal provision in England and review school food standards, marking another victory for campaigners.
Large food businesses including Tesco and Birds Eye owner Nomad Foods had previously come out in support of mandatory reporting, putting pressure on ministers to act. When the Food and Drink Federation reversed its previous opposition to the policy last month it seemed clear that the die was cast.
The announcement, when it came over the weekend, was made jointly by Defra and the Department of Health and Social Care suggesting a welcome (and often absent) degree of cross-departmental buy-in and alignment. It was also carefully crafted and somewhat cryptic in places. The policy is being described as a “new standard” to make the average shopping basket of goods sold slightly healthier and is clearly positioned as a partnership between government and industry rather than a regulatory intervention. “Businesses will be given the freedom to meet the standard however works best for them, whether that’s reformulating products and tweaking recipes, changing shop layouts, offering discounts on healthy foods, or changing loyalty schemes to promote healthier options,” read the press release. It’s not immediately clear what the “standard” itself will look like and businesses and campaigners will await the detail with interest. It could potentially be based on a policy proposed by Nesta, the social innovation agency, which has recommended that supermarkets are required to meet a minimum health score based on the government’s nutrient profiling model.
The reporting element is also conspicuously underplayed within the government press release. You have to read beyond the gushing quotes by secretaries of state Steve Reed and Wes Streeting to find the key detail that businesses will be required to report on healthy food sales. Once reporting has been established the government says it will then set targets to increase the healthiness of sales in communities across the UK with support from the (industry dominated) food strategy advisory board. Note the word ‘communities’ rather than ‘businesses’, which implies targets could relate to local health outcomes rather than individual business actions, albeit Nesta is clear in its own proposal that businesses should be required to meet a minimum target for healthy food sales. The press release doesn’t touch on enforcement, however The Grocer added an extra layer of confusion by reporting that businesses who consistently fail to meet the targets could be fined.
It’s similarly unclear exactly what metrics businesses will be required to report against. In his national food strategy, Henry Dimbleby called for companies with more than 250 employees to publish an annual report showing total food and drink sales, to include a breakdown of sales of food and drink high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) as well as sales of protein by type and origin, sales of vegetables and fruit, and sales by major nutrients like fibre, saturated fat, sugar and salt. “We’re hopeful that once the policy proposal in the announcement gets worked up in detail it will look very close to that recommendation – covering a small number of health and environment sales-volume metrics,” said Taylor, who supported the development of Dimbleby’s strategy.
Representatives of the eating out of home sector, which would fall within the scope of the standard, were more circumspect in their response. Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said the standard “cannot be about imposing random, mandatory targets for businesses that will not deliver genuine change – but which will add further red tape and costs”.
The policy forms part of the government’s 10 year health plan, due to be published shortly. It will also feed into the forthcoming national food strategy.
Elsewhere in this week’s Footprint News.
