Five leading UK food and drink manufacturers have stepped up to introduce healthy food sales reporting from next year, ahead of any mandatory requirement.
In a letter to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, some of the UK’s largest food and drink businesses have pledged to publish healthy food sales data and called on government to work with industry to implement a mandatory reporting system for all food and drink businesses in this parliament. They are Carlsberg Britvic, Danone North Europe, KP Snacks, Nomad Foods and Premier Foods plc.
The move would make the UK the first country in the world to introduce mandatory healthy food sales reporting across the food system and provide a consistent, transparent way of tracking progress towards healthier diets.
Karen Betts, chief executive, The Food and Drink Federation, said:”We share the government’s ambition to improve diets across the country, and we believe that the data and transparency that reporting will bring will incentivise companies to double down on progress, and give government a valuable tool to measure the impact of health policies.
“Food and drink manufacturers have a strong track record of making everyday foods better for us, and we’re determined to keep that progress going. That’s why we’re not waiting for regulation, but starting to report now on data that companies already hold. In this way, this group of early-movers can test the best ways to collate and report data to support our broader sector and government in informing any future legislation.”
Richard Hall, vice president general secretary, Danone North Europe, said: “At Danone, we believe transparency is one of the best ways to drive progress on health and have long chosen to go beyond mandatory health and nutrition reporting requirements. We welcome this group, which will play an important role in driving greater transparency and consistency in the wider food system. The more we collectively measure and share, the easier it is to see what’s working, where barriers remain and the opportunities to accelerate progress towards better health outcomes.”
Nick Brown, Director of Environment, Social and Governance, Premier Foods, said: “Food companies can play a major role in improving the health credentials of the products they make and sell, from launching new healthier products, evolving existing recipes to make them healthier and being responsible about how we market and sell our products.
“Through disclosure, we have the opportunity to demonstrate the progress we are making and where further progress can be achieved, which is why we are proud to have already disclosed against metrics aligned to the UK Government’s Food Data Transparency Partnership”
The signatories underscore that to meet this rapid timescale, manufacturers will need to use the current Nutrient Profiling Model, which is used for existing High Fat, Sugar and Salt restrictions. This is because the complexities associated with the more recent Model would mean they’d need to develop a new set of measurements which would delay reporting.
See the letter:
Dear Secretary of State,
Supporting healthier diets by delivering mandatory healthy food sales reporting
Food and drink manufacturers share your ambition to help British people follow healthier diets and to reduce obesity.
Our industry has invested hundreds of millions of pounds here in the UK to develop healthier food and drink. As a result, our members’ products now contain 19% less sugar, 18% less salt and 17% fewer calories than they did five years ago, and this builds on steady progress since the early 2000s to reduce fat, salt and sugar and increase fruit, vegetables and fibre in everyday food and drink that people regularly enjoy.
Businesses have made these recipe changes alongside embedding the recent restrictions on the promotion and advertising of products designated as ‘Less Healthy’ (HFSS). While it’s early days for the HFSS regulations, initial evidence suggests that they are having a positive effect on consumer purchasing. Research from the University of Leeds found that sales of ‘Less Healthy’ foods fell by 2 million a day from 2021 to 2023.
We believe that the introduction of mandatory healthy food sales reporting for all large food and drink businesses is critical to support this progress. It will provide consistent data and evidence to inform future policymaking, as well as an incentive to encourage continued investment in healthier food and drink across industry.
To demonstrate our commitment and to support government in driving this forward, the companies listed below will begin voluntarily publishing healthy food sales data from next year – ahead of any mandatory requirements. These leading manufacturers, which represent some of the UKs best loved brands, are committed to sharing their experiences of introducing reporting, the pitfalls and the watchouts, to help other companies adopt the approach and to support government in designing a system that is both robust and workable at scale within this parliament.
Reporting by these companies will be based on the current Nutrient Profiling Model score – the model which underpins the HFSS regulations. Using this model will enable industry to achieve reporting at pace as it is already implemented into business systems and does not require new methodologies to be agreed with government. Food and Drink Federation Page 2
There is ambition to introduce reporting across food and drink manufacturing, and we look forward to building this initiative further as we welcome more companies and other parts of the food system into it. We expect the number of early adopters to grow as manufacturers iron out complex challenges, such as how to reflect mergers and acquisitions or split out UK-specific reporting from current global reporting commitments.
We’re proud to be leading the way by publishing this data and demonstrating the progress that food and drink manufacturers are making to help consumers make healthier choices. Ensuring we have a stable regulatory environment and consistent reporting metrics will ensure we can go even further.
I would be delighted to meet to discuss how industry can support government in delivering mandatory healthier food sales reporting and the further dietary change that we believe is possible.
Karen Betts OBE
Chief Executive
Participating companies:
Carlsberg Britvic
Danone North Europe
KP Snacks Limited
Nomad Foods
Premier Foods plc
