A legal guidance, urging retailers in England to offer deals and discounts to consumers on minimally processed and nutritious food, was dropped after a lobbying campaign by some of the ultra-processed food firms, revealed a recent media report.
Department of Health and Social Care issued advice to thousands of shops, supermarkets, online retailers and other businesses to help them comply with the law.
The guidance said, “The aim of this policy is to shift the balance of promotions towards healthier options – such as minimally processed and nutritious food.”
This included, for example, discounts or extra loyalty points on fruit, vegetables, whole grains, fresh meat and fish.
However, a recent report by The Guardian claims that the healthy food push was "dropped after the Food and Drink Federation, which represents corporations including Nestlé, Mondelēz, Coca-Cola, Mars and Unilever, repeatedly demanded the government ditch it".
The U-turn occurred on June 1 2023 under former prime minister Rishi Sunak’s government, stated the media report. The change remains in the current government’s guidance being issued to retailers ahead of the HFSS law change in October.
As can be seen in the mails obtained by Cathy Cliff, campaigns coordinator at the Soil Association, FDF, which represents firms with a combined annual turnover of more than £112bn, lobbied the DHSC to drop the guidance pushing retailers to promote minimally processed and nutritious food.
In the current version of the document in reference to HFSS restrictions, there is no reference to ‘minimally processed’ food.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This change took place under the previous government. This government is committed to tackling obesity and building a healthier Britain.
“We are taking action to end the targeting of junk food adverts to children across TV and online and we have handed local authorities stronger powers to block applications for takeaways near schools. We are also commissioning research to improve the evidence on the health impacts of UPF.”
An FDF spokesperson said, “FDF regularly engages with government on behalf of food and drink manufacturers, on regulation that underpins nutrition, food safety and food security; as well as on how we play our part in helping people follow healthier diets.
“In the instance cited, we asked the government to phrase their business guidance on new HFSS regulations in a way that was consistent with that legislation. We were concerned that references to processing in the guidance, which was not covered in the legislation, would cause confusion.”
