Make healthy food more appealing, government tells supermarkets

Food businesses must make it easier for customers to buy healthy food, under new government plans announced on Sunday.

Supermarkets and food manufacturers in England will partner with the government to tackle obesity rates by encouraging people to make their weekly shop healthier.

Ministers say it will be up to food retailers to decide how they do that, but it could involve offering promotions on healthy food, tweaking loyalty points to incentivise healthy options, or changing shop layouts.

The shadow work and pensions secretary said it was not up to the government to tell people what to buy, describing the mandatory government targets as "nanny state".

Alongside the new partnership, the government said it would also:

It is hoped the new guidance will reduce people's sugar and calorie intake overall.

The government cited research showing that cutting just 50 calories a day would lift 340,000 children and two million adults out of obesity.

If everyone who is overweight reduced their calorie intake by just 216 calories a day, which is equivalent to a single bottle of fizzy drink, obesity would be halved, researchers said.

This is not the first time the government has sought voluntary partnerships with industry. Over the last 20 years there has been numerous food reformulation programmes aimed at reducing salt, sugar and calories in certain foods.

Success has been mixed with a push to reduce sugar in certain foods by 20% between 2015 and 2020 falling well short.

Sarah Woolnough, from The King's Fund think tank, said while welcome, the impact of the scheme may be limited.

“A lot of less healthy food and drink is purchased from local convenience shops and takeaways.

“The stark fact remains that unhealthy food is far cheaper and more readily available and so unless this change is part of a wider, comprehensive strategy it will not be enough.”

Additional reporting by Rachel Muller-Heyndyk