House of Lords Food, Diet and Obesity Committee Report

Background

The Committee held an inquiry earlier this year to review current obesity issues and recommend interventions for Government. I gave evidence alongside a number of other industry groups and NGOs. It was the first, comprehensive inquiry into obesity for some time and covered everything from reformulation and labelling to UPFs and composition issues. The full report is available here

Summary

The recommendations are not entirely surprising, including mandatory reformulation, mandatory reporting of sales and new taxes. They do align with our position on the need for more research on the role of UPFs in the diet and whether further intervention is needed and also supports a comprehensive food strategy.

Key Recommendations

A Strategy for Food and Obesity. The report calls for a comprehensive food strategy, that includes a focus on nutrition and health. It recommends the FSA should have responsibility for obesity strategy, including monitoring progress and reporting on progress. The obesity strategy should be more interventionist to implement mandatory action focused on reducing HFSS foods in the diet. It also suggests excluding businesses with a high proportion of HFSS sales from policy discussions.

Action on UPFs. It recommends further research to understand the potential role of UPFs in poor diets. More immediately, it suggests Government should consider its advice on consumption of UPFs through SACN and the Eatwell Guide. It also more vaguely suggests the Government should take action to ensure consumers cook more from scratch.

Industry Regulation. Government should introduce mandatory reporting of healthier/unhealthier sales. It should also introduce mandatory targets for reformulation, supported by new salt and sugar taxes. Finally, there should be mandatory front of pack labelling in all businesses, including out of home.

Healthier High Streets. It calls for local planning and licencing powers to restrict the number of food outlets. It wants more restrictions on price and location promotions in all retail outlets, including out of home businesses.

Next Steps

We will wait to see if and how the Government responds to the report. Currently, there isn’t an indication Government will intervene more than the announced plans on the advertising ban and planning permission for out of home outlets as part of its wider review.

We will continue to call for a comprehensive food strategy that brings together policy on food, both across Whitehall and the UK, to deliver an affordable, healthy, sustainable supply chain. As part of that we recognise an obesity strategy has to embrace all parts of the food industry, although the interventions and actions may be different to reflect different markets. It is also worth noting, obesity is a devolved issue and we are engaging directly with the Scottish and Welsh Governments on their plans. We will also follow further research on UPFs to give members updates on future consumer dietary advice.