Government, retailers and manufacturers are joining forces in move that should boost fruit and veg sales
Food retailers and manufacturers will “make the healthy choice the easy choice” in what is being described a world-first partnership between government and industry to tackle the obesity epidemic and ease pressure on the NHS.
As part of the government’s forthcoming 10 Year Health Plan, large retailers including supermarkets will be set a new standard to make the average shopping basket of goods sold slightly healthier.
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.
Major problem of obesity
Public health experts believe cutting the calorie count of a daily diet by just 50 calories would lift 340,000 children and two million adults out of obesity. They say that if everyone who is overweight reduced their calorie intake by just 216 calories a day, equivalent to a single bottle of fizzy drink, obesity would be halved.
Obesity is one of the root causes of diabetes, heart disease and cancer. With the UK now having the third-highest rate of adult obesity in Europe, it remains a critical public health challenge, costing the NHS £11.4 billion a year, three times the NHS budget for ambulance services.
Obesity rates have doubled since the 1990s, including among children. A forthcoming report by the chief medical officer will show that more than one in five children are living with obesity by the time they leave primary school, rising to almost one in three in areas with higher levels of poverty and deprivation.
It follows the government setting out in recent days a number of measures to tackle rapidly growing health inequalities, including investing more in working class communities where health disparities are greatest, and rapid action on the maternal mortality gaps in black, Asian and working-class communities.
Focus on prevention
The government says that through its Plan for Change, it is shifting the focus from treatment to prevention and creating a more active state – working with partners to make the healthy choice the easy choice – and a transition of the NHS from a sickness service to a prevention service.
Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said: “Obesity has doubled since the 1990s and costs our NHS £11 billion a year, triple the budget for ambulance services. Unless we curb the rising tide of cost and demand, the NHS risks becoming unsustainable.
“The good news is that it only takes a small change to make a big difference. If everyone who is overweight reduced their calorie intake by around 200 calories a day – the equivalent of a bottle of fizzy drink – obesity would be halved.
“This government’s ambition for kids today is for them to be part of the healthiest generation of children ever. That is within our grasp. With the smart steps we’re taking today, we can give every child a healthy start to life.
“Our brilliant supermarkets already do so much work for our communities and are trying to make their stores heathier, and we want to work with them and other businesses to create a level playing field. Through our new healthy food standard, we will make the healthy choice the easy choice, because prevention is better than cure.”
Environment secretary Steve Reed stressed that Britain has some of the best farmers, growers, food manufacturers and retailers in the world, meaning there is more choice than ever before on shelves.
“It is vital for the nation that the food industry delivers healthy food, that is available, affordable and appealing,” he continued. “Our food strategy will bring together the health plan, food producers and retailers to make sure we can feed the nation more healthily while growing the economic success of our food sector.
“The policy will see all big food businesses report on healthy food sales. This will set full transparency and accountability around the food that businesses are selling and encourage healthier products.
“The government will then set targets to increase the healthiness of sales in communities across the UK and work with the Food Strategy Advisory Board on the sequencing of this policy.”
Retailer backing
Supermarkets have thrown their support behind the new initiative. Ken Murphy, Tesco group CEO, said: “All food businesses have a critical part to play in providing good quality, affordable and healthy food. At Tesco, we have measured and published our own healthier food sales for a number of years now – we believe it is key to more evidence-led policy and better-targeted health interventions.
“That’s why we have called for mandatory reporting for all supermarkets and major food businesses and why we welcome the government’s announcement on this. We look forward to working with them on the detail of the Healthy Food Standard and its implementation by all relevant food businesses.”
Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts said: “We’re passionate about making good food joyful, accessible and affordable for everyone and have been championing the need for mandatory health reporting, across the food industry for many years.
“Today’s announcement from government is an important and positive step forward in helping the nation to eat well. We need a level playing field across the entirety of our food sector for these actions to have a real and lasting impact.
“We look forward to working across government and our wider industry on the further development of these policies and in helping to drive improved health outcomes across our nation.”
And Giles Hurley, CEO of Aldi UK, added: “At Aldi our mission has always been to make good healthy food affordable for all and we welcome today’s government announcement. From our Super 6 offers on fresh fruit and vegetables, to our partnership with TeamGB and ParalymicsGB, we know how important a nutritious diet is for our customers.
“We will continue to report on our healthier food sales and look forward to working with the government and industry to ensure customers always have access to healthy affordable food.”
