Food Industry Warns Healthy Rules Shake-Up Could Push Up Prices

Britain’s food and drink industry has warned that government plans to tighten healthy food rules could increase costs, reduce investment and pull a wider range of everyday products into restrictions designed to tackle obesity.

According to the Financial Times, businesses are pushing back against proposed changes to the UK’s Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM), the scoring system used to decide which foods and drinks are classed as “less healthy” for the purposes of advertising and in-store promotion rules.

The model assesses products according to a balance of nutrients including energy, fat, salt, sugar, fibre, protein and fruit or vegetable content. The government has argued that the existing system is outdated and needs to reflect more recent dietary guidance, particularly around free sugars and fibre.

However, industry leaders fear the new approach could have unintended consequences for products many consumers may not automatically regard as unhealthy, including fruit juices, yoghurt compotes and some breakfast cereals.

The FT reported that companies have warned the changes risk adding further pressure to a sector already facing higher wage costs, packaging taxes, tougher recycling rules and wider inflationary pressures across the supply chain.

The proposed update would not simply affect how foods are classified. It could determine whether certain products can be promoted in shops, placed near tills or advertised on television before the watershed.

That has alarmed food and drink manufacturers, who say they have already spent heavily reformulating products to reduce salt, sugar and calories, while adapting to new restrictions on high fat, salt and sugar food advertising and store placement rules.

The Food and Drink Federation has pointed to recent data showing that its members contribute 18 per cent less salt, 19 per cent less sugar and 17 per cent fewer calories to the British grocery market compared with 2021, according to the FT.

Innocent Drinks, which could be affected by the revised model because of the treatment of fruit-based drinks and free sugars, said the rules would “add another layer of complexity and confusion for consumers and businesses”.

The dispute comes as ministers continue to face pressure over food affordability. A separate government proposal to encourage supermarkets to introduce voluntary food price caps was recently shelved following strong opposition from retailers.

Health campaigners, however, argue that the government should not dilute measures aimed at tackling poor diets and childhood obesity. Katharine Jenner, executive director of the Obesity Health Alliance, told the FT there should be “no trade-off between public health measures and the affordability of food”.

The Department of Health and Social Care says the updated model reflects the recommendations of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition and is intended to bring policy into line with current dietary advice.

Government documents state that children are consuming double the recommended amount of free sugars, while average fibre intakes remain around half the recommended level.

The consultation on applying the updated model to advertising and promotion restrictions is due to close later this month.

For the food industry, the concern is that a policy intended to improve public health could also reshape how familiar products are marketed, promoted and positioned in stores.