MPs Put Fruit And Vegetables At Heart Of Obesity Strategy

Fruit and vegetables should be given prominent positions in supermarkets, healthy food sales should be measured and enforced, and the NHS Healthy Start scheme expanded, according to a series of proposals from MPs who are calling for a bold food policy overhaul to tackle England’s obesity crisis.

The Health and Social Care Committee has published a wide-ranging report urging the government to prioritise obesity prevention and reshape the food environment to make healthier choices easier, while standing up to lobbying from the food and drink industry.

For the fresh produce sector, the Food and Weight Management: Fixing the food environment report places fruit and vegetables at the centre of several of its key recommendations.

Give Fruit And Vegetables Greater Retail Prominence

The Committee is calling for an update to the Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021 by January 2027 to require retailers to place fruit and vegetables in “prominent in-store locations”, including store entrances and checkouts.

The recommendation follows evidence from the Centre for Food Policy that increasing the availability and visibility of healthier foods (on aisle ends, entrances, and check-outs) while reducing the prominence of less healthy products leads to healthier purchasing patterns. 

The report cites research showing “modest, but important benefits” from improved product placement.

During a trial in 36 discount supermarkets, researchers from the Centre for Food Policy found that placing fruit and vegetables near store entrances led to approximately 2,525 extra portions of fruit and vegetables being purchased per store, per week. 

In addition, the Committee recommends extending the definition of a ‘prominent location on a website’ so that a retailer's ‘special offers’ pages are covered by the regulations.

Mandatory Healthy Sales Reporting

MPs are also pressing the government to introduce mandatory healthy sales reporting for supermarkets without further delay – as proposed in the 10-Year Health Plan.

The report backs plans for supermarkets to report the proportion of healthy food they sell and meet government-set targets, with enforcement overseen by the Food Standards Agency.

The Committee recommends that targets for major supermarkets should be introduced within the next 12 months, followed by the wider food industry during this Parliament. 

It also proposes a strict enforcement regime, such as financial penalties on a sliding scale, suggesting that any revenues could be used potentially by government to make healthy food more affordable.

In addition, MPs said retailers should report the number of promotions offered on HFSS (high fat, sugar and salt) products, such as ‘buy one get one free’, compared with healthier foods such as fruit and vegetables.

Healthy Start Scheme Expansion

The Committee also recommends strengthening the NHS Healthy Start scheme, which provides prepaid cards for pregnant women and low-income families to purchase healthy food like fruits and vegetables, as well as milk, and infant formula.

While welcoming the increased payment rates introduced for 2026/27, MPs say eligibility should be extended until children start school, removing the current gap between a child’s fourth birthday and school entry.

The MPs also recommend annual reviews of payment levels, a government awareness campaign within three months to improve uptake, and the publication of annual participation data.

Fresh Produce Still Underrepresented In Advertising

When it comes to current food advertising, the report highlights an imbalance between healthy and unhealthy food. 

Between August 2024 and July 2025 almost £680 million was spent advertising food and soft drinks across television, radio, and outdoor media.

Products such as sweets, chocolate, and crisps accounted for 29% of that spend, while fruit and vegetables represented just 3%.

MPs recommend strengthening existing HFSS advertising restrictions by bringing brand and range advertising within scope of the existing ban, banning all outdoor advertising of HFSS products by July 2027, and consulting on tighter controls for other forms of advertising, including social media.

Wider Food Policy Reforms

The Committee also recommends mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling using the familiar traffic light system by January 2028, stronger planning powers to restrict new fast-food outlets near schools, and changes to government policymaking to reduce the influence of food businesses whose sales are dominated by less healthy products.

The report argues that decades of obesity policy have been weakened by delays and lobbying from sections of the food industry.

Overall, the central message is a need to tackle England’s escalating obesity crisis through prevention, pointed out Health and Social Care Committee Chair Layla Moran MP.

“That means bearing down on environmental factors that push people to eat unhealthily – that coerce struggling families to buy their children products that fill them up without nourishing them,” Moran emphasised. 

“That is why the government’s food policy needs an overhaul. Perversely, the worst options are the cheapest while the healthiest are harder to access.

Moran said that attitudes of obesity being purely down failings by the individual are outdated, and deny the reality of those living with obesity and excess weight in this country needs robust challenge.

“We ask this government to be bold, not to fudge and delay food restrictions,” she stated. 

While the Committee acknowledges that policy changes to the food industry will incur costs, it described them as “marginal” compared to the huge costs of inaction on obesity to society, the economy, and the health service. 

“The real cost is measured in how many people suffer preventable diseases linked to being overweight or malnourished,” Moran lamented. “The government needs to dig deep and prioritise the long-term health of generations to come.”

Citing NHS England, the report notes that in 2024, 30% of adults in England were living with obesity and a further 36% were overweight, while 28% of children aged 13 to 15 were overweight or obese.

The Department of Health and Social Care estimates that obesity costs the UK economy £74.3 billion annually.

Read the Committee’s full report here.