One of the country’s biggest food firms has said ministers should consider taxing products high in fat, sugar or salt to combat the obesity crisis.
Danone UK & Ireland, which sells the Actimel yogurt drink brand, says government intervention is required to ensure consumers are offered healthier products. It says some food firms in the UK have not shown “enough appetite to change”.
James Mayer, president of Danone UK & Ireland, said: “The UK food industry’s efforts to improve the health profile of its products have not moved fast enough.
We’ve reached a point where meaningful intervention from the government is a necessary course of action.”
It’s the first time a major food company has called for urgent government action in the face of rising rates of obesity. The Health Survey for England for 2021 reported 64% of adults were overweight or obese.
The intervention by Danone UK & Ireland comes after Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, said last week that the latest drugs to combat obesity could be a “gamechanger”. Ministers are now under pressure over whether they could take more effective action to prevent obesity.
Henry Dimbleby, the government’s former adviser on food, resigned earlier this year, saying ministers had failed to impose the required regulations on the food industry. A proposed ban on television adverts of sugary and fatty foods before 9pm was postponed until October 2025.
Mayer said: “It is time for the government to move from a policy that favours caution to one that sets clear parameters for the industry and consumers as to what constitutes a healthy product.
“We see this as the only way industry as a whole will be incentivised to move towards healthier, more sustainable products. This is likely to involve moving faster on food and beverage data sharing and transparency, finally introducing restrictions on advertising of products [high in fat, sugar or salt] and looking at how VAT rates can be aligned to the health credentials of products.”
The company says it does not want overall shopping costs to rise, but believes there should be a review of taxes to consider whether healthier products could be incentivised and sugar and fat-laden products taxed.
Under the current arrangements, most groceries are exempt from VAT. Exceptions include ice cream, soft drinks and some biscuits. Danone said ministers should consider whether VAT could be imposed on more products high in fat, sugar or salt.
The French multinational once owned popular biscuits brands, including Lu biscuits, but sold its biscuit and cereal snack unit to Kraft Food in 2007, which was renamed Mondelez five years later. The company now promotes its healthier food brands and drinksproducts, which include Volvic mineral water. It has reformulated products and says 90% of its UK portfolio of products by sales volume is not high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS), and has committed not to produce such products for children.
Campaigners have accused the wider food industry of not moving fast enough to reformulate foods and promote healthier options. Food giant Nestlé faced criticism last month over the launch of its KitKat breakfast cereal, containing nearly 25% sugar. The brand is promoted with a large logo of the popular confectionery bar.
Campaigners from Sustain, the Obesity Health Alliance and other organisations
complained that the product’s promotion, which described it as “nutritious”, was “deeply irresponsible”. It said the UK government had successive opportunities to take “the flood of unhealthy food”, but had failed to take appropriate action.
Nestlé UK & Ireland responded that it devoted significant resources to developing healthier and more sustainable brands, and it intended to expand the more nutritious part of its portfolio. It said the word “nutritious” to promote its new KitKat cereal had been removed from its global website.
A Nestlé spokespersonNestlé told the Observer it had worked hard to ensure 84% of its UK cereal portfolio was non-HFSS and it now reported the nutritional value of its entire global product range. “We have also been consistent that we are open to the idea of effective regulation in the UK that drives proper innovation in our sector and has the desired health outcomes that we all wish to see,” said the company.
Professor Graham MacGregor, who chairs the campaign group Action on Sugar, said it was “crazy” that the government was failing to effectively regulate the food industry while preparing to spend what may turn out to be billions of pounds onvast sums on new drugs to combat obesity.
He said: “We live in an environment where it’s very difficult not to be obese and the government has got to control the food industry. It’s remarkable that a food company is now asking for more regulation.”
The government says it has already restricted the display locations of unhealthy foods in supermarkets and is set to introduce regulations on will soon be regulating multi-buy deals such as “buy one, get one free” in October.
A spokesperson for the Food and Drink Federation said: “Food and drink manufacturers are committed to improving the nutritional profile of food and drinks. An additional tax on food manufacturers will not help them to reformulate. It will only add to the financial burden they are already facing.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have taken firm action to tackle unhealthy foods, including by restricting the location of foods high in fat, sugar or salt, which will bring health benefits of over £57bn and save the NHS £4bn. “Our sugar reduction programme has delivered dramatic reductions in the amount of sugar in foods eaten by children – including a 14.9% decrease in the sugar content of breakfast cereals and a 13.5% reduction in the sugar content of yogurts and fromage frais.
“We will continue to work closely with industry to make it easier for people to make healthier choices and support people already living with obesity to lose weight.”