According to the Food and Drink Federation’s (FDF), its members’ products - making up quarter of all food and drink sold in the UK - now have almost a third less salt (31%) and sugar (30%) and a quarter (24%) fewer calories compared to a decade ago.
Against the UK’s obesity crisis, brands are making it easier for people to eat more healthily, with around £180 million invested into healthier product innovation in 2024. This includes modifying recipes to reduce sugar, calories and salt, developing new healthier products, and changing portion sizes.
For example, more than half of the Ben’s Original and Dolmio’s ready-to-eat meal range provides at least one portion of vegetables. Meanwhile, Bird’s Eye’s new ‘Steamfresh’ range has added over 3.5 million additional portions of vegetables to the nation’s plates since its launch under than a year ago.
PepsiCo has also made changes, with its Doritos products seeing its salt and fat levels lower by 18% and 14% respectively. This followed a £13 million investment in R&D and new machinery to make changes to the cooking process and recipe.
The FDF is now calling on the government to take ‘bold’ and ‘coordinated’ action to support food manufacturers in shifting dietary habits, including mandatory reporting on the sales of healthier and less healthy products across manufacturing, retail and hospitality.
It joins the ever-growing chorus of voices from the sector in favour of this, including the Food Foundation, Morrisons, Danone, Waitrose, and Tesco. Mandatory health reporting was also among the recommendations laid out by the House of Lords health and obesity committee last year following evidence of almost 700 failed polices to tackle obesity in England.
Alongside reporting, the FDF is also encouraging the roll-out of a more consistent approach to health policy across the entire food chain, so consumers have access to the same, clear information and can make more informed choices.
Henry Dimbleby, co-founder of Bramble Partners – who advocated for mandatory health reporting in his national food strategy – congratulated Karen Betts, chief executive at the FDF.
“I have had my disagreements with The Food and Drink Federation in the past. But this is great leadership from Karen Betts. This will have been hard to broker with her members,” the former UK Government food tsar wrote in a recent Linked In post.
With 41% of food and drink manufacturers looking to scale back investment as they navigate rising cost and regulatory pressures, the FDF says government must provide more R&D funding and science support for the sector so investment into healthier products can continue. This includes through bolstering existing R&D tax credits, grants and capital allowance schemes.
The federation also flags the Scottish Government’s Reformulation for Health programme as a big win and calls on the UK Government to follow suit. A fund of £4 million for such a scheme would transform SMEs’ ability in the UK to engage in healthier product innovation by mitigating costs and creating a network of expertise and support, according to the FDF.
“Food and drink manufacturers are playing a quiet but vital role in helping people achieve balanced diets amid the pressures of busy lives. Companies have made major progress in slashing the calories, salt and sugar in everyday food and drink – making the food people love better for them, alongside hugely expanding the range of healthy options,” said Betts
“But tackling poor diets and lifestyles is a complex issue and needs a more joined-up approach. We’re calling on the government today to work in a more structured partnership with the entire food industry to deliver change.
“It has a clear opportunity to do this in its upcoming Food Strategy, where we hope to see health policies that support industry to go further, and are consistent across existing regulation and across all parts of the sector. Rethinking this challenge, with holistic and coordinated action, will help us truly move the needle on this critical health challenge.”
