The move by Carlsberg Britvic, Danone, KP Snacks, Nomad Foods and Premier Foods was announced in a letter to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
The companies have pledged to publish healthy food sales data and have also called on Downing Street to work with industry to implement a mandatory reporting system for all food and drink businesses during this parliament.
Any such move would make the UK the first country in the world to introduce mandatory healthy food sales reporting across its food system.
The five companies, alongside the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), say the approach would provide a consistent and transparent way of tracking progress towards healthier diets.
Karen Betts, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), said: “We share the government’s ambition to improve diets across the country, and we believe that the data and transparency that reporting will bring will incentivise companies to double down on progress, and give government a valuable tool to measure the impact of health policies.
“Food and drink manufacturers have a strong track record of making everyday foods better for us, and we’re determined to keep that progress going. That’s why we’re not waiting for regulation, but starting to report now on data that companies already hold.”
She continued: “In this way, this group of early movers can test the best ways to collate and report data to support our broader sector and government in informing any future legislation.”
The five signatories have also highlighted that, if government and industry are to meet the proposed timetable, manufacturers will need to use the current Nutrient Profiling Model, which is already used for existing high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) restrictions.
The manufacturers say the complexities associated with the more recent model would require them to develop a new set of measurements, which could delay reporting.
Nick Brown, director of environment, social and governance at Premier Foods, added: “Food companies can play a major role in improving the health credentials of the products they make and sell, from launching new healthier products, evolving existing recipes to make them healthier and being responsible about how we market and sell our products.
“Through disclosure, we have the opportunity to demonstrate the progress we are making and where further progress can be achieved, which is why we are proud to have already disclosed against metrics aligned to the UK Government’s Food Data Transparency Partnership.”
