London, UK – A new healthy food standard will be introduced for businesses and large supermarket chains in England, announced today by the UK government as part of its forthcoming 10-Year Health Plan.

Nesta has strongly welcomed the focus from government on the whole food system as well as mandatory rather than voluntary targets, recognising that business needs a level playing field.

The policy was initially developed by Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency - supported by the consumer group, Which?

In its report Nesta set out how a system of mandatory targets can work, initially focusing on supermarkets - because they have such a big impact on what we buy and what we eat and because there is an existing way to measure healthiness.

Collectively, the largest supermarket chains make up 95% of the grocery market - more than 80% of our calorie intake comes from supermarkets.

In its recommendations, Nesta said that a mandatory system of health targets should require the UK's largest supermarket chains to prioritise healthier food options and meet an industry-wide health target - but give each business the freedom to choose their own measures in order to hit the target.

Likely tactics will include tweaking recipes to reduce sugar, offering promotions on healthier options, and using online or store layouts to encourage the sale of healthier products.

Nesta set out how for each individual consumer the changes will be minor or imperceptible, but the cumulative effect of action at this scale will make a sizable difference to the nation’s health as a whole.

Nesta research estimates that implementing the policy could reduce obesity by around a fifth, helping more than three million people move to a healthier weight, representing a value to society of £17 billion per year.

• Changing in-store and online layouts to promote healthier food - for example, baked crisps rather than fried
• Small tweaks to recipes (like own-brand ‘ready meals’) to reduce the calorie content of products and add more vegetables
• Making healthier options more prominent through price promotions like buy-one-get-one-free, advertising and product placement
• Increasing the stock of healthier food in-store

Ravi Gurumurthy, CEO of Nesta, said: “Most of us want to lose weight and make healthier choices but the food that surrounds us makes that too hard. That’s why obesity has doubled since the 90s. This new standard focuses on lots of small changes in supermarkets - where we get 80% of our calories from. Nationally it could send obesity rates down by a fifth - through business and government working together to improve our health.”

Sue Davies, Which? Head of Food Policy, said: “Which? research has shown that people want retailers to do more to support them in making healthier choices. Six in 10 (60%) consumers said they support the government introducing health targets for supermarkets. Mandatory food targets will help to incentivise retailers to use the range of tactics available to them to make small but significant changes - making it easier for people to eat a balanced diet and lead healthier lives.”

The policy is backed by consumer protection group, Which? An independent assessment of the policy by Daniel Gordon, formerly Chief Economist at the UK Competition Commission, considered the financial impact of the system on shoppers. His assessment reported that the target should not have a significant impact on costs for businesses or the consumer.

Mr Gordon said, "Some retailers are already operating very close to the target and are likely to be able to meet the target with relatively little change needed to their current operations. A comparison of current performance suggests that those with more work to do can achieve this without significant detriment to their business."

Ends

About the policy

1. In order to calculate the appropriate health target, Nesta researchers first determined the healthiness of food sold across the UK's 11 leading supermarkets. They analysed 36 million transactions from 30,000 households and used a converted form of the Nutrient Profile model (widely used in public health and industry) to score purchases between 1 (the least healthy) and 100 (the most healthy). The average healthiness score of a shopping basket was 67.
2. They then modelled the effect on obesity, showing that an improvement in the average score of just two points - from 67 to 69 - would cut obesity by around a fifth over three years, helping more than three million people to achieve a healthier weight.
3. The change required (among people with excess weight) is roughly equivalent to around 80 kcal per person per day, or a single milk chocolate biscuit. Nine of the 11 supermarkets are already within two points of the target.
4. Nesta has recommended that the targets should be mandatory, but introduced on a timeline that gives retailers a few years to prepare. After this, retailers that fail to meet the threshold should be subject to a financial penalty, helping to make sure those who support their customers to eat healthily are not undercut by competitors. The targets would be underpinned by data reporting and supported by an expert body with enforcement powers.
5. In research for Nesta by More in Common, the majority (78%) recognise that supermarkets influence the food people buy and consume. This policy has public support - 63% of Britons think this is a ‘good idea’ with only 12% thinking it’s a bad idea. Even when presented with a very negative counter to the policy it had a 30% net approval score.

Note on NPM

We transformed raw NPM scores for the converted NPM target with a commonly used formula developed by the University of Oxford, which involves multiplying the raw NPM score by -2 and adding 70. Using this formula, a raw NPM score of 4 is equal to a converted NPM score of 62 (the threshold for a low converted NPM score, HFSS and ‘unhealthy’ classification). We have referred to this scaled NPM score as a ‘converted NPM score’ (see technical appendix for more details)

About obesity in the UK

1. In the UK, almost two-thirds of all adults are living with excess weight and obesity. People living with these conditions are much more likely to develop a range of chronic health conditions ranging from cancer and diabetes to depression.
2. This is not just a crisis for adults - levels of childhood obesity are among the highest in Europe, with more than one in 5 primary school-aged children now living with it.
3. Obesity is a leading cause of preventable death in the UK. It also reduces quality of life and reduces the number of years people can expect to live without illness.
4. Obesity costs the NHS more than £19 billion a year
5. Preventing obesity is critical to fixing the NHS. Preventing illness and disease from happening in the first place improves quality of life and costs far less than treating it once it occurs