Is Tesco’s call for mandatory reporting on healthy food sales a tipping point?

Tesco sparked what some believe could be a pivotal moment in the war on obesity last week.

In an open letter to health secretary Wes Streeting, CEO Ken Murphy called for mandatory reporting on the healthiness of products for all large food retailers and manufacturers.

The scale of the obesity challenge is so great, he claims, that individual actions by retailers and manufacturers are no longer enough, and the government must step in with regulation.

The move, revealed by The Grocer, came a week after the junk food ad ban was delayed until next year, while the government’s new food strategy is yet to properly take shape.

So could Tesco’s intervention, along with its high-profile charity partners, point the way ahead for a huge shake-up, or is the food industry trying to avert more draconian measures?

Murphy’s letter, repeatedly citing Henry Dimbleby’s 2021 National Food Strategy report, calls for mandatory reporting of sales of “healthier” products for all supermarkets and major food businesses, using “agreed and consistent” metrics.

It follows a summit at the supermarket’s Welwyn Garden City HQ with Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK.

Tesco claims it is on track to meet a self-imposed target of 65% of healthy basket sales by the end of this year but says the war on obesity will be lost unless the industry is made more transparent.

It is not the first supermarket to support mandatory reporting.

In October 2023, both Asda and Sainsbury’s backed mandatory reporting to “level the playing field” at the Labour Party’s conference in Liverpool.

Asda chief commercial officer Kris Comerford told delegates ministers needed to “set the mission”, allowing the industry to respond with the methodology.

At the same conference, Sainsbury’s indicated it would prefer a regulatory approach, rather than the swathe of voluntary targets the industry has faced under Andrew Lansley’s responsibility deal and PHE’s equally ineffective reformulation programme.

For Labour, which has struggled to live up to its promises to get tough on the food industry, Tesco’s intervention could signal a way out of a fix.

Its decision to delay the HFSS advertising clampdown, to allow interpretation of the legislation to be clarified, angered campaigners, while the party has struggled to come up with any landmark industry-facing obesity policies of its own.

Industry agreement

Meanwhile, several leading food companies have already agreed, on a voluntary basis, to the reporting system Tesco now wants mandated.

In February last year, The Grocer reported that plans including reporting on the percentage of sales made up of HFSS foods, fruit & veg, and protein types (animal and plant) were scheduled for release in May, under proposals drawn up by the Food Data Transparency Partnership (FDTP).

Supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, and suppliers such as Nestlé, Mars and General Mills, baulked at the idea of mandatory reporting.

Plans for companies to report on the percentage of revenue that comes from sales of HFSS products were also ditched in the talks, along with plans for reporting on total calories produced and total sugar sold by volume, plus similar measures for salt and saturated fat.

With the FDTP having seemingly survived the new government, supporters claim it would be relatively easy for Labour to revive those plans and go a step further than Tesco’s call, while pleasing the health lobby.

“The heavy lifting has been done,” claims Elaine Hindal, CEO of the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF). Hindal was part of the FDTP talks and claims Tesco’s intervention is a golden opportunity for the government to stamp its mark on public health in a way the industry will sign up to.

“I don’t think anyone should underestimate how big a step this would be,” she adds. “The potential for these businesses to drive change at scale is enormous and I would be very disappointed if the government doesn’t latch on to this and make use of the work that’s already been done.

“It needs a sensible on ramp timeframe to give companies time, and crucially it must address the out-of-home sector, not just supermarkets and big food manufacturers.

“But the basis for a system is already there. I don’t even think there needs to be a further debate on the metrics.”

Yet such a prospect of collaboration could also alarm health campaigners and many Labour MPs, given the House of Lords’ landmark report on obesity in October last year. Among its central recommendations were that the food industry be excluded from talks on setting public health policy, along with taxes on HFSS foods that could later be extended to UPF foods.

And what does Tesco’s call say of the industry’s position?

“When we went through it with the FDTP, it was clear that most of the big companies could get behind reporting in some form, but framed around reporting rather than setting targets,” a source tells The Grocer.

“I’m not seeing anything that makes me think otherwise.”

A legal source suggests Tesco’s letter is an “orchestrated” move by the food industry, fronted by its biggest player, to show that it is serious about tackling obesity without having to face targets or taxes.

“There’s obviously been a lot of manoeuvring, and I feel it’s linked to the HFSS advertising stuff given the timing,” the source says.

“This is Tesco, perhaps on behalf of the industry, trying to show they are still the good guys, having been seen to have pushed for the ad ban delay.

“It also raises the question, where exactly is the government going on HFSS?

“If you take the view that there has been some orchestration behind the scenes, does that suggest that mandatory reporting is the thing the government is going to do?”

Yet without official targets, could introducing mandatory reporting leave Labour open to further accusations that it is caving in to the food industry?

The BNF’s Hindal denies the FDTP’s blueprint would mean the industry effectively “marking its own homework”.

“In my experience the work the FDTP has done was very much driven by the government,” she claims.

“We would love to see food companies setting targets but we don’t believe that targets should be mandatory. You have to understand the huge complexity of doing that and the challenges the industry has.

“The danger is if it doesn’t get support from the industry, whereas having a percentage of volume sales that are non HFSS according to the government’s nutrient profile is something that everyone should be able to sign up to.”

Adjudicator-style powers

Some believe that, like the Groceries Code Adjudicator’s annual table of retailer compliance, having an annual report form on health would force change without targets.

But it is not just an Adjudicator-style report that some are asking for, but also the same sort of fining powers.

Influential health body Nesta, one of those with a seat on the government’s new Food Strategy Advisory Board (FSAB), says supermarkets should face huge fines if they fail to hit average health scores across their range of products, under a new system of targets, overseen by the Food Standards Agency.

“The UK is now at a crucial moment where retailers like Tesco are calling out for this change,” says Lauren Bowes Byatt, deputy director of healthy life at Nesta.

“Businesses need a level playing field to do their bit, by helping people to make healthier choices.

“We hope this momentum continues and leads to the adoption of policies that could make a real difference, such as mandatory health targets for retailers.”

FSAB member and FSA chair Susan Jebb, the prominent obesity professor and one-time boss of the Responsibility Deal Network, has long pushed for tougher measures against the industry.

Meanwhile, the Food Foundation, whose chief Anna Taylor also sits on the FSAB, wants Streeting to bring in both mandatory reporting and targets.

Rebecca Tobi, senior business and investor engagement manager at the foundation, says: “Mandatory reporting is an absolutely critical foundation for shifting diets towards more healthy and sustainable patterns.

“Good data drives good decision making for both industry and government, so it’s very welcome to see Tesco showing real leadership in publicly calling for the government to bring in mandatory reporting on healthy sales data.

“As Defra continue to work on a food strategy, we would strongly urge them to implement mandatory reporting as soon as possible, a policy which has widespread support not only from NGOs but also from investors and a large number of businesses.”

Tesco and its charity partners say they hope their intervention will be the catalyst for other companies to back the call.

“This letter to the secretary of state for health and social care is a joint call from Tesco and the three charity partners as part of our ongoing partnership,” the partnership told The Grocer.

“However, all major food businesses have a role in enabling people to eat a healthier diet, so we encourage other food companies to support the need for mandatory reporting as a key step towards this.

“With a new Food Strategy in the works, there is a clear opportunity for government to act on this swiftly. This would support their shift to prevention by helping to improve people’s diets and reducing the risk of diet-related illnesses.

“We recommend that the UK government builds on the work previously done as part of the National Food Strategy and later the FDTP.

“Although envisaged as a mandatory programme, it was later downgraded to a voluntary initiative. It is crucial that a future programme of reporting is mandatory.”

Despite reservations, leading health groups believe Tesco’s move could be game-changing.

Mandatory health reporting is a “vital and long-overdue step”, says Dr Kawther Hashem, head of research and impact at Action on Sugar .

“Voluntary measures have failed to shift the dial on obesity, and it’s clear the food industry needs strong, enforceable rules,” she says.

“We urge the government to act swiftly and decisively – transparency is the first step to meaningful change.”

Obesity Health Alliance director Katharine Jenner says: “Without transparency, we cannot hold companies to account for how they shape our food environments – or recognise those making meaningful improvements.

“It’s a pivotal moment when a major retailer acknowledges this responsibility.”

It will be even more pivotal if it results in more legislation affecting thousands of the UK’s biggest food companies as the government seeks to prove it is serious about tackling the obesity crisis.