It’s been described by the IGD as the biggest government intervention since rationing was introduced during the Second World War.
And with the clock ticking down to the midnight deadline on 17 June for responses to the government’s consultation on shifting to the new 2018 nutrient profiling model, a full-blown battle royal is brewing.
Yet, despite the seismic implications of “moving the goalposts” on what qualifies as HFSS, IGD warns there is still a huge lack of awareness among food & drink companies about the plans bearing down on them like a slow, doom-laden freight train.
It is believed thousands of food & drink companies remain completely unaware of what is on the horizon, let alone in any sort of position to prepare for it. That will include working out how to tackle major challenges such as a switch to a new definition of free sugars – for which there are currently no recognised labels or even an agreed method of calculation.
They now have a maximum of 300 words with which to record their responses by next week. Good luck with that one.
A rude awakening
Ignorance, is, of course, no defence in law. And the view taken by health campaign groups is that this change has been nearly two decades in the making, after the last government shelved the proposals because of the potential economic impact – so lack of preparation and readiness is no excuse at all, especially when the proposal is predicted to prevent 120,000 causes of adult obesity each year.
Yet one only has to look at the chaos the UK government as a whole is currently in to question what lies ahead for these plans and whether there is any chance that a new NPM and mandatory health reporting could realistically in place before the end of this Parliament.
Companies who tuned in to an IGD webinar on the subject today were certainly on the receiving end of some pretty gut-wrenching numbers and timeframes.
Perhaps the most nerve shredding of all was that it is currently being suggested that the new NPM could be in operation as early as September next year, with a system of mandatory health reporting for all large food businesses to follow by April 2028.
As one of the organisations putting in its consultation responses, the FDF is all too aware of what’s coming down the line. It claims that if the government does press ahead with the move to the new NPM it could have disastrous consequences for hundreds, if not thousands of products that have been reformulated at great cost under the old system.
Today it produced new research from FDF members, showing that they contribute 18% less salt, 19% less sugar and 17% fewer calories than they did in 2021, with the data showing the NPM score of FDF members’ products had improved by 13% in the same time period.
The millions of pounds invested, says the FDF, may as well have been washed down the drain if the government does adopt the 2018 NPM, which according to scientists at the University of Leeds, will mean around 6% more products will be classified as HFSS, including the likes of deserts, yoghurts, cereals and fruit juices.
A survey of 45,000 retail products by the boffins revealed that under the new model, 75% fewer drinks would be classified as non-HFSS, 11% fewer breakfast cereals and 5% yoghurts, dairy and egg products.
If those figures doesn’t shake companies into awareness, then nothing will.
Between now and next Wednesday, it is expected the government will be inundated with evidence from the industry calling for a u-turn, with supermarket CEOs already holding face-to-face talks with Chancellor Rachel Reeves calling for intervention.
Few would bet heavily on what will happen next. But if the government does press ahead with its plans, those who remain blissfully unaware of these changes (for now) could be in for a rude awakening.
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