A report by influential government advisers has called for Labour’s new food strategy to introduce a levy on HFSS food categories beyond soft drinks.
It says the money raised should be reinvested to subsidise initiatives to support affordable, healthy diets for the poorest families.
The proposal comes in a report today from the Food Foundation, which finds one in seven households with children are struggling to afford food, and millions of households are cutting down on fruit and veg consumption to save money.
Previous governments have resisted calls – such as those in Henry Dimbleby’s 2019 food strategy – to expand taxes on unhealthy food categories, for fear of driving up food prices. New ONS figures today showed food inflation fell in August for the first time since March
However, the Foundation, whose executive director Anna Taylor is one of the experts on the government’s Food Strategy Advisory Board (FSAB), says the backdrop of cost of living pressures has an unfair impact on the poorest families.
Tackling food insecurity
The Roadmap to Reducing Food Insecurity in the UK report proposes that the money from a “junk food” levy could be redirected to ensure millions of families have better food resilience and are less vulnerable to price changes.
It urges the Treasury and health secretary Wes Streeting to build on the success of the soft drinks sugar levy, by expanding the tax to other food categories such as confectionery.
“The Soft Drinks Industry Levy is a proven example – its sugar thresholds prompted reformulation, and the revenue has supported food and activity programmes for low-income families,” it says.
“Expanding this approach to other food categories could deliver similar benefits. However, any increases in food prices must be matched by reinvestment in nutritional safety nets to protect low-income households.”
The calls come with the soft drinks industry currently urging the government to drop plans to reduce the threshold of the soft drinks levy, which if approved would bring thousands more products under the tax.
But the Foundation says expanding the tax will reduce the vulnerability of families to price changes by enabling measures to reduce the price of healthier alternatives.
A new food bill
Elsewhere in today’s report, the foundation calls on ministers to salvage plans for a food bill as part of its food strategy.
It described the strategy, which launched in December, as a major opportunity to tackle the affordability of food and food insecurity by enabling measures which secure long-term affordability of nutritious food.
In July The Grocer exclusively revealed that plans for a food bill to be introduced next year, to provide regulation to back the measures it comes up with, had been dropped after the intervention of the prime minister and the Treasury because they were worried about the impact of food prices.
Food minister Daniel Zeichner, who headed up the strategy, was later sacked by the PM in his recent reshuffle.
Today’s report claims that without government legislation the poorest families will be increasingly exposed to the impact of price rises from factors such as climate change.
The report says: “The food strategy has the potential to create real momentum and the needed incentives across the system, but securing the long-term affordability of nutritious food requires a long-term vision and commitment as the backbone of a ‘good food cycle’.
“This can only be achieved through legislation, for instance as a food bill, which can set targets for national and household food security.”
The foundation said it was vital the government prioritises tackling the impact of climate change on food prices, warning vulnerable families are growing ever more vulnerable to inflation caused by commodity shortages.
It said there was increasing evidence of severe weather events disrupting crop yields, damaging supply chains, and driving up the cost of food.
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