Key advisers to the government’s obesity strategy have urged ministers to press ahead with mandatory health targets for supermarkets before extending them to large companies in the out-of-home sector.
A report published by the innovation foundation Nesta today claims that while extending targets to the biggest takeaways and restaurant chains would be viable in the future, they do not currently have the same advanced data monitoring systems as the UK’s biggest supermarkets. This meant the policy should be introduced in phases, it said.
However, supermarket bosses claim the lack of an even playing field would mean major OOH operators such as Costa, Greggs and Starbucks would be free to operate under different rules to supermarkets. They have urged ministers against creating a two-tier regulatory system.
The Grocer understands health secretary Wes Streeting is to shortly publish more details of a “world first” healthy food standard. It will include plans for a mandatory reporting system that Streeting has previously promised will be introduced for all large companies in the food sector by the end of the parliament.
Streeting has also promised to set mandatory targets under his 10-year strategy for the NHS, with Nesta’s model being supported by consumer group Which?, underpinning its proposals.
In February last year, Nesta proposed a system of mandatory targets for supermarkets, which would see them fined 1% of their annual turnover if they fail to comply. In the new report it urged ministers to push ahead with rolling out the scheme in supermarkets first before it could be rolled out more widely to other sectors.
Nesta’s report concludes that “mandatory health targets for the largest out-of-home businesses would be a feasible, commercially viable and impactful regulatory measure to help reduce obesity in the UK”.
It says OOH targets could reduce obesity by 2.5% over three years, translating into 320,000 fewer people living with obesity in the UK. It would also generate around £1.5bn in annual cost savings to society through reduced obesity costs, including to the NHS and improved productivity rates, it added.
However, the analysis of large OOH firms (defined as having over 250 employees) found data systems were not consistently in place to monitor or report the kinds of sales-weighted metrics that would be needed for an impactful target.
It also concluded that the diversity of business models in the market meant that while the kind of target that works for supermarkets would not be feasible for the OOH sector.
“Access to and reporting of commercial data will therefore be needed to refine targets for OOH, meaning the government needs to expedite data reporting in the sector to facilitate policy development and target setting,” the report says.
“The continued growth of the out-of-home sector and its influence on public health does mean decisive action is needed.”
Yet with supermarkets accounting for more than 80% of calorie intake, compared with 14% from the OOH sector, according to the government’s latest figures, Nesta said it was urging ministers to prioritise setting health targets for supermarkets first. It was also mandating data reporting from large OOH businesses to inform effective target setting as a second stage.
Nesta director of healthy life Hugo Harper said: “Health targets for large food businesses, announced as part of the government’s healthy food standard, are a landmark commitment to tackle the obesity crisis.
“They will make it easier for people to make healthier choices where they buy the vast majority of their food could make a big difference.
“But the UK’s large out-of-home businesses are not as close as its largest supermarket businesses are to having the sorts of data that would make setting this kind of target possible now.
“With obesity and excess weight costing the UK £126bn a year, the government shouldn’t delay these measures and should aim to set mandatory targets for supermarkets as soon as possible.
“Requiring takeaway and restaurant businesses to provide the necessary data will make it possible to design and set robust, effective targets for this sector over the next few years.”
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