The Scottish government has strongly ruled out shifting to the new 2018 nutrient profiling model in October for the introduction of its incoming HFSS promotions ban, The Grocer can reveal.
Scotland is due to bring in restrictions on promotions of HFSS products in prominent locations and for multibuy deals, in moves that will echo the measures introduced in England in 2022 and last year respectively.
The Westminster government is planning to introduce a far tougher definition of HFSS products to underpin the ban, with a consultation on how the new NPM and new laws on free sugars are applied to it due to end on Wednesday. But the Scottish government has insisted there will be no such action north of the border ahead of the October promo ban.
It said it had “heard the message” from the food industry it would be wrong to shift the goalposts. Retailers and suppliers were already facing a major task to prepare for the ban, it acknowledged.
Speaking at the Scottish Grocers’ Federation conference last week, James Wilson, head of population health strategy and improvement at the Scottish government, said the introduction of the new NPM in England was “not certain yet”.
He added: “As far as Scotland is concerned, we’ve heard the message loud and clear. If you’re going to make a change, don’t keep changing.
“What they do for England they do for England. We’ve certainly heard the message.”
Food and drink bosses in England have been calling for the introduction of the NPM to be scrapped or delayed. They have accused the government of sparking chaos and huge costs to industry by “moving the goalposts” on HFSS, with the new rules also set to apply to the new junk food advertising ban, which only came into force in January this year.
The UK government plans to bring the new NPM into force to underpin the promotion and advertising legislation as early as September next year.
However, Joanne Burns, reformulation for health manager for FDF Scotland said any such moves were very much off the table north of the border.
“We’re very clear that Scotland is using the 2004 model and we’re not even consulting on the 2018 model,” she told The Grocer.
A retail source said that the prospect of Westminster pressing ahead with rules that were much stricter than Scotland’s incoming HFSS crackdown, in supermarkets and convenience stores, risked causing huge logistical issues for retailers and suppliers working in both countries.
“The proposed NPM needs a lot of work to get it right - so it’s sensible that the Scottish government goes with the grain of what works instead of sacrificing progress to get a different NPM over the line,” they said.
“However, setting different rules in different parts of the country would lead to chaos and cost for everyone.”
Last week the FDF issued a new report warning reformulation that has seen salt, sugar and calories slashed across hundreds of food products would be money down the drain if the government pressed ahead with the new NPM, which the BRC has claimed is “unworkable”.
However, the Obesity Health Alliance, major health charities, medical royal colleges, campaign groups and healthcare professionals wrote to Chancellor Rachel Reeves last week urging the e government to press ahead with the new NPM and said delaying it and other measures proposed last year would wreck the NHS 10‑Year Health Plan to create the “healthiest generation of children ever”.
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