Ultra-processed food campaigner Chris van Tulleken has called on supermarkets to form a “cartel“ to lead a crackdown on unhealthy products.
The Ultra Processed People author told The Grocer’s Health Summit that the leaders of the food industry had “much more power than they realised” to tackle the obesity crisis, and urged them to come together to force producers to reformulate.
The call came after both Tesco and Sainsbury’s announced they had been taking measures to crack down on ultra-processed foods and artificial ingredients.
“We had the CEO of Sainsbury’s here earlier,” said van Tulleken. “It has been perfectly possible for the CEOs of the big supermarkets to oppose regulation.
“It would [equally] be possible for them to come together and say we would like to extend the sugary drinks tax across all packaged foods.
“They could ask for mandatory warning labels, such as in South America, around sugar.”
He told The Grocer: “If you’re the CEO of Sainsbury’s you could get together with the CEO of Tesco and say we want to extend these taxes.
“They need to do what is right.”
Van Tulleken said food bodies had conducted “mass lobbying“ against even minor “light touch” health policy proposals.
He told the conference in Westminster: “You have acted in block through the FDF or other bodies against even the lightest touch regulation.
“The companies in this room have presided over a catastrophic deterioration in child health.”
Industry leaders have campaigned against plans to substantially toughen regulation of HFSS by bringing in a new 2018 nutrient profiling model.
However, this week the FDF urged ministers to push ahead with plans to bring in mandatory reporting on health.
Kate Halliwell chief scientific officer at the FDF, said food companies had spent hundreds of millions on reformulation.
She said: “I think they should actually be proud of their record and doing this despite the cost of living crisis and the pressure to keep down prices.”
Van Tulleken’s call followed an earlier strong attack on the industry by former health minister James Bethell, who accused the industry of tobacco industry-style tactics to delay health measures.
He added: “I agreed with every word Jim said earlier.
“How many people in this room can say they really want to change things for the better when they continually lobby against change?”
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