Voluntary reformulation not working, say health experts in response to govt sugar reduction programme

Professor Graham MacGregor, professor of cardiovascular medicine at Queen Mary University of London and chairman of Action on Sugar and Action on Salt, said: “Whilst this new report shows that the food industry is capable of reducing sugar levels in food with good progress in breakfast cereals and yogurts, it makes it abundantly clear that a voluntary reformulation approach simply does not work.

“The UK faces an obesity crisis and one of the principle plans outlined by the Department of Health and Public Health England was to tackle this by reducing sugar in food products by 20% by 2020 across the main food categories. Not surprisingly the plan was an abject failure due to a lack of enforcement.

“Like with the successful soft drinks levy, the food industry wants certainty and direction which is why the government must commit to measures such as mandatory targets for calories, sugar and salt reduction, enforced marketing and promotions restrictions and clearer, mandatory food labelling. We mustn’t forget that unhealthy diets high in saturated fat, salt and sugar (which lack fruit and vegetables) is the biggest cause of death and disability globally and costs the UK more than £100 billion (combined) annually. Procrastinating any further should not be an option ”

Katharine Jenner, director of the Obesity Health Alliance (OHA) said: “A voluntary approach has been shown not to be able to deliver the required level of progress to make any significant and lasting change. Instead, excessive and unnecessary amounts of harmful sugars are added to food and drink products which should and must be reduced if we want to improve the nation’s health.

We hope lessons have been learned from this vital monitoring of food industry activity from the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities and that ministers now fully understand that insufficient progress has been made and that alternative levers are needed.

Evidence suggests that the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) has been an enormous success – reducing sugar intake even for people on lower incomes without leading to a decline in sales. The Government must now explore ways of expanding this model in order to fix the broken food environment and make the healthy option the easiest and most affordable option for everyone.”