Mandatory healthy food targets for large retailers could reduce obesity in Britain by approximately 23% and help four million people achieve a healthier weight, according to a report published by the innovation charity Nesta and backed by consumer watchdog Which?
The policy would aim to incentivise the UK’s largest grocery retailers to offer healthier food options, discouraging business models that rely on pushing people to fatty foods and sugary snacks.
Collectively, the leading 11 supermarkets make up 95% of the grocery market and have a significant impact on what people buy and eat, with the study claiming that in-store displays and promotions often make it harder for people trying to eat healthily.
Nesta states that by setting a target healthiness score for the market as a whole, retailers would be incentivised to make it easy for people to choose healthy options or to make small changes to their product ranges and how they are marketed and presented.
The policy idea is built on a market-based mechanism commonly used in environmental and climate policies like clean heating. It sets an industry-wide goal but gives each supermarket the flexibility to choose its own tactics in order to meet the target while keeping down the cost of a basket of food. Nesta suggests that in most cases, changes to the average basket sold online or in-store will be small.
The report includes case examples to show how supermarkets could adapt to help people in their goal of a healthier lifestyle without raising the price of a grocery shop. This includes changing store and online layouts to avoid pushing less healthy products (such as those high in sugar) on consumers; purchasing and stocking a wider range of affordable healthy food; and using advertising and promotions like buy one get one free to make healthier items more affordable for families.
In order to calculate appropriate health targets, researchers first determined the healthiness of food sold across the UK’s 11 leading supermarkets. They analysed 36 million transactions from 30,000 households and used a converted form of the Nutrient Profile model (widely used in public health and industry) to score purchases between 1 (the least healthy) and 100 (the most healthy). The average healthiness score of a shopping basket was 67.
They then modelled the effect on obesity, showing that an improvement in the average score of just two points – from 67 to 69 – would cut obesity by approximately 23% over three years (from the current rate of ~28% to ~21% over three years post implementation), helping four million people to achieve a healthier weight and saving up to £20bn per year in NHS and associated costs. The change required (among people with excess weight) is roughly equivalent to around 80 kcal per person per day, or a single milk chocolate biscuit. Nine of the 11 supermarkets are already within two points of the target.
Nesta commissioned an independent economist, Daniel Gordon, to assess the impact of the system on consumers. Gordon is formerly Senior Director of Markets at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Chief Economist at the UK Competition Commission.
His assessment reads: “The target should not have a significant impact on costs of consumers shopping, either in terms of the prices in stores, or by causing them to switch to higher price products. Competition between supermarkets will lead them to find ways to meet the target that will be best-received by their customers, both in terms of choice of the products they offer, and the cost of their shopping. Set against the very large benefits of reducing obesity and recognising the pivotal role that large grocery retailers play in shaping the nation’s diet, there is a compelling case for this policy to be seriously considered.”
The report proposes that the targets start as non-mandatory, allowing retailers until 2030 to adapt to the approach. After this, retailers that fail to meet the threshold would be subject to a financial penalty, helping to make sure those who support their customers to eat healthily are not undercut by competitors. The targets would be underpinned by data reporting and supported by an expert body with enforcement powers.
Hugo Harper, Director of Nesta’s health team, said: “If we want to improve the nation’s health, then we have to focus on our food system. The evidence shows that pushing the onus on the individual to make changes doesn’t work – obesity has doubled since the 90s. That’s not because we have less willpower than we did 25 years ago. What’s changed is what is sold and marketed to us – it’s just harder to be healthy. Supermarkets are not the enemy in this story. If we incentivise retailers to work with us to make food healthier, then that’s a massive win for public health.”
Sue Davies, Head of Food Policy at Which?, added: “Which? research has repeatedly found that people want supermarkets to do more to support them in making healthier choices. Just under half of people told us the cost of living crisis made it more difficult to eat healthily but this increased to four in five for those struggling the most financially.
“Nesta’s analysis shows that mandatory food targets would incentivise retailers to use the range of tactics available to them to make small but significant changes, which would make eating healthily less of a struggle and ultimately help us lead healthier lives.”
Meanwhile, Alison Tedstone, Chair of the Association for Nutrition and former Chief Nutritionist at Public Health England, commented: “For many years, government has encouraged the food industry to produce, market and sell healthier food through voluntary programmes. Despite the efforts of some companies, shopping baskets have not improved. Some large companies have ignored current voluntary reformulation targets, marketed and sold more unhealthy products. A move to mandatory targets is the right approach. It will incentivise companies to make and sell healthier food.”
NAM Implications:
- Whilst a healthier population is desirable…
- …in times of raised cost of living pressures, consumers may prioritise price over health (See this Mintel report),
- This may cause grocery retailers to focus on price reductions to meet shopper need.
- The key issue is how long this state of affairs may continue.
