The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) has published new data from Kantar Worldpanel that shows products from its member companies now contribute 33% less salt, 25% less sugar, and 24% fewer calories to the British grocery market compared to 2015.
The trade body noted that the reductions in calories, sugar and salt from everyday food and drink items follow significant innovation and investment from the manufacturing industry. In 2023 alone, more than £160m was invested in research and development dedicated to healthier product innovation, including changing recipes to make them healthier (reformulation); creating new, healthier products; and changing portion sizes.
The FDF highlighted that changing food and drink recipes to introduce healthier alternatives requires significant time, expertise, and investment to ensure products are viable. It gave the example of Kellanova, which recently launched four cereal renovations to create healthier products. Collectively, these projects took over two years and involved 300 different recipes, 40 pilot manufacturing trials, 16 large-scale production trials, and more than 30 rounds of sensory and consumer testing before being brought to market.
In addition to supporting government initiatives to reduce calories, sugar, and salt, FDF noted that its members are also leading efforts to promote positive nutrition. This includes its ‘Action on Fibre’ initiative, launched in 2021, which helps make higher-fibre choices more accessible to consumers across a wide range of products.
Meanwhile, the food and drink industry is helping consumers lead healthier lives by investing in workplace wellbeing initiatives and providing clear nutrition information on the product label.
Kate Halliwell, Chief Scientific Officer at Food and Drink Federation, said: “Creating delicious and nutritious food and drink is no easy task – it takes time, investment and technical expertise. We’re proud to see the continued and significant advances made by our industry to offer healthier options reflected in the UK’s shopping baskets.
“The industry, and in particular smaller companies, could do even more with better government support, which is currently only a fraction of what’s available to, for example, investments in the aerospace or automotive manufacturing sectors. To take critical investment in healthier product innovation to the next level, we’re calling on the government to support the UK’s largest manufacturing industry in boosting further investment in reformulation.
“In addition, given the challenges smaller companies face in overcoming the complexity of reformulating products, we’re calling on the UK government to provide a £4m fund to support SMEs who want to do the right thing, replicating the very successful Scottish government-funded Reformulation for Health programme across the whole of the UK. This scheme has proven itself to be a cost-effective way of supporting innovative projects that have removed millions of calories from Scottish food products in line with public health goals.”
The FDF has published a new report, Innovation for Healthier Diets, which offers an overview of the efforts and achievements of its members, shedding light on the reformulation journey and innovation driving healthier product development for consumers.
Jacinta George, Managing Director at Reading Scientific Services Ltd (RSSL), commented: “This report provides a helpful snapshot of how companies are improving the health profile of a wide variety of food and drink. RSSL helps companies to navigate this space, and so we know that successful reformulation is multifaceted – it requires time and investment to change recipes and launch new healthier products. It’s not as simple as removing ingredients or replacing them with alternatives, a deep technical understanding of the function of different ingredients is needed. This is because reformulation can influence every characteristic of a product, from processing and cost, through to taste, texture and shelf-life.
“The significance of these changes cannot be overstated or underestimated because the quality of the product is key to consumer acceptance. We hope this report will help inspire companies with what can be done, as well as help policymakers understand the depth of industry commitment.”
NAM Implications:
- Given that manufacturers are making changes that appear to be having an effect.
- i.e. 25%-plus reductions in fat, salt and calories.
- This raises serious issues for rivals that are not implementing equivalent changes to products.
- Watch this space…
