Guidance

Reduction and reformulation programme: Spring 2019 update

Published 10 May 2019

1. Scope

This update follows on from the publication in May 2018 of the year 1 progress report for the sugar reduction programme which included a summary of progress for the reduction and reformulation programme as a whole. The reduction and reformulation programme is overseen by Public Health England (PHE) on behalf of the government as detailed in the childhood obesity plan.

This update details the actions PHE has taken since May 2018, covering the period from June 2018 to February 2019. It also outlines the next steps for the upcoming months (up to the end of June 2019). This update covers:

  • stakeholder engagement for the calorie reduction programme
  • publication of the salt progress report
  • stakeholder engagement on product ranges aimed at babies and young children
  • engagement with the eating out of home sector
  • preparation for the year 2 progress report for the sugar reduction programme

A table detailing stakeholder engagement over the time period covered by this update is included in Appendix 1. Data costs for the reduction and reformulation programme are also included. This update does not contain any new assessment of the progress made by the food industry towards achieving the ambitions, guidelines or targets set across the reduction and reformulation programme.

2. Calorie reduction

PHE began stakeholder engagement on the initial draft proposed calorie guidelines for the calorie reduction programme in autumn 2018. During the stakeholder forums initial proposals for product categories covered by the programme were presented for feedback. Foods covered included pizzas, sandwiches, meat products, crisps and snacks, ready meals, sauces and dressings, “on the go” foods including meal deals and meals consumed out of the home.

Around 200 stakeholders, representing all sectors of the food industry, health non-government organisations (NGOs) and other government departments, attended. PHE received feedback from stakeholders during these forums and in one to one meetings with around 30 businesses and trade associations, which followed. A high-level summary of the key themes raised in the stakeholder feedback received is included in Appendix 2.

The initial draft proposed guidelines were updated with minor revisions following the forums and circulated for stakeholder consultation.

The draft guidelines shared with stakeholders remain initial proposals at this stage. PHE has not made any final recommendations to government about how guidelines will be set or the levels these will be set at. Government and PHE remain clear on the requirement to ensure a level playing field across all sectors of the food industry – retailers, manufacturers and the out of home sector – in relation to a calorie reduction programme.

The initial draft proposed guidelines presented included simple and/or sales weighted average calorie levels per 100g; and maximum calorie guidelines for the amount of a product an individual is likely to consume at one time. There was also a draft proposal to set a guideline below which the calorie levels for 75% of products in a category should fall.

Simple average calorie levels per 100g of food were proposed for the out of home sector instead of sales weighted averages. This is due to PHE considering the appropriateness of calculating sales weighted averages for this sector due to limitations with the commercially available dataset used for the reduction and reformulation programme.

The draft proposals continue to use sales weighted averages for the in-home sector (retailers and manufacturers), as was done for the sugar reduction guidelines. It was proposed that a simple average of calories per 100g should also be calculated for these businesses to allow comparisons with the out of home sector.

PHE is considering the points raised during all stages of the engagement with stakeholders when reviewing and revising these initial draft proposals.

3. Salt reduction

Salt targets set in 2014 by the Department of Health (now the Department of Health and Social Care), and re-published by PHE in March 2017, were due to have been achieved by the food industry at the end of 2017. In December 2018, as committed to in the Childhood Obesity Plan, PHE published an assessment of the food industry’s progress in meeting these salt targets: Salt targets 2017: Progress report

The analysis showed that just over half (52%) of all the average salt reduction targets set were met by 2017. Retailers made more progress than manufacturers towards achieving average targets, meeting 73% of these compared with manufacturers meeting 37%. Where maximum targets were set, 81% of in-home products overall met these targets (retailers 86%, manufacturers 72%). Performance of individual food categories varied considerably. For the specific out of home sector salt targets, only maximum targets per serving were set. Overall, 71% of products had salt levels at or below their maximum per serving target.

Average salt consumption for adults in 2014, measured from urinary analysis, was 8.0 grams per day, (a reduction from 8.5 grams in 2011 and 8.8 grams in 2005/06), remaining higher than the recommended 6g per day. A new assessment of current salt intakes for adults in England is underway and this is expected to be published by early 2020.

Salt reduction remains a public health priority and in November 2018 the government committed to putting forward realistic but ambitious goals to bring salt intakes down further, with further detail to be set out by government later this year.

4. Product ranges aimed at babies and young children

Product ranges targeted explicitly at babies and young children now form part of the PHE led reduction and reformulation programme. PHE will set out the evidence and advice for government. Meetings were held with businesses, trade associations and health NGOs in September and October 2018 to inform thinking and future advice.

5. Out of home engagement

The out of home sector is a complex and diverse section of the food industry and spans many different interests and business models such as quick service restaurants, pubs, cafés and coffee shops, bakery-led stores, sandwich shops, casual dining restaurants, retail food on the go, takeaway and expanding delivery services.

As part of our ongoing commitment to improve engagement, PHE has continued to focus efforts and resources on targeting and engaging businesses in this sector through a phased approach. Since June 2018, PHE has targeted quick service and casual dining restaurants not previously engaged to encourage active commitment to the reduction and reformulation programmes. Businesses were identified and prioritised based on market share with the aim of widening business engagement and helping to address the need for a level playing field across the food industry (together with retailers and manufacturers). There has been a mixed response to this recent engagement and PHE continues to encourage businesses with a significant presence and not yet engaged to acknowledge their role and responsibility in this space.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are not excluded from taking action to reduce calorie, sugar and salt consumption. PHE engages with sector specific trade organisations representing SMEs to encourage them to recognise their contribution to this agenda, show leadership and encourage their members to take action. The next phase of engagement with specific parts of the out of home sector will be focused towards travel and leisure businesses.

6. Sugar reduction

PHE is currently working towards publication of the second annual progress report for the sugar reduction programme and is planning to publish this towards the end of summer 2019.

The same commercial data sets are being used for this report – Kantar Worldpanel for retailer own brands and manufacturer branded products and a mixture of MCA and company nutrition information for the out of home sector.

PHE intends to produce similar data and metrics to that presented in the first progress report, published in May 2018[footnote 1]. This means that progress will be reported for both total sugar per 100g and for calories per portion consumed by an individual at one time, for the programme overall and for each product category covered by the programme. As PHE holds data for the out of home sector for 2017 and 2018, PHE’s intention is to report progress between these 2 time points. PHE also intends to present data for individual businesses, and in top selling products, for each sector for each category. Total sugar volumes purchased through each category will also be presented.

Following publication of the report on the first year’s progress, PHE has reviewed the data and metrics presented and will consider which metrics should be used for the out of home sector. For this and subsequent reports, PHE intends to use a simple average to track progress for the out of home sector rather than using sales weighted averages. This is because of limitations with the commercially available dataset that PHE uses for this sector. PHE intends to continue to use a sales weighted average as the main metric to assess progress for retailers and manufacturers but will also calculate a simple average for these businesses. While it is appreciated that this creates an additional metric to be assessed against, it is important that comparison of progress across all sectors of industry is possible to contribute to ensuring that action is taken across a level playing field.

Other issues that arose during the analysis for the year 1 progress report which PHE has been working to address include conversion factors for ice cream, lollies and sorbets, improved nutrition data for the cakes and morning goods categories, the ability to assess progress by some businesses not possible last year due to a lack of baseline data for them, and an overall figure for volume of sugar removed from the market.

The sugar reduction guidelines for fermented (yogurt) drinks were published in January 2019. PHE will publish the first detailed progress report for these drinks in 2020.

7. Costs of data for the reduction and reformulation programme

PHE uses commercially available datasets to set guidelines and transparently monitor progress across the reduction and reformulation programme. For the 2018 to 2019 business year PHE purchased data costing £423,452; total spend to date (2016 to 2019) is £931,352. These costs are inclusive of VAT. The contracts for the procurement of data were awarded through an open, competitive tender process in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

8. Freedom of information requests

Included in Appendix 3 is a list of Freedom of Information requests that have been answered by PHE in relation to the reduction and reformulation programme since June 2018.