UK government dropped health push after lobbying by ultra-processed food firms

London: Government legal guidance urging retailers in England to offer millions of consumers deals and discounts on minimally processed and nutritious food was dropped after a lobbying campaign by the world’s biggest ultra-processed food firms, the Guardian can reveal.

Ahead of new regulations banning junk food promotions from October, the Department of Health and Social Care issued advice to thousands of shops, supermarkets, online retailers and other businesses to help them comply with the law.

The guidance said: “The aim of this policy is to shift the balance of promotions towards healthier options – such as minimally processed and nutritious food.” This might include, for example, two-for-one deals, discounts or extra loyalty points on fruit, vegetables, whole grains, fresh meat and fish.

Promotions on minimally processed and nutritious food would be gamechanging, making it more affordable for families and improving the diets of millions.

But the healthy food push was dropped after the Food and Drink Federation, which represents corporations including Nestlé, Mondelēz, Coca-Cola, Mars and Unilever repeatedly demanded the government ditch it.

Now the new regulations coming into force in England still limit the promotion of food and drink that is high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS), but guidance issued to retailers no longer urges them to switch their deals to minimally processed and nutritious food.

Instead, it simply encourages promotions of “healthier options”. Experts say this is “flawed” advice because many ultra-processed foods still meet the definition of “healthier”, including some energy drinks, crisps, snacks, cereal bars, pizzas, burgers and ice-creams.

The U-turn, revealed for the first time, occurred on 1 June 2023 under Rishi Sunak’s government, the Guardian found. The change remains in the current government’s guidance being issued to retailers ahead of the law change in October.

It came after the FDF waged a campaign to put pressure on the DHSC to rewrite its nutrition policy, lobbying officials to remove the push to minimally processed food in the guidance issued to retailers, according to documents and emails reviewed by the Guardian.

In response to a freedom of information request, the government released a cache of emails between the FDF and the DHSC.

Most of the correspondence was heavily redacted. The government cited section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act, “which provides for the protection of personal information”, and section 35(1)(a), “which provides protection for the information that relates to the formulation or development of government policy”.

The emails, sent between October 2022 and April 2023, reveal how the FDF, which represents firms with a combined annual turnover of more than £112bn, lobbied the DHSC to drop the guidance pushing retailers to promote minimally processed food.

“This is a real bone of contention with the companies … Please can you give me a date when this will be deleted from the guidance?”

“I see the promotions guidance was re-issued on Friday to reflect the new implementation date of the volume-based promotions,” an FDF official wrote in an email to a DHSC official on 2 October 2022. “My understanding was that when the guidance was updated the reference to the aim of the policy being to shift choices to ‘minimal [SIC] processed foods’ would be removed but it’s still there.”

“This is a real bone of contention with the companies,” the FDF official added. “Please can you give me a date when this will be deleted from the guidance?”

Four days later, on 6 October 2022, the FDF official emailed the DHSC official again. “It would be great to understand when this change is going to happen. Clearly the policy and guidance is live and as discussed before, we consider this reads that government policy is that processed foods are inherently unhealthy, not something we agree with or believe the scientific evidence supports.”

“I had thought we had agreement that this change would happen, and whilst I appreciate you don’t want to keep re-opening guidance documents, this discussion was several months ago now.”

The FDF official said: “I had thought we had agreement that this change would happen, and whilst I appreciate you don’t want to keep re-opening guidance documents, this discussion was several months ago now.”

In an email to DHSC officials on 23 November 2023, an FDF official wrote: “Please do also let us know as soon as possible when you have clarified next steps for removing the reference to ‘minimally processed’ from the promotions guidance – as mentioned on the call, this is a particularly contentious issue for our members.”