Food Standards Agency evens the playing field

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has corrected an imbalance between foodservice outlets and grocery retailers by launching a healthy eating initiative with coffee shops and sandwich chains, according to the industry.

The FSA announced its latest work in the foodservice arena on Friday, which involves BB’s Coffee and Muffins, Caffé Nero, Costa, EAT, Greggs, Pret a Manger and Starbucks Coffee Company UK. Account procurement, menu planning, kitchen practice and consumer information have all been affected by the programme.
A spokesman for Greencore, which makes various foods including sandwiches, highlighted previous mixed messages over salt levels in food, with foodservice outlets often selling food with higher salt content than supermarket products. “One of the challenges has been the lack of consistency regarding the taste factor. This evens out the playing field.
“We welcome this as a positive move. Manufacturers have been working hard for the past couple of years to achieve the FSA’s [2010] salt targets.”
In November, giving the Society of Food Hygiene and Technology’s annual lecture in London, Sainsbury’s chief executive Justin King criticised​ the unequal approach to salt levels in foodservice and retail channels: “If M&S [Marks and Spencer] happens to have a Simply Food next to a Pret a Manger and M&S has taken all the salt out of its sandwiches and Pret hasn’t, what’s the consumer likely to do if they are still very attracted to the taste of salt?”
The day after his comments, the FSA announced healthy eating commitments by Burger King, KFC, McDonald’s, Nando’s, Subway and Wimpy.
However, many fear the FSA’s tough attitude to its 2012 salt targets will impede further work on healthy eating.
Jim Winship, director of the British Sandwich Association, supported the FSA’s announcement and ongoing work on nutrition labelling for foodservice products. But he said: “We believe in putting nutritional information on packs where it’s right to do so. Where we draw the line is where the government is going beyond that, reducing salt levels down and down.”
Salt acts as a preservative, so too little salt could lead to spoilage, he said: “You start running into issues of food safety.”
Draconian salt targets could lead to consumers abandoning products for being too bland, which amounted to ‘choice editing’ what shoppers bought, said Winship. “It’s not the job of the food industry to dictate what consumers can eat.”
He also questioned whether smaller foodservice businesses would be able to make the same changes to their lines and product labels as larger players. “It’s fine for big brands because they have the resources, but the vast majority of foodservice outlets are independents.”