Food and Drink Federation (FDF) president Ross Warburton has congratulated Britain’s food manufacturers on the success of reformulating their products to make them healthier. He was speaking at a House of Commons’ reception to launch its ‘Recipe for change’ report, which records the achievements of a range of companies - large and small.
Warburton noted that the efforts of the industry to reformulate products to improve their nutritional profile had not been adversely hit by the recession, as shown by a Mintel study which the FDF had commissioned. However, he warned that there were technical limitations beyond which taste was likely to be adversely affected and argued this would restrict how far the sector could go with reformulation.
“Reassuringly, our report also suggests that the economic downturn has thus far not created a ‘health crunch’ when it comes to such innovation,” said Warburton. “Figures compiled for us by Mintel show that 700 product lines have been launched with new recipes since 2007 - equivalent to nine a week - more than in any other European country.”
He added: “Mintel’s research also suggests that total sales of healthier eating options in some key food and drink categories are now worth £8bn - and in some areas are growing at twice the rate of the market as a whole.”
Regarding limits to reformulation, he added: “Other consumer trends can also restrict further innovation - demands for ‘naturalness’ in products, for instance, make it hard for manufacturers to swap sugars for alternative sweeteners.”
Warburton lastly called on government to support the industry’s efforts to get change to the proposed EU Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation, which, as currently worded, will from next January prevent manufacturers from telling consumers if their products do not contain added salt, or example, or contain, say, 20% less fat.