Obesity crisis: legislation said to be ‘the only answer’

Rosie Boycott, chair of the London Food Board and food advisor to the Mayor of London, said it was “very difficult”​ for one brand owner to discourage promotions, such as ‘buy-one-get-one-free' offers, when rival producers weren't prepared to do the same.

Speaking at a Westminster Food & Nutrition seminar in March, she claimed the only rational answer to solving the nation’s obesity crisis was through legislation. “If the voluntary approach has delivered, it's pretty invisible all public health comes from legislation. If we create a level playing field, the industry can all move forward together,”​ Boycott said. “We made a decision as a society to try to stop smoking, and it was widely embraced. Now, there’s a real clamour out there to help people eat more healthily, but it seems to me we don’t do anything like enough.”​

Tax on sugary drinks​

The seminar, held just before Chancellor George Osborne announced a surprise tax on sugary drinks in his spring budget, also heard from the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) and the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The government’s childhood obesity strategy, meanwhile, has been delayed until at least the summer.

Andrea Martinez-Inchausti, deputy director for food policy at the BRC, reiterated her organisation’s belief that the voluntary approach had gone as far as it could go.

“It is becoming more and more difficult [for our members] to fight back marketing teams, when they launch brands that claim to have little refined sugar but yet contain a high quantity of honey. So, we believe that any strategy has to be comprehensive and has to apply in an equal way to all members of the industry or all stakeholders to which that policy is relevant.​

 “​In that context, we are yet to be convinced that there is any other way of doing it than through legislation.”​

Voluntary reformulation works​

However, FDF nutrition and health manager Kate Halliwell said the food industry had a track-record that proved voluntary reformulation works, namely through salt.

“Data shows that there was an 11% reduction in salt from 2001 to 2011. Sugar will be more difficult, mainly because it generally has a structural function in food. But it's not just a case of reducing the sweetness portion size has a role to play as well,”​ she said.

Halliwell also claimed the cost of reformulation following any legislation would impact smaller manufacturers the hardest.

“It is an expensive business to reformulate. With a voluntary approach, the larger companies can invest in the technologies that are needed to take reformulation forward,”​ she added.