During 2023, food and drink manufacturers in the UK invested more than £160m in developing healthier options.
This process involves healthy reformulation, NPD and adjusting portion sizes.
However, many SMEs do not have the in-house expertise or financial resource to undertake this specialist R&D, which could hold back innovation in long-term.
In Scotland, the government-funded ‘Reformulation for Health’ programme has offered financial support to more than 80 SMEs over the past five years, which has in turn removed billions of calories and tonnes of fat, sugar and salt from popular Scottish food and drink products.
The FDF has argued that by expanding this programme with a £4m fund for the rest of the UK, the government could help more businesses access the funding they need to develop healthier recipes, grow their businesses and drive investment in local economies.
Funding required for 'critical support'
During the FDF’s ‘Innovation for Healthier Diets’ event in parliament on 11 November, the organisation highlighted that its members now contribute a third less salt, and a quarter less sugar and calories to the British grocery market compared to 2015.
Speaking at the event, FDF chief executive Karen Betts said that £4m in funding could help firm’s mitigate the risk of carrying out “important work to improve public health”, while enabling SMEs to access “critical advice and practical support”.
“The UK’s food and drink manufacturers are some of the most innovative in the world, and FDF members are global leaders in developing new, healthier products,” Betts told attendees.
“This is about making existing brands healthier by removing fat, salt and sugar, or adding fruit, vegetables and fibre; or by introducing new products to increase the choice of tasty, convenient, affordable and healthier options for shoppers.”
She went on to emphasise how commercially risky, complex and time consuming innovation is, especially when taking a new product from concept to sale.
Betts added: “As such, we’re asking government to act to help mitigate the risk for companies. We’re asking them to broaden access to R&D tax credits to support companies investing in innovation for health. And we’re asking them to more actively support SMEs, who make up 98% of the companies in our sector and for whom the costs of investing in this sort of innovation can be prohibitive.”
Chair-assumptive of the APPG for Food and Drink and Labour MP for Northampton South, Mike Reader, echoed these words and said it was important that the UK Government acts to support the food and drink industry.
“There is more to be done, so it is now more important than ever that government and industry work together to create a more sustainable, innovative and healthier food system,” Reader concluded.
