Assessing the healthiness of UK food companies’ product portfolios using food sales and nutrient composition data

Abstract

Background The provision and over-consumption of foods high in energy, saturated fat, free sugars or salt are important risk factors for poor diet and ill-health. In the UK, policies seek to drive improvement through voluntary reformulation of single nutrients in key food groups. There has been little consideration of the overall progress by individual companies. This study assesses recent changes in the nutrient profile of brands and products sold by the top 10 food and beverage companies in the UK. Methods The FSA/Ofcom nutrient profile model was applied to the nutrient composition data for all products manufactured by the top 10 food and beverage companies and weighted by volume sales. The mean nutrient profiling score, on a scale of 1–100 with thresholds for healthy products being 62 for foods and 68 for drinks, was used to rank companies and food categories between 2015 and 2018, and to calculate the proportion of individual products and sales that are considered by the UK Government to be healthy. Results Between 2015 and 2018 there was little change in the sales-weighted nutrient profiling score of the top 10 companies (49 to 51; p = 0.28) or the proportion of products classified as healthy (46% to 48%; p = 0.23). Of the top five brands sold by each of the ten companies, only six brands among ten companies improved their nutrient profiling score by 20% or more. The proportion of total volume sales classified as healthy increased from 44% to 51% (p = 0.07) driven by an increase in the volume sales of bottled water, low/no calorie carbonates and juices, but after removing soft drinks, the proportion of foods classified as healthy decreased from 7% to 6% (p = 33). Conclusions The UK voluntary reformulation policies, setting targets for reductions in calories, sugar and salt, do not appear to have led to significant changes in the nutritional quality of foods, though there has been progress in soft drinks where the soft drink industry levy also applies. Further policy action is needed to incentivise companies to make more substantive changes in product composition to support consumers to achieve a healthier diet.

Benchmarking the nutrition-related commitments and practices of major French food companies

“…Underlying the importance of strengthening the commitments lies the assumption that stronger commitments will translate into improved practices and performance. Similar to earlier research however, this study found no relationship between voluntary commitments and healthier product portfolios [ 16 , 42 ]. More importantly, earlier research pointed towards the importance of being cautious with voluntary company commitments as these might help to legitimize and advertise the food industry’s role in improving population health without any assurance that company practices go beyond business as usual [ 43 , 44 ].…”

Benchmarking the nutrition-related commitments and practices of major Belgian food companies

“…It is expected that strengthened commitments will translate into improved practices and performance. Nevertheless, this needs to be closely monitored as research in the UK has shown that voluntary reformulation policies between 2015 and 2018 did not translate into noteworthy changes in the nutritional quality of products sold by the top ten food and beverage manufacturers [36]. Also in Canada it was found that companies with stronger commitments within the area of product reformulation did not have portfolios with a better nutritional quality [37].…”

Tackling inequalities in diet: A 20‐year perspective

“…Similar analyses have been done for the product portfolios of the major UK food companies, and they show that over the last 4 years, there has been very little improvement in the overall portfolio of any of the companies listed (Bandy et al, 2021). This is despite these companies telling us about all their healthy options.…”