Background
Methods
Study aim, design and setting
Participants
Data collection
Phase 1: Consumer interviews
Phase 2: Business, enforcer and health stakeholder interviews
Interview guides
Data analysis
Phase 1 analysis
Phase 2 analysis
Results
Participants
Aim 1: Rapid analysis of stakeholders’ views on the legislation
Theme 1: This legislation is a ‘good first step’ but there is potential for unintended consequences
I do think it [legislation] would be good for the general health of the public if the temptation wasn’t there as you walked in shops and at the checkouts as well because when you’re queuing the children tend to fiddle. It would help families more if them products were a bit more out of sight. (6054, Consumer).
If it works then the placement of these rich delicious goods won't be in the footfall places where people just throw a cheeky Twix into the trolley to have on the way to the car. I think it will influence behaviour like that by taking away the choice and the opportunity. [ … ] or people will just learn and will just pick up the Twix earlier on in the shopping. (13012, Enforcer, Environmental health).
Something we’ve called for is no exemption for unpacked foods because it’s the same number of calories regardless of the packaging that they’re in. Alcohol is totally exempt, pies are totally exempt, and these do actually make quite a strong contribution to total calorie intakes. (11012, Business, Retailer).
Will the problem shift so we will potentially see a huge amount of 25% off or 50% off price promotions instead? (13013, Enforcer, Trading standards).
The sorts of people that are going to benefit from the impact are the people that shop in larger supermarkets, which are more likely to be our more affluent residents. From a health inequalities angle, that’s why it will be important to start trying to shake the smaller businesses down the line. (13037, Enforcer, Public Health).
There shouldn’t be any exceptions, everyone should have to follow it whatever size of the business so that it becomes a social norm then so that it actually feels quite weird if anyone isn’t following the rules. (12003, Health, Academic).
Whenever new regulations come in, then there’s obviously some pass through of that cost to consumers, and we’re seeing the pass through of costs because of cost pressures in the business, which are really significant. (11037, Business, Retailer).
I think prices will go up [if multibuys were banned], if you need 12 chocolate bars ‘cause you’ve got a large family, you’re paying more for it eventually, aren’t you? (13012, Enforcer, Environmental health).
Far from saving people money promotions lead to more purchases and contribute to greater consumption, resulting in overweight and obesity. That’s the bottom line. (12039, Health, Charity).
There are certain things that I do buy as treats for my children but like I said they’re treats so if they’re not on offer then I would still get them but probably not as frequent. (6029, Consumer).
I would advise the government they need to provide the supermarket with the lower prices for fresh fruit and veg, so we can then afford it as well. No point in them discouraging the non-healthy food when the healthy food prices are going really high. (6301, Consumer).
Sharon Hodgson (Member of Parliament) actually phrased this really well today and to use her words: ‘It’s a stark reality that the cheapest food is often the most calorific. It’s far more expensive to fill up hungry children with healthy food. To give an example for chocolate muffins for a pound in a supermarket, 6 apples are usually £2.00.’ It’s that price discrepancy that we know drives a lot of purchasing and leads to the fact if you’re living in a deprived area, then you’re twice as likely to have obesity. I’d be really worried that the price gap is not levelled and ideally that would be something that is monitored as part of the evaluation. (12055, Health, Charity).
This [is] a step in the right direction but it is one of many policies. We talk about a comprehensive strategy and sort of coherent policy landscape to make sure that the availability and visibility of HFSS foods is limited (part of) a larger shift towards greater accessibility, affordability and visibility of healthier options so that health is the default, and it isn’t about individuals having to make that choice, it’s about the environment that provides that. (12035, Health, Charity).
Hopefully it achieves its goal, not necessarily on its own, but as one element within a package of public health measures to help customers make the healthier choice whether it’s on its own or as a mix of elements. (11004, Business, Retailer).
I’d be interested to know what their [the Government’s] long-term plan is. It doesn’t affect all categories now, I don’t know whether they would ever roll it out to more categories in the future. Also we know there’s HFSS2, that was a new nutrient profile that was out for consultation years ago. And as far as I know Government have signed it off internally but they’ve never come out...a new profile would be more restrictive again. I guess it would be disappointing to see that come out when a lot of work has been done to reformulate for this profile. (11079, Business, Manufacturer).
Theme 2: Inconsistent approaches may affect legislation impact
There is a lack of clarity and forethought on writing the regulations, and a consistent refusal to listen to industry and understand the challenges. (11011, Business, Retailer).
A lot of situations are unclear, and they don’t fall neatly within what is written and then it’s up to enforcers and businesses to look at where their situation falls in and interpret the guidance of the legislation accordingly. (13023, Enforcer, Trading standards).
All the retailers are reliant on colleagues in a store making sure they are fully adhering to the rules which in some areas don’t make a huge amount of sense to the general person scoring goods. For example, a meat lovers’ pizza is non-HFSS on the basis that it has a high quantity of protein. (11004, Business, Retail).
There’s such variety, and [you need to consider, for example] how many nuts are in it and all the rest of it, when we get down to those kind of discussions, that creates huge problems for regulators, because you don’t want to be arguing over whether a product’s in scope or out of scope, you want it to be very clear. (13011, Enforcer, Trading standards).
We feel like this is an opportunity to differentiate ourselves if we can do it well, you know, make it better for people. [ … ] there could be that rush to the top as it were, instead of the bottom where we’re all trying to find new ways to promote healthy stuff. (11011, Business, Retailer).
We will still sell the same range of confectionery it just won’t be on an end facing a till. But I will make sure that it’s as close to a till that is legally compliant. (10000, Business, Retailer).
You could have a situation of Councillor X who becomes leader says, “I really believe in child health, and I want to promote this,” and will drive it. But in other authorities, they might say, “No, we’ve got no time for that, we’ve got all this to deal with.” (13003, Enforcer, Trading standards).
We do promotions because of attracting customers in the shop, to come to buy stuff. If we can’t do it, they have that mentality to go to a supermarket. Obviously we’re losing customers. Prices going up, wages going up, electricity bills going up. Everything’s going up, if we’re not getting customers the way we used to be getting, how are we going to survive? (11086, Business, Retailer).
Generally you can be pretty sure that an independent’s due diligence procedures won’t be anywhere near as robust as a national supermarket, particularly regarding training [ … ] They’re focused very much on the business, [the] sale of products and less so on diligence. And that reflects in the kind of problems that we [environmental health] get. (13015, Enforcer, Environmental Health).
And when you’re making the decision between do we try and deal with this unsafe chainsaw that could kill somebody today, or do we deal with these products that contribute to obesity, that is a long term issue, it’s very difficult to get priority for long term issues over immediate short term issues. You’ve got limited resources, you have to target those at stuff that has probably the most imminent risk. And this (legislation) doesn’t fall into that category. (13011, Enforcer, Trading standards).
Aim 2: Determination and prioritisation of policy recommendations
Policy recommendation | Illustrative quote |
---|---|
1. Make a central HFSS calculator freely available | |
All business staff (managers, employees), business types (retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers) and enforcers require access to a free, accurate and mobile HFSS calculator. It should be inclusive of cultural foods and regularly updated to ensure consistent, effective implementation and enforcement of this legislation. | ‘Everyone wants the government to have a way of centrally holding the nutrient profiling scores for products (i.e., composition of foods database) so that retailers and enforcers can access it. Government can do more to facilitate information about what is an unhealthy food.’ (11007, Business, Retailer) |
2. Refine legislation to enhance intent and clarity | |
Details about the purpose of the legislation could improve understanding and receptivity to comply within the spirit of the legislation. In particular, the regulations should add details about which products can or should be promoted, how businesses can determine products’ HFSS scores and how enforcers obtain information to define a qualifying business. Using evidence from thorough legislation evaluation (recommendation 3) is critical to inform legislation refinement to improve its effectiveness. | ‘The way the UK regulations are written a lot of the time are in a very literal style that sets out a number of rules but if you look at many of the EU regulations, they have this introductory text that sets out what the point is and what the purpose of the regulations are, and under EU regulations there is a requirement for you to interpret the legislation with regard to its intention. The [UK] approach can be very literal in terms of what does the regulations say, and if it doesn’t say that, then you’re allowed to do it [ … ] but maybe some introductory texts to cut out any loopholes.’ (13013, Enforcer, Trading Standards) |
3. Conduct a robust evaluation to assess intended and unintended consequences | |
Short-term evaluation should assess (i) legislation implementation and enforcement activities across all business types; (ii) changes in sales and purchasing patterns across all HFSS categories and alternative products (fruit, vegetable, alcohol etc.) in qualifying and exempt businesses; and (iii) differences by consumer and regional demographics to examine the impact on inequalities. Long-term evaluation should assess changes in societal attitudes, dietary patterns and obesity rates, as well as business outcomes and broader food system changes. | ‘The main thing for us is monitoring data that’s collected through health services, particularly around children, young people, and regular weighing and things like that. You can look at the amount of these products that are sold as well to monitor whether or not that goes up or down, whether or not there appear to be shifts. Supermarkets have amazing data that can drill right down to individuals. Obviously the weight thing is a bit of a longer term, but you could immediately monitor the sale of these products particularly in relation to healthier products.’ (12042, Health, Charity) |
4. Provide greater support for smaller businesses | |
Specific guidance for smaller businesses that is culturally accessible and additional funding for local authorities to support smaller retailers who do not have in-house legal support would increase awareness and compliance amongst all store types. Incentives for small retailers and their suppliers to improve the healthfulness of the foods they offer could be considered, in recognition of their small profit margins and low customer demand for healthy foods. | ‘Smaller businesses do need more support in understanding the legislation [and] some funding for supporting those smaller businesses. And some very clear guidance, aimed at smaller shops because they’ve got a smaller floor area, they’ve got narrow aisles, they’ve got end of aisles nearer to tills. [Previously] the Government funded for business support visits. That would help enormously. But I’m not going to hold my breath for that one … ’ (13039, Enforcer, Environmental Health) |
5. Provide ring-fenced resources to local authorities | |
Additional resources for local authorities are essential to enable enforcers to become familiar with the new legislation, to provide support to all business types and to make visits to premises. This resource could be provided in the form of government funding for local authorities to conduct a HFSS legislation-specific project with targeted outcomes. | ‘We’ve not got the resource to go and do the things on a daily basis that we desperately need to do. I suppose eventually, if we’ve got the scope to do it we’ll possibly pick it up as a project, a bit of project work to see what compliance rates are like.’ (13034, Enforcer, Trading standards) |
6. Create and communicate a long-term roadmap for food and health | |
A long-term roadmap for food and health is necessary to unify stakeholders’ priorities and timescales around the required action to achieve the collective desire for a food system that ensures healthy, sustainable diets for all within the next 20–30 years. It should build on work invested into Henry Dimbleby’s National Food Strategy review and the Obesity Health Alliance’s 10-year healthy weight strategy and be led by a statutory body such as the Food Standards Agency. | ‘It’s just trying to find the sweet spot of, you know, you’ve had the Public Health England targets for a reduction in salt, for example. You’ve then got the HFSS now, you’ve got traffic light labelling that we look at, and then we’ve got our internal reformulation criteria as well. So it’s working within all of those, which can be quite complex. [ … ] [an] other thing we do look at is portion size.[ … ] It doesn’t change the score because it’s based on 100 grams but it’s one of those other things that we do because it's the right thing to do to offer consumer choice.’ (11079, Business, Manufacturer) |