Pizza toppings – the most popular and HFSS implications.

Pizza toppings

What pizza toppings are popular with consumers, and what challenges are being faced by pizza manufacturers such as Stateside Foods in connection with HFSS (high fat salt sugar) legislation?

THE MOST POPULAR

In advance of the recent National Pizza Day (9 February 2022), analysts from Foodhub, a UK online food ordering platform, crunched over eight million pizza orders placed via their app and website to determine the most popular topping with pepperoni coming out in the top spot. Pizza topped with the spicy Italian American sausage pipped last year’s winner - the Margherita – by accounting for 7.3% of all pizza orders. The classic cheese and tomato took second place (4.5%), with meat feast rounding off the top three (3.8%). Surprisingly perhaps, pizza topped with donner meat maintained its spot in the top fi ve of favourite pizza toppings (2.1%) ordered via their platform, while vegetarian came in at number four (accounting for 2.2% of all pizza orders). Ardian Mula, Foodhub spokesperson said: “We’re a nation of pizza lovers in the UK and nothing beats sharing the classic cheesy Italian dish with family and friends, so toppings often have to appeal to more than one person. “It’s fascinating to see how the nation’s taste has changed compared to last year’s orders - pepperoni trumping the classic Margherita in 2022. Who knows, a vegan option may take the top spot next time - crazier things have happened!”

REGIONAL INSIGHT

Providing some interesting, regional insight into the topic of which pizza topping is the most popular - as well as the age-old question of whether or not pineapple belongs on a pizza - is Parkdean Resorts, who in conjunction with TLF research, crunched their pizza sales numbers from 65 of their restaurants countrywide and married the data up with a nationwide survey to fi nd out which pizza topping is the nation’s favourite broken down by region.

Taking the biggest piece of the pie as the nation’s favourite pizza is pepperoni, they found, and beating ham and pineapple, meat feast and Margherita to the top spot in their survey.

With 18% of the votes for pepperoni, the nation has shown that classics never go out of favour. Followed closely by meat feast at 17% and ham and pineapple at 14%, Britain has made their favourites clear, the holiday company feel, but where are the vegan options? With less than 1% of the ‘votes’ for vegan toppings, it is unusual that pizza lovers do not refl ect the growing vegan trend in the UK, they suggest.

When it comes to pizza, however, it would seem that the UK is a nation of meat lovers, pepperoni having topped their charts for the entire country with Birmingham, Glasgow, Belfast, Norwich

and Sheffield championing the topping. However, Nottingham, Manchester and Liverpool prefer a mighty meat feast, in turn suggesting that one type of meat is not enough for some pizza eaters!

The controversial topic of fruit as a pizza topping has divided the country for years but the holiday company’s closer look has revealed that it’s very definitely still one of Britain’s favourites. Often known as the ‘Marmite’ of pizza toppings - you tend to either love or hate pineapple on pizza - although the popular topping came in third place in their survey for the nation’s favourite pizza, it is still dividing the country, the company feel.

From the idea of fruit on pizza to its sweet acidic taste mixing with the cheese, ham and pineapple, pizza is confusing the nation because despite the disdain in some quarters, it clearly still rates (Edinburgh and Southampton having a particular taste for the salty-sweet controversial slice, it would appear). Given the rise of vegan products now available on the market, it was perhaps unusual for their analysis to reveal that only 1.3% of the 1500 surveyed opted for vegan toppings, the holiday company acknowledged.

According to the Vegan Society there are now approximately 600,000 vegans in the UK - 1.16% of the population - so with pizza places adding more and more vegan options to their menus, and with Papa John’s even appointing a vegan director to drive their plant-based offering forward, it’s unusual that this survey didn’t in turn match this trend (voters instead preferring meat-based pizza toppings).

HFSS (HIGH FAT SUGAR SALT) CONSIDERATIONS

The latest government guidelines to affect the pizza business, and not least the future nature of pizza toppings, are in connection with HFSS - the legislation restricting promotions of products high in fat, sugar and salt according to the Department of Health’s Nutrient Profiling Model by location and by price.

As an own label pizza manufacturer, Stateside Foods point out that they are bound by the policies of their customers on any guidelines affecting nutrition, and on some occasions these customer requirements are stricter than the government guidelines.

Foods that score four or more, and drinks one or more on the NPM, are classed as HFSS and from October 2022 (or January 2023, subject to future confirmation/ amendment), promotions on food and drink high in fat, salt or sugar in retailers will be restricted, as well as their location in stores.

A food’s HFSS status is calculated based on the Department of Health (DoH) nutrient profiling model, which compares energy, saturated fat, total sugar and sodium against fruit, vegetables and nut content, fibre and protein. Points are allocated on the basis of 100g of a food or drink, irrespective of the serving size. Foods scoring four or more points are classified as ‘in scope’, and restrictions apply on some promotional mechanics and store positioning.

What does HFSS mean for a company like Stateside Foods? A product scoring over four and in a specified category will be in scope for restrictions. Stateside Foods say that their understanding of this is that, if in scope, the restrictions apply to volume promotions such as BOGOFs, two fors and extra free.

Price promotions (£1 off, half price etc) and meal deals are still permitted, as long as all the meal deal components are intended to be consumed as, or as part of, a meal for one or a specified number of people.

All products in scope are restricted as to where they can be displayed in store or online. The in-store placement restrictions are only for stores over 2000 square foot in size, however, but smaller stores are still captured by the volume promotion restrictions. Finally, all these restrictions currently apply to England only.

PHE SALT AND CALORIE TARGETS

New targets for 2024 (to align with calorie reduction ambitions), are now the fifth set of voluntary salt reduction targets to be published, report Stateside Foods, and aim to continue to gradually reduce the levels of salt in the foods that contribute the most salt to our diet. They have been based on the 2017 targets, with revisions made where it is believed there is scope for further salt reduction.

In 2017, the salt target for pizzas with cured meat toppings (as consumed) and pizzas with all other toppings (as consumed) was 1.0g salt or 400mg sodium (average r), 1.25g salt or 500mg sodium (maximum). The salt targets for 2024 now differ in that pizzas with cured meat toppings (as consumed) still has a value of 1.0g salt or 400mg sodium (average r), 1.25g salt or 500mg sodium (maximum), but for pizzas with all other toppings (as consumed), the target is 0.90g salt or 360mg sodium (average r), 1.13g salt or 450mg sodium (maximum).

The salt targets have been set for products ‘as sold’ unless otherwise stated within the category name and description. The targets have been set according to mg sodium that should be present and include all sources of sodium. The sodium figures have been multiplied by 2.5 to give the salt-equivalent figure. The targets should therefore be met for both sodium and salt.

There are also two types of targets. The first is a processing average (average p) and is used to account for ranges of salt levels that occur in a single product (for example, bacon and tuna). The second is a range average (average r) which is used to take account of a range of different flavours (for example, standard potato crisps) or products (such as morning goods) covered by a single target, and all range averages should be calculated on a sales weighted basis.

CALORIES

In 2018, say Stateside Foods, all sectors of the food industry were consulted and challenged to reduce the calories in product categories that contribute significantly to children’s calorie intakes (up to the age of 18) in particular by 20% by 2024. Indeed, Stateside Foods was heavily involved in this consultation process and attended meetings and provided pizza case studies to be considered, plus recommendations on simplifying the guidance.

The company say that they were very clear, for calories and salt targets, that due to substantially more calories and larger portion sizes being available in the eating out, takeaway and delivery sector, the guidelines should be set at levels that generally should require more action in these sectors to ensure a more level playing field across the food industry.

Public Health England’s analysis and review of stakeholder feedback in September 2020 concluded that a 20% ambition applied across all categories was unrealistic. This was particularly relevant for retailers and manufacturer branded products where a 20% ambition would not reflect the lower calorie ranges seen in this sector and the previous work done on improving product nutrition.

Therefore, the company report, the calorie reduction ambition for most retailers and manufacturer branded products was reduced to a 10% reduction in calories alongside a maximum guideline for products likely to be consumed in a single occasion (calories per portion) across all categories (the intention is that these guidelines for the retail and manufacturing sectors would additionally help to ensure that the calorie density and/or portion size of products does not increase in the future).

Both Public Health England reformulation programmes for salt and calories are still voluntary guidelines for the food industry, but PHE committed to progress reports in 2022, 2024 and 2025.

Stateside Foods believe - based on their current position and a gradual reduction in calories since 2018 - that further reductions should not be necessary for pre-packed chilled pizza, with the caveat that they do not increase calorie density on reformulations, and that it is now for the out of home sector to catch up with their part of the industry in reducing calories per serving.

In addition, their data shows that they mostly comply with 2024 salt requirements, they add. A small number of reformulations and potentially sales mix changes will ultimately influence this status, but they feel that it is now time for the out of home sector to catch up and dramatically reduce the salt used in their products, to again ‘create an even playing field’.

Many pizzas produced by Stateside Foods fall out of scope of the HFSS proposed regulations (namely, score three or under (NPM)), and so work is currently underway to review those that score four or above (NPM) and to gain clarity on the impact of the legislation, say Stateside Foods.

FUTURE PROGRESS

Most pre-packed pizzas currently supplied by Stateside Foods already comply with the maximum salt guidelines set out per 100g for the new 2024 targets. Most prepacked pizzas supplied by Stateside Foods meet the maximum calorie guidelines and simple average target set out in the new 2024 targets.

Based on this, it is Stateside’s view that a further 10% reduction in calories for 2024 should not be required for prepacked pizza. It is, however, important that they do not increase calorie density and/or portion sizes of products, they add.

HFSS scores can be improved by adding a vegetable ingredient, or by reducing other toppings, they suggest. However, the challenge is not to compromise on quality or fundamentally change a recipe that impacts on customer satisfaction and sales.

Other work analysing their promotional mechanics and product positioning is in progress, they report (they submitted several questions via PAPA, to the Department of Health in October last year, and more recently direct to Sajid Javid for clarity on this subject, but to date, report that they have not received any answers).

“Using our current equipment there is a minimum amount of an ingredient that we can consistently apply to a surface area,” says Lynne Cawthorn, head of product & process at Stateside Foods.

“Once this minimum weight has been reached, further reductions in toppings will require different application methods and significant CAPEX investment. This is the case for several ingredients.

“We are asked to benchmark the chilled pre-packed pizza market and match or exceed other retailers QUID declarations for ingredients on key lines. Reduction in toppings is perceived as detrimental to the quality of a pizza, although lower calories, salt and HFSS scores are requested.

“Reducing the overall size of our pizzas, would of course, reduce their nutritional value, but again size is bench marked across the chilled pre-packed market and smaller pizzas are perceived as poor value for money.

“Reduced fat and salt ingredients are constantly being reviewed, but these are often very expensive and do not deliver the desired taste, texture or visual. Issues on ingredient format, shelf-life and organoleptic scores mean progress is dependent on solving these challenges which takes time. This work continues.”

UNANSWERED

QUESTIONS ASKED OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

(submitted via PAPA in October 2021)

1. All pizzas scoring under four, when applying the Nutrient Profile Model (out of scope), are not subject to these regulations, is this correct?

These pizzas can be merchandised and sold in any position in a store whether on promotion or full price? 2. For pizzas scoring four or over points (in scope) - when applying the Nutrient Profile Model, we understand that volume promotions will be prohibited.

These would include BOGOFs, two pizzas for a price, or xx% extra free, is this correct? 3. For pizzas scoring four or over points (in scope) - when applying the Nutrient Profile Model, we understand that Meal Deals will still be permitted, for one person or more? Is this correct? For example, a meal deal for two people consisting of two pizzas, two sides and a drink would be permitted?

Meal deals for a specified number of people can be sold in any position in a store?

Meal deals that won’t be permitted are those where the number of people it serves cannot be defined, for example large frozen bags of food, with pizza. Is this correct? 4. For pizzas scoring four or over points (in scope), when applying the Nutrient Profile Model, we understand that money off, for example 50p off will still be permitted? Is this correct?

Therefore, these can be sold in any position in a store? 5. Can all full price pizzas (ie: no promotion applied, whether in scope (four or over points) or out of scope (under four points)), be sold in restricted areas of the store ie: on ends, near check-out etc.? 6. Has the date of implementation moved back to Dec 2022 into 2023?