Fat shaming: As the UK

Ban introduced on HFSS displays in UK: Are we next?

As the UK government implements a national ban on prominent displays of high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) products, what is the likelihood of retailers here facing the same fate? Fionnuala Carolan reports

Every major supermarket in the UK, including Asda, Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and M&S, has been forced to implement a ban displaying products high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) in prominent locations such as shop entrances, till areas, ends of aisles and specialist bin displays.

The restrictions came into force from the beginning of October. The rules are focused on 13 categories of food. These are essentially soft drinks, savoury snacks, breakfast cereals, confectionery, ice cream/ice lollies etc, cakes and cupcakes, sweet biscuits and bars, “morning goods” such as croissants, desserts and puddings, sweetened yogurt, pizza, crisps/ chips, ready-to-heat meals and pastry products.

Failure to comply with regulations may result in a business being issued with an improvement notice and subsequently a fixed monetary penalty if compliance is not achieved as required.

However it is important to point out that these restrictions only apply to medium and large businesses (with 50 employees or more) including online retailers and retailers who do not primarily sell food or drink and stores that are a member of a symbol group or franchise.

Obesity epidemic

On the back of this news, the UK Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) has said it is delaying a ban on multi-buy deals on HFSS foods, such as “buy one, get one free”, until October next year in response to consumers facing cost-of-living pressures.

There has been no confirmation over plans for a crackdown on junk food advertising, which had also been delayed for a year. Reports have emerged that plans to tackle junk food could be scrapped by Prime Minister Truss amid fears it would increase pressure on consumers already struggling with soaring costs.

The UK’s Food and Drink Federation chief executive Karen Betts said: “The implementation of the delay to the ban on volume promotions is welcome news, including for hard-pressed shoppers at a time of rapid food price inflation. Our industry looks forward to continuing to work with government to help tackle obesity and poor diets. Food and drink businesses know we play a critical role in this, and we have worked hard over many years to redevelop the recipes of our products to make them healthier while retaining their delicious flavours. This has included work to help people choose appropriate portion sizes.”

The National Health Service data shows that childhood obesity rates in the UK soared during the pandemic and now 28% of children are overweight and 41% of 10 to 11-year-olds are overweight.

The new high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) restrictions in the UK focus on 13 food categories

Ireland

Here at home we have gone some way to tackle rising obesity levels when in 2021 the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) unveiled new rules relating to the advertising of high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) products which will be incorporated into the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages Section of the ASAI Code.

The rules restrict marketing communications for HFSS foods and beverages from being directed or targeted at children under the age of 15. They say the rules are in response to changing media habits among young people, as well as wider concerns in society about public health challenges for this age group. Thresholds for non-broadcast media will reduce the overall exposure to HFSS products’ marketing communications.

Locations primarily used by children are prohibited to run any form of marketing communication for HFSS including registered crèches, pre-schools, nurseries, family and child clinics, paediatric services, schools, dedicated school transport, playgrounds and youth centres.

No nanny state please

Despite this move against advertising such products, the Irish retail trade has not yet been hit with restrictions on product placement in store.

RGDATA director general Tara Buckley told ShelfLife that the group’s initial reaction is that given the extremely challenging times for retailers, it is not the right time to try out these types of initiatives.

“We do not need Ireland to try and ‘out nanny state’ the UK at this time and start introducing confusing, arbitrary and hard to enforce regulatory measures such as this,” she said.

She questions how effective the UK ban will be on reducing consumption of HFSS products. “A lot of experts in the UK are predicting that it will have limited or negligible results. Throughout history we have examples of how bans/prohibition or “hiding” products has just made them even more coveted.

“Given that the benefits of such regulations are extremely difficult to quantify, will it have any impact whatsoever on obesity or eating habits? In the UK they are extremely cynical about the impact or benefits, if any, that this measure will have,” she explained.

She also questioned the issue of policing such a move. “Given all of the other issues that our health and environmental inspectors have to investigate will checking if the donuts or the chocolate biscuit cake is on the wrong shelf be a priority?” ■