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Speech by Rt Hon Dawn Primarolo MP, Minister of State for Public Health, 27 October 2008: Healthy Food Code launch

Thank you for being here. We wanted to bring you all together to celebrate what you’ve already achieved, but also consider where we should go next.

The stakes, we know, are tremendously high. When obesity is at record levels, when over 30% of children aged 10 and 11 are clinically overweight, you can’t escape the sound of canaries singing to warn us of impending danger.

We need urgent action. We need a broad response – from Government, from communities, from business, and of course from individuals themselves. 

That’s what our Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives strategy is about, and it’s already starting to create a powerful movement for change.

We’re taking wide-ranging action to get children living more healthily – from promoting breast-feeding in Sure Start Centres to getting kids exercising more and eating healthily in school.

We’re getting people more active within communities, through the ‘Healthy Towns’ programme, the extra investment in cycling and walking routes, and the work we’re doing with businesses to improve work-based health.

And we’re transforming health services – not just in GPs surgeries and health centres, but also on the high street – in pharmacies and chemists. Making it easier for professionals to identify and treat those with weight problems; and easier for those people to get the information and help they need.

We’re also just about to launch our Change4Life campaign, an unprecedented social movement to help people make the switch to healthier lifestyles. This will be backed by significant government investment, supported by other Government campaigns – like 5 a Day, like the FSA’s salt reduction programme, like healthy schools – and complemented by the good work charities and NGOs are doing to build public awareness.

So together we are taking the first steps towards a consumer revolution, creating a new demand for better health across the country.

The food and drink industry have a vital role to play in this and are already working hard.   We have seen great work from the Food and Drink Federation and Business in the Community in developing their Healthy Eating Toolkit to encourage healthy eating in the workplace.  But we need your continued help to stimulate the change, but we also want you to capitalise on that new demand.

We’re quite clear on what needs to happen. The Healthy Food Code is the long term vision. A comprehensive set of high impact, highly practical actions. All seven elements are critical. We’re not going to deviate from them, and we’re not going to suddenly introduce a raft of other measures.

I’m pleased there’s already been some important developments – on salt reductions, on labelling and on food advertising. You’ve worked in close partnership with us and particularly the FSA on this and we really appreciate it.

Because of this, I’m proud to say the UK is leading the way in many important areas.

But we want to stay ahead of the game, so we must now raise our sights higher. I don’t feel we’ve harnessed the full promise of the Code. We need more clarity on specific goals and trajectories, on who is going to do what, how and by when.

That’s what I want to achieve today, and I want to put a spotlight on four key areas, in particular, where we must take decisive action.

First: on sat fats and energy levels.

We’ll be hearing from other speakers that reducing ‘bad fats’ can be achieved, not just as a CSR nicety, but an integral part of a forward-thinking business strategy.

I want to highlight a couple of organisations who are really ahead of the curve.

- Unilever, which has re-evaluated more than 22,000 products as part of its Nutrition Enhancement Programme, leading to reductions of 30,000 tonnes of trans fat, and 7,000 tonnes of saturated fat across its portfolio in 2005 and 2006.
- And United Biscuits, which has reformulated its biscuit range to cut saturated fat significantly. I won’t say any more on them, because they will be talking about this themselves later on.

These are two great examples of action on saturated fats. There are many others I could mention. They all pose the same, simple question: “If they can do it, why can’t everyone?” 

I want us to aim for at least a 20% reduction in saturated fat consumption. Moving from a world where the average person consumes more than 13 % of their energy from saturated fat, to one where everyone meets the recommended intake of 11% or less.

Of course, calories are also crucial – a major factor behind obesity – and we need see real reductions here too.

Reformulation is crucial here, and it sets up a significant technological challenge. How do we make meaningful reductions in foods, without pumping in other unhealthy substitutes? Let’s talk about what we can do to make the breakthrough.

My second challenge concerns product marketing.

I’m delighted that industry has cut out the practice of advertising sweets and sugary foods during children’s TV programmes. As far as we know, there hasn’t been a single breach of the new Ofcom regulations around advertising during children’s TV programmes. It shows you’ve listened and you’ve acted quickly. So thank you.

We must do more to reduce marketing unhealthy foods to children elsewhere – and that includes kids promotions on the internet, at the cinema, in magazines.  But I think its important we don’t just focus on marketing of unhealthy products. Why can’t we now turn ‘pester power’ completely on its head, and start using the power of marketing to help rather than hinder parents.

Tesco, for example, now uses Disney characters like Tigger and Mickey Mouse to promote fresh fruit, juices, cereals and yoghurts in its stores. It’s socially-conscious, socially-responsible marketing at its best. I want to see more of it.

I also want food outlets making healthy choices a default option. At Disney theme parks, healthy side dishes are now the automatic choice in kids meals. Unless you specifically order something else, you get the healthy option.

It’s a small change – a classic ‘nudge’, if you like – but it’s making a big difference. Others are doing similar things.

So again, if this works in some settings, why can’t we have it in all settings, particularly theme parks and fast food chains?

Staying with restaurant chains, the third challenge is about the information they provide to consumers.

No one would deny the progress we’ve made on retail labelling, regardless of what system is being used. You only really appreciate how far ahead of the game we are when you go abroad and find the vacuum of nutritional information in shops out there.

Now though, we should take the logical next steps. People should have nutritional information available to them when selecting meals in chain restaurants.

There’s a strong precedent – this time across the Atlantic where New York authorities have passed laws to make nutritional information available in non-retail outlets when they’re deciding what they want.

It’s already made a big impression. In a consumer survey, four-fifths said they were surprised or shocked by the calorie content in the food they were ordering. It shows the extent to which this new transparency can help people make informed choices.  And they are making better choices – research has shown that when New York restaurant patrons use calorie information in deciding what to order, they average nearly 100 fewer calories in each meal purchased.  We will hear more on this later.

What’s more, it’s created consumer demand. And in the US, industry is beginning to respond.  The owners of KFC and Pizza Hut have announced they are now going to put calorie labelling on menu boards in all restaurants they own in the US.

It works for them, so why can’t it happen here? I know good diet isn’t just about calorie content, and I know there will be difficulties for independent restaurants, but we have to start somewhere. Why can’t we have calorie content on menus in all chain restaurants? Let’s talk about the barriers, and let’s work out how we overcome them.

The fourth and final challenge is reducing sugar content, particularly in sweets and sugary drinks.

Sugary drinks and confectionery are the big sources of sugar in our diet, and there’s emerging evidence linking them with weight gain.

It’s good that so many companies have invested heavily in low sugar options. We must now reduce the sugar levels in full sugar products too – and that doesn’t mean using artificial sweeteners as substitutes.

What’s exciting is that the demand for low sugar options is there. About half of the market for carbonated drinks now consists of ‘no added sugar’ varieties.

Let’s build on this, doing even more to get consumers selecting these products over full sugar versions. Can we now ensure promotional budgets exceed those for full-sugar drinks? Great to see low sugar options looming large in many big advertising campaigns – why can’t that happen for all future advertising campaigns?

Serving sizes are also important. Most companies do offer a range of sizes, which is great. But are snack-sized options available where people make impulse buys, like corner shops, newsagents and garages? And are they sold individually, not just in multi-packs? If not, how can we make this happen? And for soft drinks, why can’t we have 250ml size, replacing the 330ml cans and 500ml bottles?

These are changes that could be made very quickly, and would fit well with the ‘sugar swaps’ message in our Change4Life programme. Let’s talk about how we can do this.

I know this is quite a wish list. I don’t underestimate the challenge, and I’m conscious of the economy too, of course.

When money is tight, I recognise healthy eating may not be the first thing people think about.

It’s all the more important that we convince people that eating healthily isn’t necessarily ‘the expensive option’, or a middle class luxury. Campaigns like ‘Feed your Family for a fiver’ from Sainsburys are exactly what we need to help make it easier for parents to combine health and affordability.  It’s something everyone can do, everyone can enjoy, everyone can benefit from.

We need to maintain our strong partnership, between industry, Government, the FSA and other key stakeholder groups.

Together we’ve got to win the argument for healthy eating, create consumer demand, and ensure the products are there to fill it.

The four challenges are significant, but they’re also realistic. They fit with what is happening more widely in society and public policy, and they’re already working well for the pioneers in the field.

So this isn’t a threat to industry, but potentially a really significant opportunity. Working together, we’ve got a big chance to shape consumer culture, and redefine the market.

So let’s be positive, and let’s be ambitious. The clock is ticking, and we need dramatic action across the board. I’ve explained what we’re doing. I’ve outlined what we need from you. Now let’s talk about the practicalities – the barriers, the challenges, the opportunities – and decide on a practical and realistic plan of action. I look forward to hearing the discussions during