Sugar reduction in the food industry was as much as 82% below the Government’s voluntary target in 2020, latest figures show, prompting renewed calls for a tax to tackle unhealthy eating.
Retailer own-brand and manufacturer-branded products cut back the carbohydrate by just 3.5% between 2015 and 2020, according to analysis published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities on Thursday.
This was far below the government’s voluntary target for the food industry of 20% by 2020.
The delayed sugar reduction report, which was due to be published last year, showed the amount of sugar in puddings within the same category was down by just 2.3%, ice cream and lollies by 7.2% and yoghurts and fromage frais by 13.5%.
However, the data also showed that the Soft Drinks Industry Levy- a tax introduced in 2018 to combat childhood obesity – has made progress.
A voluntary approach has been shown not to be able to deliver the required level of progress to make any significant and lasting change— Obesity Health Alliance
For products subject to the tax, the percentage change in sales weighted average sugar was down 46% from 2015.
Sales weighted average is defined as the mean weighted by total sales, giving more weight to products which are bought more.
The Obesity Health Alliance (OHA) said the report’s findings demonstrated that voluntary reduction strategies are not enough and called on the Government to expand the levy to food.
Katharine Jenner, Director of the Obesity Health Alliance (OHA) says: “A voluntary approach has been shown not to be able to deliver the required level of progress to make any significant and lasting change.
“Instead, excessive and unnecessary amounts of harmful sugars are added to food and drink products which should and must be reduced if we want to improve the nation’s health.
“We hope lessons have been learned from this vital monitoring of food industry activity from the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities and that ministers now fully understand that insufficient progress has been made and that alternative levers are needed.
“Evidence suggests that the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) has been an enormous success – reducing sugar intake even for people on lower incomes without leading to a decline in sales.
“The Government must now explore ways of expanding this model in order to fix the broken food environment and make the healthy option the easiest and most affordable option for everyone.”
The Department for Health has been contacted for comment.
