“We Need A Level Playing Field”

Eight of the UK’s leading food businesses have called on the Government to put child health first, and make their policies based on real-world evidence.

In a joint statement, Chartwells, Costa Coffee, Danone, Deliveroo, Innocent, Jamie Oliver Ltd, KFC and Tesco acknowledged their ‘key role’ in giving young people access to “the nutritious food they need to grow up healthy.”

All these businesses are part of Bite Back’s first Food System Accelerator. We’ve teamed up our young campaigners with influential food companies so we can work together to improve child health.

Food Systems Accelerator: Joint Statement

Signatories: Chartwells, Costa Coffee, Danone, Deliveroo, Innocent, Jamie Oliver Ltd, KFC, Tesco

As leading food and drink businesses, we have a key role to play in helping to ensure young people have access to the nutritious food they need to grow up healthy. But we recognise that there is a big opportunity for our current food system to make it easier for young people to be healthy.

The ongoing cost of living crisis is leading to extreme pressures on families' household budgets, which can have a detrimental impact on diet quality and health. Businesses are having to work extra hard at this time to keep prices as low as possible for our customers.

Our businesses are united by a joint ambition to overcome these challenges and play our role in positively influencing the health of young people. We are very proud to be members of the first cohort of Bite Back 2030’s Food Systems Accelerator. We have met with Bite Back’s Youth Board members and are now setting a range of change goals in key aspects of our businesses to drive improvements in the health and wellbeing of young people. We are committed to implementing these changes throughout 2023 and beyond, evaluating them, and rolling out successful initiatives across our businesses wherever possible.

But to truly transform the food system into one that is healthier for everyone we know our industry needs to go further. To do that, we need a level playing field — where all businesses are working to the same goals, supported by policies that incentivise changes that will improve health while remaining fair for consumers and business. The Government should involve businesses, health stakeholders and the young people who are affected most by the current food system to develop and implement evidence-based policies that:

• Increase marketing exposure to and incentivise the promotion of nutritious food and drinks and limit children’s and young peoples’ exposure to HFSS marketing.
• Mandate consistent and honest nutritional labelling in store and online to support identification of healthier options; and
• Set clear and achievable goals and incentives for reformulation.

By working together to take meaningful action, it will ensure all parties are playing a more positive role for the health of young people and providing more nutritious food and drinks faster for everyone living in the UK.