News • Children's Food Campaign
Industry reneges on sugar reduction target
The Food and Drink Federation, trade association for the food manufacturers, now says that it will be impossible to meet the target of reducing sugar content by 20% by 2020.
Speaking in advance of the launch of Public Health England's Sugar Reduction Programme, a spokesman for the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) has firmly distanced the industry from the proposal to reduce the sugar content of manufactured foods across the board by a fifth by 2020.
In fact, the FDF now says it never signed up to the plan in the first place. The statement said, 'We have said consistently that a 20% sugar reduction by 2020 across all foods covered won't be technically possible or acceptable to UK consumers'.
Instead, 'responsible companies' will work with Public Health England to lower sugars (by an unspecified amount), and where that isn't possible, make portions smaller or encourage switching to lower-sugar alternatives. Read the full statement here.
Malcolm Clark, coordinator of Sustain's Children's Food Campaign, commented: “The Food and Drink Federation likes sabre-rattling, but we know from experience that many of the individual food manufacturers and brands themselves take a more constructive stance to public health measures – whether on front-of-pack nutrition labelling, the sugary drinks tax, or on sugar reduction targets. We look forward to Public Health England confirming the 20% by 2020 target and companies and PHE working together to achieve it.”
Sustain campaigns for a greener, fairer and healthier food system. Read more about our campaign to make children's food healthier here.
Published Friday 24 March 2017
Children's Food Campaign: Better food and food teaching for children in schools, and protection of children from junk food marketing are the aims of Sustain's high-profile Children's Food Campaign. We also want clear food labelling that can be understood by everyone, including children.
