Global manufacturer Danone is urging the Government to place higher taxes on foods high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) to combat rising rates of obesity.
French company Danone owns brands including Actimel, Volvic and Evian, and has said that food firms in the UK have not shown “enough appetite to change”.
The president of Danone UK and Ireland, James Mayer, told The Observer: “The UK food industry’s efforts to improve the health profile of its products have not moved fast enough. We’ve reached a point where meaningful intervention from the Government is a necessary course of action.”
Danone has reformulated several of its products to achieve a UK product portfolio that boasts a 90% non-HFSS range.
Mayer said: “It is time for the Government to move from a policy that favours caution to one that sets clear parameters for the industry and consumers as to what constitutes a healthy product.
“We see this as the only way industry as a whole will be incentivised to move towards healthier, more sustainable products. This is likely to involve moving faster on food and beverage data sharing and transparency, finally introducing restrictions on advertising of products and looking at how VAT rates can be aligned to the health credentials of products.”
Danone does not want overall shopping prices to increase, and clarifies that the Government should be focussing more on using tax increases to deter shoppers from making unhealthy choices.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have taken firm action to tackle unhealthy foods, including by restricting the location of foods high in fat, sugar or salt, which will bring health benefits of over £57 billion and save the NHS £4 billion.
“Our sugar reduction programme has delivered dramatic reductions in the amount of sugar in foods eaten by children – including a 14.9% decrease in the sugar content of breakfast cereals and a 13.5% reduction in the sugar content of yogurts and fromage frais.
“We will continue to work closely with industry to make it easier for people to make healthier choices and support people already living with obesity to lose weight.”
