Food, Diet and Obesity Committee
Recipe for health: a plan to fix our broken food system
Report of Session 2024-25 - published 24 October 2024 - HL Paper 19
Contents
Summary of conclusions and recommendations
Chapter 1: Diagnosing the problem
The shocking scale of the problem
Figure 1: Chart showing BMI categories in relation to height and weight
Figure 2: Prevalence of obesity among adults, G7 countries and Brazil, 1990–2022
The July 2020 Food, Poverty, Health and the Environment Committee report
Figure 4: ‘Overview of the Junk Food Cycle’, from the National Food Strategy
Box 3: Recommendations of the National Food Strategy relevant to our remit
Chapter 2: Government strategy
The outgoing Conservative Government
The incoming Labour Government
Figure 6: Number of policies of each type in England—government obesity strategies, 1992–2020
Unhelpful focus on individual responsibility
Inadequate leadership and coordination
No systemic oversight of the food system
Failure of the voluntary approach
Conclusions and recommendations
Chapter 3: The role of industry
Industry and the food environment
Figure 7: Top ten businesses and their brands
The need for comprehensive, mandatory regulation of industry
Industry and the policymaking process
Industry and academic research
Conclusions and recommendations
Chapter 4: Ultra-processed foods
Box 4: The NOVA classification of food groups
Comparing the definitions of UPFs and HFSS foods
Further evidence to the Committee
Other issues relating to the make-up of UPFs
Dietary guidelines and the Eatwell Guide
Box 5: International examples of dietary guidelines
Updating the Nutrient Profiling Model
Additional policy and regulatory measures
Conclusions and recommendations
Chapter 5: Making food environments healthier
Introduction: a new regulatory approach
Making food and drink healthier
Incentivising businesses to produce and sell healthier foods
Figure 10: Proportion of advertising spend on different food categories
Online and broadcast advertising restrictions
Planning for a healthier food environment
Figure 11: In-store location promotions, winter 2022
Figure 12: In-store location promotions, spring 2023
Promotions in small retail businesses, the out-of-home sector and online delivery
Sale of energy drinks to children
Labelling healthier and less healthy products
Front-of-pack nutrition labelling
Labelling in the out-of-home sector
Chapter 6: Infants, children and young people
Pre-conception, pregnancy and early life
Supporting healthier infant feeding
Commercial foods for infants and young children
Chapter 7: Making healthy food affordable and accessible
Figure 13: Percentage of disposable income required to afford the Eatwell Guide per income quintile
Value of Healthy Start payments
Widening eligibility for Healthy Start
Appendix 1: List of Members and declarations of interest
Appendix 5: Types of research study
Appendix 6: Note of Committee visit to Blackpool, 24–25 April 2024
Evidence is published online at https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/698/food-diet-and-obesity-committee/publications and available for inspection at the Parliamentary Archives (020 7219 3074).
Q in footnotes refers to a question in oral evidence.