House of Commons Committee calls for the UK Government to ‘stand up to food industry’

Today the Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee published a report on fixing the food environment as part of its food and weight management inquiry. Its message to Government is loud and clear: it is time to stand up to industry and move forward with a bold new approach to tackling obesity. 

You can read the report here.

The environments in which we live, work and shop play a major role in shaping our health, yet many people are surrounded by the promotion and availability of unhealthy food options. Addressing this is essential for cancer prevention – excess weight is a cause of at least 13 types of cancer and is the second biggest preventable cause of cancer in the UK after smoking. 

Many of the Committee’s recommendations are reflected in World Cancer Research Fund’s written evidence to the inquiry and, if implemented together, would help make the healthy choice the easy choice. In particular, we welcome the Committee’s recommendation that the healthy sales reporting policy should be introduced as soon as possible, with targets for major supermarkets set within the next 12 months and for the wider food industry by the end of Parliament. In practice, the policy would mean that large food businesses would be incentivised to have healthier products on their shelves and in promotions – leading to a potential reduction of obesity by around a fifth. We also strongly echo the Committee’s recommendation for the Government to exclude actors with a vested interest from discussions on the formation of policies on food, diet and obesity prevention.  

Overall, the report sets out a clear roadmap for fixing our broken food environment. As the UK prepares for a new Prime Minister, we urge them to demonstrate their commitment to prevention by taking forward these recommendations at pace. This is a vital opportunity to fix our food environment, tackle obesity and prevent cancer for future generations.