House of Lords committee calls for radical government action to transform ‘broken food system’

Today the UK House of Lords’ Food, Diet and Obesity Committee published Recipe for health (PDF), a report which boldly outlines a range of far-reaching recommendations to transform our food system.

We strongly urge the UK government to take forward these recommendations given the state of the nation’s diet and the impact on our health. The UK’s national diet is high in saturated fat and sugars, which leads to obesity, a risk factor for 13 types of cancer. The report correctly highlights the gravity of this challenge in both its analysis and recommendations.

Steps to curb industry involvement

Many of the Committee’s recommendations are reflected in our own evidence. For example, we welcome the Committee’s recommendations around mandatory measures and targets to improve the nutritional quality of our food. This includes calls to restrict the exposure to junk food advertising and address misleading marketing, especially of infant and children’s foods. Steps to curb industry involvement and influence in policymaking are particularly welcome to avoid regulations being watered down.

The call on government to support additional research on ultra-processed foods (UPF) and why they are impacting our health is also important, and will bolster the evidence-base that organisations like World Cancer Research Fund are already investing in.

For too long, our health has been impacted by an abundance of poor-quality foods, leaving many people at risk of developing preventable cancers. It is time for the government to make good on its commitment to prevention and take forward these recommendations in this cross-party report.

> The House of Lords committee report: Recipe for health: a plan to fix our broken food system

> Our evidence submission: WORLD CANCER RESEARCH FUND INTERNATIONAL – WRITTEN EVIDENCE (FDO0030) (PDF)