17:00 An enjoyable first day at an event making its debut on the industry calendar. It's rare for an event like this to have an issue at its core, while the conference and seminar sessions offer visitors a wealth of insight. At times it almost felt like there was too much from which to choose. just-food will be back tomorrow and Thursday to report from Food Matters Live on other parts of the website, with interviews lined up with companies including A2 Milk Co. Keep your eyes peeled.

Prof. Poppy took to Twitter after the session:

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16:10 And that brings this part of the conference programme to an end. There was perhaps too few comments on how the health and wellness marketplace will hit the forecast $1trn mark in 2017 but it was an interesting discussion nonetheless, largely focusing on the challenges facing the industry and the difficulty in getting consumers to change their behaviour.

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16:05 A delegate from the Irish Dairy Board brings the discussion back round to taxation. Prof. Poppy says "it's an extremely difficult area" for politicians to "venture into".

Esler puts to the panel "it would take a brave politician" to introduce levies. As with her previous comments, Beneo's Sentko prefers to focus on the moves manufacturers can instead make on product development. "I think we need to find solutions for the consumer and give them better [versions] of the food they like. Making taxes on sugary products for me is not right."

15:55 The discussion focuses squarely on changing consumer behaviour. Beneo's Sentko suggests reformulation is vital. "We need to make junk food better if that's what people want to eat.

Ingredion's Edwards believes consumers will not change their behaviour unless something "shocks" their habits. He points to Mexico's efforts to tax calorie-dense food and drinks.

A member of the audience argues taxing junk food, combined with educating consumers, particularly children, more about food, should be pursued.

In response, Professor Guy Poppy, chief scientific adviser for the UK's Food Standards Agency, is cautious about regulation, preferring to point to the "power of nudging behaviour, thinking of creative ways to nudge behaviour". He says: Sometimes successful methods can be regulation and nudging behaviour.

Ismail argues governments cannot be relied on to successfully change diet for good. "Governments have done a very poor job. There has to be another solution to regulation. Governments getting consumers to change their behaviour doesn't work."

Esler, quick as a flash, quips: "Maybe governments should tell people to eat more pizza."

15:45 This conference session is being held just as just-food reports the French authorities have charged four individuals over last year's horsemeat scandal, an affair that shook consumer trust across Europe.

15:40 Edwards says trust is key to driving the growth of the health and wellness category. "Sometimes the food industry is its own worst enemy. We have to make sure consumers trust the industry, that we we have the right level of transparency and provide labelling so consumers are confident about the food we are producing."

Adam Ismail, executive director of GOED, the global organisation for EPA and DHA Omega-3, picks up the theme. "We are living in the era of the informed consumer. The food industry is still trying to react to that. How to get ahead of the consumer activism. A lot of companies have solid science behind them but get attacked for things not related to that."

15:35 Aaron Edwards, global head of clean label for US-based ingredients supplier Ingredion, says a likely driver for the health and wellness market to hit US$1trn by 2017 is "consumer awareness and enlightenment is much higher today than ten years ago". He explains: "This has a specific impact on free-from and clean-label."

15:30 Another session in the conference room, positioned in the centre of the exhibition. "Health and wellbeing: the trillion dollar marketplace," trumpets the programme. The session features execs from ingredients giants Ingredion and Beneo.

14:05 Cricketer Farm has enjoyed early success with Cheeky Cow, securing regional listings at Tesco and Asda and also won shelf space at Lidl. Consumers, Parsons says, are showing increasing interest in healthier cheese.

He had a message for his peers in the UK cheese sector. "The healthy agenda is here to stay. There's a natural cynicism in the dairy industry, particularly in cheese. Salt is essential in cheese production but there is resistance to what can be done. However the consumer is going to demand more and more of these products."

13:55 Greg Parsons, managing director of UK cheese manufacturer Cricketer Farm is the session's final speaker. He will outline how the company has launched has a healthier brand into the mainstream. This summer, Cricketer Farm launched Cheeky Cow, a half-fat cheese, in the UK.

13:45 However, Sylvan Martin cautions that health is not the only priority for consumers. "Will my kids like it? Will it taste alright? Is it worth the money? The packaging needs to say these things. In some instances, health might be the key reason for a product but before you embark on a redesign it's important to create a hierarchy of priorities."

13:40 The holistic design of a pack is also important, Sylvan Martin says. She believes the design for Kingsmill's Great White bread risks the product attribute of increased fibre getting lost.

13:30 Cecilia Sylvan Martin, research director of The Big Picture, is next to discuss how brand owners can use packaging to best market healthier products. It is, she says, difficult to cut through in-store. It is not the place for consumers to stop and evaluate brand messages. Manufacturers can use visual short-cuts, like colour cues. Consumers have learnt colours like light blue and green mean healthy.

13:15 Next up is Chris Lukehurst of The Marketing Clinic, who will focus on re-branding and communication strategies after reformulation. What is important when reformulating the product is the "emotional journey" on which the new line takes the consumer."If the consumer notices a change in the taste that's not important. It's how they feel at the end.

13:05 Manufacturers have adopted two main strategies when marketing reformulated products, Raithatha says – stealth (PepsiCo's Walkers brand in the UK) or "shouting about it" on packaging (Heinz's reduced-salt baked beans).

13:00 However, she argues a healthier product needs to have a slightly different sensory profile to current products on sale. She points to the success of Vita Coco.

12:55 Taste remains central to a healthier product's success. "If we want better-for you reformulated products, they need to taste as good as the original," Raithatha says, citing the success of Coke Zero.

12:45 Off to one of the seminar sessions, which focuses on how manufacturers should market healthier foods. "It is difficult to launch a product. There are varying failure rates. Some say 80%," Carol Raithatha, research consultant and chair of the session, begins.

11:10 To suggest industry should receive financial incentives is an obvious point of contention. During the Q&A session, one member of the audience acknowledges industry does need incentives but adds: "You need disincentives as well. You need the stick as well. What about community charges on fast-food places, where each local council can decide how much they have to pay?" Esler turns to Prof. Winkler. He agrees the stick should be used but, referring to the idea of local taxes on fast-food outlets, he points to the problems some local London boroughs have had. "They can't get rid of the old ones and they are already at saturation. They are up against legal obstacles but in principle putting economic penalties on the outlets is an idea I support."

11:00 Esler asks Leech if the industry can replicate the work manufacturers have done on salt on other nutrients like sugar and fat.

"It's relatively – and I say relatively as if there are industry colleagues in the room they will know it is far from easy – easy [on salt]. Other nutrients are more complicated," she says.

Prof. Winkler takes a different view. "It is more difficult on fat and sugar – but not that difficult," he says, before arguing the Government needs to do more. "The organisational structure on reform on sugar and fat is crucial. The Governmant and Food Standards Agency have put a lot of effort into salt but haven't put anything like that effort into calorie reduction. What the Government could do is give the industry some financial incentives to improve reformulation. It's not widely known but the Government is one of the major food purchasers in the country. It's as big as our supermarkets. That's a lot of spending power."

10:55 After the speakers' introductory remarks, Esler leads a panel discussion on some of the salient points raised. He starts with Prof. Winkler's assertion that politicians, despite wanting to control public spending on health, are loathe to get too involved in the issue and asks the FDF's Leech what she thinks.

"I see the problem but what I sometimes get frustrated with the way politicians want to pass the problem on to industry rather than face up to it. There is no easy answer," Leech says.

10:50 Dr Pettinger, highlighting the theme of the session, indicates the issue is everyone's responsibility, as this tweet reports:

10:45 Apetito's Sheppard switches focus from obesity to malnutrition. And he has some thought-provoking points. "There's a lot of focus in the media on obesity and rightly so but we've got to consider those that are under-nourished as well," he says. "About one in three that enter a care home are at risk of malnutrition. Somewhere between a quarter and a third of people that enter hospital are at risk of malnutrition. Yet the greatest problem of malnutrition is in the community – that's where 90% of malnutrition exists. What I find ironic is the messages we promote around obesity, important as they are, are potentially contradictory to those suffering malnutrition. People suffering from malnutrition often require higher-energy diets."

10:40 Prof. Winkler argues we need to look to industry to play a central role – although he was at pains not to be overly critical, as some in academia can be. He says politicians are loathe to get too involved in the issue for fear of appearing to tell consumers what to eat and, if they regulate, seeming to favour some parts of the industry over others. Consumers, Prof. Winkler continues, cannot take the lead as some are disinterested in eating healthily. It falls to industry, which can drive health improvements, he argues, pointing to the work on reducing salt in products in the UK "It may not be the ideal one everyone would like but it's the best option available to us," Winkler says.

10:35 Leech begins her opening remarks by insisting the issue of nutrition and obesity is a "question of lifestyle". The food industry's contribution to diet-related ill-health is constantly in the spotlight, not least this year, with a focus on subjects such as sugar consumption. Exercise, Leech notes, is crucial. "It's about calories out, not just calories in."

10:30 The opening session begins in the Food Matters Live conference room. Hosted by BBC broadcaster Gavin Esler. Melanie Leech, director-general of UK industry association the Food and Drink Federation, Professor Jack Winkler, MRC human nutrition research at the University of Cambridge and Lee Sheppard, director of policy and external affairs at UK foodservice supplier Apetito and dietician and Plymouth University lecturer Dr Clare Pettinger are the panellists.

09:30 just-food arrives at the ExCel centre in London's Docklands for a new industry event. Food Matters Live, launched this year, is a three-day conference and exhibition, which, organisers say, "bring together the food and drink industry, retailers, foodservice providers, government, and those working in nutrition and health to tackle one of the most important challenges of our time – the relationship between food, health and nutrition".

An ambitious arm but it is right about one thing: the food industry's role in the the health of consumers is one of the most pressing issues facing the sector.

The conference schedule kicks off at 10:30 with a session entitled "The nutritional state of the nation: whose responsibility is it?" which promises to be a lively debate.

Alongside the conference and seminar schedule, a range of stakeholders in the food industry are exhibiting, including the likes of Nestle and Kellogg, UK manufacturers including Warburtons, and international suppliers such as US free-from firm Amy's Kitchen and New Zealand milk supplier A2 Milk Co.

Doors open at 10am. Exhibitors and delegates have already taken to Twitter in anticipation.

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