Nestle, Mondelez International and Unilever have said they will make changes to their products to try to cut the amount of saturated fat consumed in the UK.
The manufacturers are among companies – that also include Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons that have signed up to an agreement with the UK government that will see some lower the sat fat in selected lines and also promote switching to healthier products.
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The UK government said the moves would help tackle heart disease. “One in six male deaths and one in nine female deaths are from coronary heart disease – this is why it’s critical that we challenge the way we eat and that we all make changes where we can,” UK public health minister Jane Ellison said.
However, the moves, announced on Saturday (26 October), came days after an article in the British Medical Journal claimed sugar and not sat fat was the main factor in heart disease and diabetes.
Moreover, while Ellison insisted it was “hugely encouraging” that companies supplying “almost half of the food available” in the UK had signed up, campaigners pointed out the majority of the sector had not joined the pledge.
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Nestle has said it will reformulate the recipe of its Kit Kat chocolate bars. Mondelez has pledged to change the recipes of products including Oreo biscuits, Barny snacks and BelVita breakfast biscuits.
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By GlobalDataUnilever, meanwhile, has said it will invest in “healthier” spreads and encourage consumers to cook with products offering “lower satured fat alternatives”.
Melanie Leech, director general of industry association The Food and Drink Federation, said the moves “underlines food and drink manufacturers’ determination to play a full part in supporting improved public health”.
Leech said: “These significant commitments to reduce saturated fat in a wide range of products build on the achievements already delivered by a number of our members which empower consumers to make healthier choices appropriate for their lifestyles.”
However, Malcolm Clark, co-ordinator of the Children’s Food Campaign, said the UK government had “learnt from past criticism” of similar agreements with the industry and encouraged manufacturers to focus on reformulation.
“It is only through taking out the hidden nasties from food that real progress towards a healthier diet can begin,” he said.
However, he added: “The saturated fat pledge suffers from some of the same weaknesses as previous pledges: there is a lack of quantifiable targets, there is no proper of way of holding companies to account for their pledges, and – importantly – no stick to persuade over 50% of the food industry who haven’t yet signed up, to join.”
Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Aldi are also signatories to the Responsibility Deal Saturated Fact Reduction Pledge.
Tesco will remove sat fat from products including breadsticks. Sainsbury’s said it would “reformulate recipes” across its portfolio. Morrisons has pledged to change the recipe of its own-label spreads. Aldi said it would “start a programme of saturated fat reformulation” and “explore reducing portion sizes”.
However, some health professionals and campaigners have claimed there should be more focus on reducing the sugar content in foods.
“Several of the pledges are about making chocolate, for example Kit Kat [and] Oreos, and cakes a tiny bit less unhealthy. The Government should be doing much more to reduce the sugar – a significant hidden nasty – from these and other products,” Clark said.
Dr Aseem Malhotra, who last week wrote an article in the BMJ that sat fat “is not the major issue” behind cardiovascular disease.
Speaking to the BBC on Saturday after the announcement of the pledges, Dr Malhotra said the announcements were “at best a drop in the ocean and the food industry just paying lip service to the Government”.
Dr Malhotra, interventional cardiology specialist registrar, Croydon University Hospital, London, said: “The food industry has made a promise to behave better but the impression of minor change diverting from an agenda to stop meaningful progress in tackling the obesity epidemic.”
He called for regulation, including a sugary drinks tax, banning “junk food” advertising to children, to limit sugar consumption. “We have an over-supply of sugary-dense, cheap foods that are marketed irresponsibly by junk food companies.”
He added: “We’ve got to learn from history. It took 50 years from when the first links between smoking and lung cancer were raised before any effective regulation. If you look through history, the most important interventions in public health happened through regulation, not cosy voluntary agreements with the gulity parties.”
Dr Susan Jebb, head of diet and population Health at the Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research unit (HNR) at Cambridge University is chair of the Public Health Responsibility Deal food network through which the UK government works with industry on areas including reformulation.
Responding to Dr Malhotra’s comments on the BBC’s Today programme on Radio 4, Dr Jebb said: “In the absence of regulation that Aseem is looking for, I think it is important we make progress where we can. I celebrate the fact we are at least getting some action via voluntary agreements here in England and indeed more action we are seeing anywhere else in the world.
“Of course, on its own it is not enough. I am a health professional. I’m committed to working on all fronts to improving the nation’s diet. We’ve made fantastic progress in the UK on reducing salt for example. We’re international leaders in that area entirely through voluntary agreements with the food industry. We are announcing a big set of commitments around saturated fat. We’ve got companies representing over half of the food sold in the UK who have signed up to the spirit of improving public health by reformulating their products. It’s not the only solution but it’s definitely part of it.”
Click here for just-food contributing editor Ben Cooper’s analysis of the move and of the reaction from campaign circles.
