The boss of Danone is calling on government ministers to introduce higher taxes on products that are high in fat, salt and sugar to help tackle the obesity crisis.
According to a report from The Observer, the dairy brand – which sells Actimel yoghurt – called for government intervention to ensure consumers are offered healthier products.
It marks the first time a major food company has urged government action in the face of rising rates of obesity.
Under the current arrangements, most groceries are exempt from VAT – aside from ice cream, soft drinks and some biscuits.
However, Danone does not want overall shopping costs to rise, but believes there should be a review of taxes to consider whether healthier products could be incentivised more and HFSS items taxed further.
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The government says it has already restricted the display locations of unhealthy foods in supermarkets and is set to introduce regulations on multi-buy deals such as “buy one, get one free” this October.
“The UK food industry’s efforts to improve the health profile of its products have not moved fast enough,” president of Danone UK & Ireland, James Mayer told The Observer.
“We’ve reached a point where meaningful intervention from the government is a necessary course of action.”
He added: “This is likely to involve moving faster on food and beverage data sharing and transparency, finally introducing restrictions on advertising of products [high in fat, sugar or salt] and looking at how VAT rates can be aligned to the health credentials of products.”
Trials testing out the upcoming restrictions on HFSS products at 50 supermarkets have seen a decline in sales.
Research by retail technology solution, Reapp, found that non-HFSS products within the biscuit and chilled categories at the trialed stores have seen a 20% dip in sales in comparison with the same time last year.
A spokesperson for the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) commented: “Food and drink manufacturers are committed to improving the nutritional profile of food and drinks. An additional tax on food manufacturers will not help them to reformulate. It will only add to the financial burden they are already facing.”
Tesco had previously partnered with retailers and suppliers to also call on the government to take “meaningful” action to cut childhood obesity, encouraging a limit of marketing exposure of young children to HFSS products and mandatory labelling in stores.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson also told The Observer: “We have taken firm action to tackle unhealthy foods, including by restricting the location of foods high in fat, sugar or salt, which will bring health benefits of over £57bn and save the NHS £4bn.
“Our sugar reduction programme has delivered dramatic reductions in the amount of sugar in foods eaten by children – including a 14.9% decrease in the sugar content of breakfast cereals and a 13.5% reduction in the sugar content of yogurts and fromage frais.
“We will continue to work closely with industry to make it easier for people to make healthier choices and support people already living with obesity to lose weight.”
