The government has announced plans to rule out the ban of high fat, sugar, or salt (HFSS) food promotions in grocery stores, which was introduced by the previous government in October 2023 as part of the new NHS 10-year health plan.

Additionally, the government planned to ban buy-one-get-one-free deals as a way of managing unhealthy eating; however, this was also ruled out. The retail industry expressed criticism on how the proposed ban would affect the cost-of-living crisis.

Moving forward, the government intends to collaborate with the food and drink industry to bring up solutions that can better health with consumer pricing in mind.

The NHS 10-year plan also includes mandatory health food sales reporting for all the companies operating in the food sector.

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The statement on the NHS 10-year plan read: “We will restrict junk food advertising targeted at children, ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under 16-year-olds, reform the soft drinks industry levy to drive reformulation, and—in a world first—introduce mandatory health food sales reporting for all large companies in the food sector.

“We will use that reporting to set new mandatory targets on the average healthiness of sales.”

Further details on how the reporting process will work are set to be released after discussions with the Food Strategy Advisory Board.

The UK government is continuing to double down on creating tighter regulations that aim to tackle rising obesity, and the new policies have been met with mixed reactions from retailers in the industry.

Retail giants Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Aldi expressed full support for the government’s new initiative with the healthy food rules.

Meanwhile, M&S and Asda bosses warned that the new regulations may lead to higher inflation and more pressure on retailers.