Failure of food firms to slash sugar ‘woeful’

VOLUNTARY agreements to cut sugar in cereals and snacks appear to have failed, an official report states.

Experts last night branded the results as ‘woeful’ and urged ministers to impose laws to force firms to make food healthier.

They pointed to the fact that the tax on soft drinks has reduced sugar content ten times as much as the voluntary agreements for food. The UK Government’s Childhood Obesity Strategy, announced by Theresa May in 2016, ‘challenged’ the food industry to cut sugar from biscuits, cakes and sweets by 20 per cent before 2020.

But an official report on the scheme, published by health chiefs yesterday after months of delays, showed sugar dropped by only 2.9 per cent between 2015 and 2018.

The Government’s former obesity tsar, Professor Susan Jebb of Oxford University, said progress was ‘woeful’.

The soft drinks tax cut sugar by 29 per cent in the same period. But the sugar content of some foods, including chocolate, actually increased.

Overall sugar consumption also rose by 2.6 per cent in the period. Critics said the gulf in results between voluntary and mandatory schemes shows relying on the goodwill of the food industry does not work.

They stressed that, with two-thirds of adults and a third of children in Britain overweight, the Government must impose mandatory rules to force companies to change.

Professor Jebb said: ‘We need a new approach if we are serious about reducing sugar and calories from confectionery. Taxes may not be popular but they work to change purchasing behaviours.’

Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, called the scheme a ‘shambles’ and said expecting the industry to make products healthier voluntarily was like ‘leaving vampires in charge of the blood bank’. Obesity Action Scotland’s Lorraine Tulloch described the results as ‘disappointing’, adding: ‘The voluntary approach isn’t delivering the change needed.

‘The mandatory soft drinks industry levy is delivering results and is reducing sugar.

‘We need a stronger regulatory approach if we want to improve and protect health.’

Tim Rycroft, of the Food and Drink Federation, said the targets had been ‘hugely aspirational’ and could never have been met ‘in the ambitious timeframe’.

‘We need a new approach’