Evaluation of the HFSS placement legislation
22 August 2025Independent evaluation findings: What was the impact and what can we learn from the implementation of the HFSS placement legislation?
As part of England’s previous Government's Childhood Obesity Strategy, legislation restricting the location of products which are high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) was introduced in October 2022 in England. The University of Leeds, IGD and four major retailers worked in collaboration to share data to enable an independent analysis by the University of Leeds to understand the impact of the HFSS legislation.
This report explores, the impact and what can we learn from the implementation of the HFSS placement legislation. Please see the first page for an executive summary of the full report.
This report contains results and learnings from three types of research:
Analysis of sales of in-scope HFSS products before and after
the legislation was implemented
Interviews and surveys with retailers and stakeholders involved
in the implementation of the restrictions
Customer surveys with shoppers