NHS 10 Year Plan: Food and drink impact

‘Fit for the Future’ - The NHS 10 Year Health Plan, announced on Thursday 3 July, shows a clear shift of focus from sickness to prevention. A healthy nation means less strain on the NHS. 

The food industry are called on to “make the healthy choice the easy choice” in a partnership claimed to be a world first between government and industry to tackle the obesity epidemic, which now sees 64% of adults above a healthy weight and 1 in 3 children leaving primary school either over-weight or obese (NDNS, 2025). 

The Government introduced the following new items: 

• Mandatory reporting on healthy food sales  

•  Target setting to increase sales of healthy food sales 

• An update to the 2004 Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM) which underpins HFSS legislation 

• New Mandatory standard for alcohol labelling (previous Government consulted on this, which could accelerate roll-out)  

• Consultation on increasing alcohol-free threshold to 0.5% in line with international standards 

• Exploration of options to ban no/low alcohol sales to under18s 

• Increase in the value of Healthy Start Vouchers 

• Expansion of free school meals in line with Universal Credit 

It reaffirmed planned activity on: 

• HFSS advertising restrictions 

• Banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under16-year-olds 

• Soft Drinks Levy consultation and expansion to milk based drinks 

• A smoke free generation – no tobacco  

• Updated School Food Standards 

What is the Food Strategy Advisory Board's role? 

Mandatory reporting and targets to increase healthy food sales in communities across the UK are perhaps the most prominent news for industry. The policies will see all big food businesses report on healthy food sales by the end of this parliament (2029). This will set full transparency and accountability around the food that businesses are selling and encourage healthier products.   

The government will work with the Food Strategy Advisory Board on the sequencing of this policy. IGD is co-secretariat of the Food Strategy Advisory Board meetings, which is a group of senior leaders across the government and food system.   

Industry support for mandatory reporting 

Many supermarkets and manufacturers want to do more to make the average shopping basket healthier, but they risk changes hitting their bottom lines if their competitors don’t act at the same time. The new standard will introduce a level playing field, so there isn’t a first mover disadvantage.   

While there has been a lot of recent support for mandatory reporting from retailers and other organisations, views across the industry vary. Concerns have been raised about additional costs and regulatory burden. 

Freedom for businesses and ‘potential repeal’ of promotions and aisle placement restrictions 

Businesses will be given freedom on how to meet the healthy sales targets, whether that’s reformulating products and tweaking recipes, changing shop layouts, offering discounts on healthy foods, or changing loyalty schemes to promote healthier options. The NHS plan also states that ‘by introducing smarter regulation, focused on outcomes, we expect to repeal legislation restricting volume price promotions and aisle placement’. 

Change to NPM Model  

Current HFSS legislation is based on the 2004 Nutrient profiling model (NPM). The government has said ‘this is plainly out of date, and we will update these standards’, they go on to state ‘this simple modernisation of existing regulation could reduce adult obesity cases by 170,000’.  

While there are multiple benefits to modernising the NPM, such as incorporating newer dietary guidance and addressing its current limitations, the government's term 'simple modernisation' seems to refer to the aim of updating the science, more than the practical implications for industry. Stakeholder feedback from the 2018/19 Government consultation highlighted that any update to the model carries significant technical and implementation challenges, with potentially huge implications and costs for the food industry, especially when considering its intersection with existing HFSS regulations, advertising legislation, and proposed mandatory reporting. 

IGD opinion 

IGD welcomes the mandatory reporting news. It is a real opportunity for the food industry to work differently with government (DHSC and DEFRA), to face into the obesity and consumption challenges collaboratively.   

Introducing mandatory reporting and targets, will create a level playing field, drive standardisation, making it easier to compare like with like. 

Data challenge 

Introducing mandatory reporting on healthy sales metrics may pose challenges for the industry. Accessing the necessary data can be complex and expensive, and not all organisations are at the same level of readiness. Addressing this will take time, collaboration, and investment from retailers, data providers, and manufacturers.  

It is currently unknown how any timings on NPM change could relate to timings on mandatory reporting. 

Investment in healthier products 

 Giving businesses flexibility in how they meet healthy sales targets could spark creative and innovative approaches across the industry to boost healthy food sales. This will potentially result in different ‘trials’ in stores and online. It could also mean more investment, innovation, reformulation, listing opportunities and promotional space for healthier products.  

Some key benefits for shoppers  

For shoppers, this could lead to clearer visibility of healthy options in stores. Price gaps between healthier and less healthy products might narrow, thanks to more promotions on healthier items and fewer on high fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS) products. Mandatory reporting could also help highlight which businesses are offering healthier choices, giving consumers more information to guide where they shop. 

IGD Health and Sustainability Team 

If you would like to stay updated on health news in the FMCG industry and informed about our upcoming report launches on how HFSS impacted purchasing and Levers of Population Diet Change, please sign up to our Health and Sustainability newsletter. 

IGD’s Health and Sustainability team run two forums, ‘Nutrition Leaders Forum’ and ‘Food Systems Change Leaders Forum’, both of which convene industry leaders to drive action and influence change. 

We also run a ‘Nutrition leaders' network’ for manufacturers, retailers and organisations to work with us on key health workstreams. If you are interested in joining, please email us [email protected] 

 Government Press Release 29 June 

NHS 10 Year Health Plan 
 
* IGD is acting as a co-secretariat for meetings of the Food Strategy Advisory Board comprised of senior leaders across government and the food system. Supporting the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs with engagement across the food system, acting as a neutral convenor, drawing on its charitable status and commitment to public benefit.