The Food and Drink Federation (FDF), which represents UK food and drink manufacturers, is calling on government to provide greater financial support for smaller businesses investing in healthier product innovation.
In 2023 alone, food and drink manufacturers invested more than £160m in creating healthier options for consumers, including modifying recipes to make them healthier (reformulation), creating new products, and adjusting portion sizes.
However, many businesses, in particular small and medium sized businesses (SMEs), do not have the in-house expertise or financial resource to undertake this specialist R&D.
The Scottish-Government funded Reformulation for Health programme has provided specialist support for over 80 Scottish SMEs in the first five years, removing billions of calories and tonnes of fat, sugar, and salt from popular Scottish products, providing support to butchers, bakers and ready meal makers.
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Expanding this successful programme with a £4m fund for the rest of the UK would help more smaller businesses access the vital support they need to develop healthier recipes, grow their businesses, and drive investment in local economies.
For larger businesses, broadening the eligibility criteria of R&D tax credits to offset the significant upfront costs required to invest in product reformulation would support further healthier product innovation.
The call was made at FDF’s Innovation for Healthier Diets tasting event in Parliament on Monday 11 November which shone a spotlight on the world-leading work of UK manufacturers to support healthier diets by reducing fat, sugar and salt and increasing fruit, vegetables and fibre.
As a result, FDF members now contribute a third (33%) less salt, and a quarter less sugar (25%) and calories (24%) to the British grocery market compared to 2015.
At the event manufacturers showcased products that have reduced salt, sugar and fat, as well as those with increased fruit, vegetables and fibre.
This includes pasta sauces with extra portions of vegetables, cakes with reduced sugar content, and stock cubes with less salt.
As well as supporting government initiatives to reduce calories, sugar, and salt, manufacturers are also highlighting that a healthy, balanced diet is not just about cutting things out.
Through FDF’s Action on Fibre initiative, manufacturers are helping make higher-fibre choices more accessible to consumers, providing an additional 190 million servings of fibre to the UK population in 2023 – equivalent to 144 million bowls of bran flakes or 207 million slices of wholemeal bread.
Speaking at the event, Karen Betts, Chief Executive, The Food and Drink Federation, said: “The UK’s food and drink manufacturers are some of the most innovative in the world, and FDF members are global leaders in developing new, healthier products.
“This is about making existing brands healthier by removing fat, salt and sugar, or adding fruit, vegetables and fibre; or by introducing new products to increase the choice of tasty, convenient, affordable and healthier options for shoppers.
“However, this work is complex and takes significant investment, it can be risky commercially and take many years to get a new product from concept to sale.
“As such, we’re asking government to act to help mitigate the risk for companies. We’re asking them to broaden access to R&D tax credits to support companies investing in innovation for health.
“And we’re asking them to more actively support SMEs, who make up 98% of the companies in our sector and for whom the costs of investing in this sort of innovation can be prohibitive.
“With just £4 million, the government could establish a support scheme for small and medium sized businesses across the UK.
“This would help to mitigate the risk of a company carrying out this important work to improve public health, while enabling them to access critical advice and practical support.
“The Scottish Government’s Reformulation for Health programme provides a helpful model here, which over the past five years has seen billions of calories and tonnes of salt removed from food and drink made in Scotland.”
Mike Reader MP, Chair-assumptive of the APPG for Food and Drink, said: “The work of the food and drink industry to innovate for healthier diets highlights how far we have come and that industry recognises its role in preventing and tackling obesity.
“It is important our government does what it can to support industry in its mission to innovate and invest in R&D for reformulation, not only to achieve health goals, but also to drive growth in the economy.
“There is more to be done, so it is now more important than ever that government and industry work together to create a more sustainable, innovative and healthier food system.”
Gillian Black, Head of Technical, Taylors Snacks LTD, said: “With support from the Scottish Reformulation for Health Programme, we reformulated the recipe of our Lentil Wave snacks to achieve 50% salt reduction, all while keeping our signature flavour.
“Funding we received through the Reformul8 Challenge allowed us to invest in new ingredients, trial new recipes and technologies, and undertake nutrition analysis.
“It’s a win for both our customers and our business, and we’re excited to continue building on this work to develop more tasty healthier snacking options.”
