UK publishes guidelines to reduce sugar 20% by 2020
Public Health England (PHE) has published the technical guidelines setting out the approaches the food industry can take to reduce the amount of sugar children consume through the everyday foods that contribute the most to intakes.
Public Health England (PHE) has published the technical guidelines setting out the approaches the food industry can take to reduce the amount of sugar children consume through the everyday foods that contribute the most to intakes. The guidelines include the recommended sugar limits for nine food groups including biscuits, breakfast cereals, and yogurt.
One of the main commitments in the government’s “Childhood obesity: a plan for action” was to reduce the amount of sugar contained in food. The challenge is to reduce sugar 5% by August 2017 and 20% by 2020. The guidelines offer three approaches the food industry can take to reduce sugar. They are:
- Reformulating products to lower the levels of sugar present
- Reducing the portion size, and/or the number of calories in single-serve products
- Shifting consumer purchasing towards lower or no added sugar products
PHE will judge the success of the sugar reduction program by measuring the net amount of sugar removed from key food categories. The principles are to encourage the industry to go further and faster in sugar reduction in order to improve health outcomes, but also to give it flexibility in how it meets the government’s challenge.
The PHE guidelines are based on more than six months of meetings with the food industry and public health non-governmental organizations (NGOs). More than 40 meetings were held with food suppliers, manufacturers, retailers, and the foodservice sector, representing fast food, coffee shops, family restaurants, entertainment venues, and pub chains.
“This government believes in taking a common-sense approach to improving public health and that includes changing the addictive relationship our children have with sugar,” said Public Health Minister Nicola Blackwood. “Many companies have already taken impressive steps to rise to this challenge but it’s important that everyone steps up. We should seize this unique opportunity to be global leaders in food innovation.”