News article
14 January 2019
FDF response to DHSC announcing a consultation on the restriction of food and drink promotions
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Tim Rycroft, FDF Chief Operating Officer, said:
“Announcing this consultation today is grossly insensitive and a monumental
distraction when so
many food businesses are facing into the abyss of a no-deal Brexit. It looks
like the Department of
Health and Social Care is out of touch with economic realities and with the rest
of Government,
whose sole focus now is preventing the catastrophe of no-deal. This consultation
– already late –
should have waited until the uncertainty we face is resolved.
“What's more, this proposed plan is both wrong-headed and muddled. A promotions
ban would
make shopping more expensive and reduce choice.
“Shoppers love the UK's, vibrant, good-value, innovative food and drink market,
and promotions
underpin that. They allow new products and brands to win space on supermarket
shelves and help
new products to get shoppers' attention. Limiting the effectiveness of these
mechanisms would stifle
innovation and lock-in the positions of dominant brands. It would make it harder
for challenger
brands and start-ups to break into the market.
“Promotions also play a big role in making food more affordable. Government data
shows that,
on average, people would have to spend £634 a year more for the same food if
promotions were
banned [1].”
“For more than ten years the food and drink industry has risen to the UK's
significant obesity
challenge. Favourite products have been reformulated to reduce sugar, calories,
fat and salt.
Portion sizes have been limited. Some of these principals have now been adopted
as part of Public
Health England's own reformulation programmes.
“Preventing companies from promoting these reformulated, healthier options to
consumers would
be mad; but that's what the Government wants to do. This is a bizarre and
contradictory public health
policy.”
Note: [1] Public Health England (2015) - Sugar Reduction: The evidence for
action Annexe 4: An
analysis of the role of price promotions.
More information
Contact Ella Stanbrook, Corporate Affairs Division, at: ella.stanbrook@fdf.org.uk, or 02074207131.
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