Latest developments: 6 December 2024

FDF’s Kate Halliwell at recent webinar and podcast on UPF

Kate Halliwell took part in a Food Manufacture webinar alongside other food industry representatives to discuss the unintended consequences of the UPF trend. Kate also took part in a Dietitian Café podcast (a podcast for healthcare professionals) alongside Anthony Warner, the Angry Chef, to discuss the myths and misconceptions around processed foods and the role, regulation and safety of food additives. Date of airing TBC.

FDF Engagement with IFBA and FDE

Amy Glass met with the International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA) last week to share insights and respective activities on this topic. IFBA shared their ongoing work on reviewing the scientific evidence and plans to undertake message testing to see what resonates with different audiences. Meanwhile, we are in touch with FoodDrinkEurope to take part in an ad-hoc coordination call in January.

SACN open meeting

In November, SACN held a committee meeting where they discussed processed food and health, including the draft rapid review. This provides an update on new evidence published since their position paper last year. SACN are due to publish the final review which will include conclusions and recommendations in due course. We are not anticipating previous conclusions drawn to change. SACN has agreed to keep a watching brief on the topic and consider developments in the evidence in November 2025.

Ultra-processed Foods: the scope for Government action

Last week the Imperial Centre for Health Economics & Policy Innovation and NIHR School for Public Health Research held a conference on the science and scope for new policy approaches to address impacts of UPFs. Kevin Hall presented preliminary results from his current research which showed that an UPF diet high in energy density and hyper-palatability led to 1000 calories per day greater intake than a minimally processed diet (MPD) low in calories and low in hyper-palatability. However, a UPF diet that was low in energy density and low in hyper-palatability did not see a significant difference in calorie intake to the MPD. These interim results suggest that energy density and hyper-palatability are important mechanisms.

Dr Francesco Branca, Director of the Department of Nutrition for Health and Development at WHO, highlighted that the development of a WHO guideline on UPFs will take a few years to complete and will include two rounds of consultation, at formation of guidelines and on the draft guidelines.

Dr Chris van Tulleken gave closing remarks and argued that there is sufficient evidence to say UPF diet causes poor health outcomes. Recommendations include:

• The need to remove conflicts of interest from independent bodies and regulators.
• Challenge the message that partnership with industry is necessary and regulation is anti-growth/nanny state.
• Ultra-processing is not essential for food security, inequality or solving hunger issues.

UKRI and Sciencewise 12-month public dialogue on UPFs

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Sciencewise (a programme funded by the UK Government to provide assistance to policy-makers) are commissioning a 12-month public dialogue on UPFs. Kate Halliwell, FDF’s Chief Scientific Officer, will join the Oversight group for the project which will convene in January. The Oversight group will comment on design of the dialogue process, materials and expert input that will be provided for participants, formulation of outputs and interim and final reports. The dialogue will aim to build on previous work and the findings will be used to inform future research priorities and be shared with those developing food and dietary health policy.

As preliminary research, UKRI and Sciencewise have published an evidence review on public perceptions of ultra-processed foods. The paper reviewed existing consumer surveys and studies on UPF and health to identify key themes that could be further explored. This will be incorporated into the FDF summary of consumer surveys on UPF. The key findings include:

• UPFs are embedded in people’s eating habits, with cost, convenience, and stress driving consumption.
• People feel that the food system does not support them to make good choices.
• There are varying levels of understanding of UPFs, and people would welcome more transparency.
• There are signs that the public would support more Government intervention to make food healthier.
• Experts agree that processed foods and some UPF subgroups can have a place in people’s diets, but there is a lack of consensus on how risks should be communicated to the public.