City St George’s Professor calls for bold food regulation reform in evidence to MPs

Professor Christina Vogel, Director of the Centre for Food Policy at City St George’s, University of London, has called for a properly funded, joined-up regulatory framework to transform the UK’s food environment, during evidence given to the Health and Social Care Committee as part of its inquiry into food and weight management.

Speaking to MPs, Professor Vogel warned that our food environments fail to encourage healthy and sustainable diets. Combined with confusion around what constitutes healthy and unhealthy food – leaving both the public and industry uncertain – this has contributed to rising ill-health and economic losses.

“Our everyday settings do not look anything like our Eatwell Guide,” she said. “The cost of fruit and veg is double per calorie what it is to eat high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) foods… With the news that we have 800,000 adults not working since 2019 because of poor health, which is mostly diet-related, that’s alarming.”

She highlighted the lack of marketing for healthier produce, noting that children are “being brainwashed, almost, by the appeal of unhealthy foods.”

The evidence session was the second in the series and Professor Vogel was on the first panel of the session with Professor Chris van Tulleken from University College London, Lauren Bowes Byatt from Nesta, and Michael Baber from the Health Action Research Group.

Call for a clear, consistent food system

Professor Vogel told MPs that fragmented policy is a major barrier to progress. “Policies have been made one by one… we really need a joined-up regulatory framework,” she said.

Key points she highlighted during the session:

• The cost of fruit and vegetables is double per calorie compared to HFSS foods with food promotions largely targeting foods that are high in fat, salt, and sugar, making it harder to eat healthily on a budget.
• The need for a clear, front-of-pack, front-of-menu HFSS label that applies to all foods in all settings.
• Use mandatory reporting and targets to encourage companies across the supply chain to reduce their reliance on HFSS foods and incorporate more fruit and vegetables into their business models.
• Ensure sufficient, ring-fenced funding for local councils to enforce existing and obesity regulations.

Professor Vogel also outlined three reasons why existing policies have failed to shift diets at scale:

1. Conflict of interest, with major food industry players having “40 times more access to policymakers than NGOs”.
2. Lack of enforcement, with local authorities under-resourced and unable to issue meaningful penalties.
3. Failure to close loopholes, leaving retailers and manufacturers able to circumvent obesity regulations.

Front-of-pack warnings and fruit & veg investment

Asked what she would prioritise if she were Prime Minister for 30 seconds, Professor Vogel was clear:

“I would introduce a framework around HFSS with a front-of-pack warning label.” She described this as a simple, visible tool so consumers can immediately recognise foods “high in fat, salt and sugar”. It would also encourage reformulation and facilitate enforcement.

She further recommended a mandatory financial commitment from food companies to promote healthier foods. She proposed “0.5% or 1% of a marketing budget of companies added to a pot for promoting fruit and vegetables,” alongside requiring them to be placed at the front of stores and at check-outs under a refined Food (Promotions and Placement) regulation.

Professor Vogel stressed that only a coherent suite of regulations, covering food marketing, placement, pricing, labelling and industry reporting, will create a healthier food environment. “We need a strong, interlinked regulatory framework to utterly change our food environment,” she told MPs.

Visiting Researcher and MSc Food Policy alum, Dr Kawther Hashem, also presented evidence in the second panel [from 11:02:41] along with Katherine Jenner of the Obesity Health Alliance and Nika Pajda of Bite Back. Dr Hashem spoke in support of taxation that could be applied to HFSS products, which has the potential to drastically reduce rates of obesity and diet-related ill-health in the UK. She added that lessons could be learned from the implementation of the 2018 soft drinks industry levy to aid its development.

Watch the full recording of the session here: https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/6866005c-fd7f-4be0-9c64-2150a922c183