Greggs amongst biggest food retailers to back ‘snack tax’
Organisations also welcomed the report’s latest recommendations.
Greggs is amongst the country’s largest food retailers backing measures in a report to tackle the nation’s obesity epidemic.
The National Food Strategy, drawn up by the government’s “food tsar” and LEON co-founder Henry Dimbleby, included plans for a ‘snack tax’ on salty and sugary food.
The second part of the report, currently being reviewed, called for a new law requiring food companies with more than 250 employees to provide an annual report on the amount of food they sell that is high in saturated fat, salt and sugar.
The amount of vegetables, fruit, fibre and protein sold – including meat, fish and plant protein – should also be published, alongside food waste.
Other retailers supporting the strategy include Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Iceland and Co-op.
“We support the introduction of mandatory reporting across our sector which will create a level playing field for the largest food providers and help deliver a step change in the health of the nation’s diet,” Greggs chief executive Roger Whiteside said.
UKHospitality and the Food Foundation welcomed the recommendations.
“The report’s measures to improve healthy eating are essentially a continuation of the successful efforts of hospitality venues over recent years, to provide healthier options and help to improve lifestyle choices, and we look forward to working on future initiatives to achieve yet more,” UKHospitality Kate Nicholls said.
“We are pleased to see strong recommendations on sugar and salt taxes to help encourage reformulation, mandatory business reporting, action on children’s food insecurity, increasing access to fruit and vegetables, and strengthening food system governance. The Government now has a once in a lifetime opportunity to take the report’s recommendations seriously, and to pivot the food system to protect human and planetary health,” the Food Foundation said.
