‘Stand up to food industry’ after decades of failure to address diet-related ill-health, MPs tell government
The Health and Social Care Committee today calls for a new, bold approach to tackle England’s decades-long problem of diet-related ill health that is costing the country tens of billions a year. The report urges the government to break the cycle of constantly putting the commercial interests of the food and drink industry over children’s health.
The Obesity Health Alliance, alongside a number of our members, were invited to give evidence at the oral evidence sessions which took place from November 2025-January 2026, following an extensive written submission to the inquiry earlier in 2025.
The cross-party Committee concluded that, time and again, policies designed to improve children’s health and reduce obesity rates have been delayed or weakened in response to pressure from the food and drink industry.
Some of the key recommendations include:
- Launching mandatory reporting as part of the Healthy Food Standards as soon as possible – and setting targets for supermarkets within the next 12 months, which are accompanied by a strict enforcement regime.
- Support for implementing the 2018 Nutrient Profile Model by no later than the end of 2027 and committing to regularly reviewing to ensure it reflects evolving scientific advice.
- Strengthening the legislation on less healthy advertising by removing the brand advertising exemption as soon as possible; extending to outdoor advertising and launching a consultation on widening the regulations to sports sponsorship and advertising on social media, mobile phone app notifications and online gaming.
- Strengthening placement and price promotions regulations by January 2027, to include requirements to place fruits and vegetables at prominent locations and extend the definition of a prominent location on a website to include ‘special offers’ pages.
- Work with OHID and directors of public health to strengthen local powers to restrict the proliferation of “fast food outlets” and “hot food takeaways”, including clearer definitions, review class uses and mandate the involvement of public health officials in the development of local planning policies.
- Drive further reformulation by exploring how the Soft Drinks Industry Levy can be expanded and develop a programme to roll out reformulation to small and medium sized food and drink manufacturers, similar to that in Scotland.
- Improvements to the enforcement of policies to ensure existing and upcoming regulations are implemented effectively, including improved funding and training for local enforcement officers, and stronger penalties.
- Supporting the House of Lords Food, Diet and Obesity Committee recommendation that the government should exclude food businesses that derive more than a certain proportion of sales from less healthy products from any discussions on the formation of policy on food, diet and obesity prevention.
- And many, many more.
In addition to this report, the inquiry will also be publishing their recommendations following the weight management sessions which took place earlier this year.
Katharine Jenner, Executive Director of the Obesity Health Alliance and who gave evidence at the inquiry, said:
“This report is a timely reminder that the evidence on obesity prevention has been clear for years. The Committee’s recommendations are firmly grounded in public health evidence and reflect the bold, joined‑up action that the Obesity Health Alliance and others have long called for, to create a healthier food environment as part of the 10 Year Health Plan for England.
“The Government already has many of these policies on the table – mandatory health reporting and targets for large food businesses, stronger restrictions on the advertising and promotion of less healthy food, and an updated Nutrient Profiling Model. Yet too often, measures designed to protect children’s health have been delayed or diluted after sustained pressure from industry.
“If we are serious about improving the nation’s health, reducing pressure on the NHS and giving every child the best start in life, we must tackle the root causes by making healthier choices easier and more affordable for everyone. This is the moment for the Government to break the ‘junk food cycle’ of inaction and deliver the healthier future families deserve.”
John Maingay, Director of Policy and Influencing at the British Heart Foundation, said:
“The UK’s obesity epidemic is being sustained by an environment which relentlessly encourages us to choose less healthy food and drink.
“We urgently need to make it easier and cheaper for shoppers to fill their baskets with healthy products. The Government announced plans for a new Healthy Food Standard, to encourage higher sales of healthy food and drink, over a year ago, but implementation has been far too slow. With obesity driving higher rates of disease and multimorbidity, including in children, the UK needs to go much further, and act faster, to reverse this trend.”
Dr Kawther Hashem, Senior Lecturer in Public Health Nutrition and Head of Research and Impact at Action on Salt & Sugar based at Queen Mary University of London says:
“We are delighted to have contributed evidence to this inquiry, and it is encouraging to see several of our key recommendations reflected in the Committee’s report, including bringing in mandatory reporting and targets, stronger advertising restrictions, mandatory front-of-pack colour-coded nutrition labelling and a clear role for the Food Standards Agency in overseeing and enforcing business compliance.
“For far too long, the odds have been stacked against families, with foods high in fat, salt and sugar often cheaper, more heavily promoted and easier to access than healthier choices, contributing to obesity and other preventable diet-related diseases. The Committee is therefore right to call on Ministers to stand up to vested commercial interests and put public health first.
“However, important opportunities have been missed. The report does not go far enough on extending the successful SDIL levy model to key food categories high in fat, salt and sugar, strengthening promotion restrictions across the whole market to apply to all unhealthy food and drink, or making commercial baby food standards mandatory.
“Voluntary approaches have repeatedly failed to deliver change at the scale and pace needed. Ministers must now build on the strongest recommendations in this report, to close the remaining gaps and introduce bold, evidence-based regulation that creates a level playing field across the food industry and protects the health of children and families.”
Michael Baber, Director of Health Action Research Group says:
“Life expectancy has stalled in the UK, and healthy life expectancy is falling. That’s bad news for the millions affected, and piles ever-more pressure on the NHS. It’s time for the government to take the prevention of ill-health seriously, including tackling the obesogenic environment children are growing up in, with all the adverse knock-on effects for their long-term physical and mental health.”
“The House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee’s report is an excellent starting point. It recognises the harm done to the nation’s health by successive governments not standing up to the food industry – and makes practical, evidence-based recommendations to encourage healthier diets, address the obesogenic environment and prioritise health in food policy. We hope the new government will give priority to implementing its recommendations.”
Caroline Cerny, Deputy CEO of Action on Smoking on Health, speaking on behalf of Action on Smoking and Health, the Alcohol Health Alliance and the Obesity Health Alliance said:
“We welcome the Health and Social Care Committee’s recognition that the Government must put public health ahead of commercial interests if it is serious about preventing ill health. The Committee is right to highlight how industry lobbying has repeatedly delayed and weakened policies designed to protect people’s health.
“The Government should learn from its approach to tobacco. Where commercial interests conflict with public health, policy must be guided by independent evidence, not by the industries whose profits depend on harmful products. Applying this principle consistently will help deliver the bold action we urgently need to improve the nation’s health.”
Lauren Bowes Byatt, director in the healthy life mission at Nesta, said:
“The UK government outlined a world-leading approach to tackling obesity last year, but it is now running out of time to stick the landing on these health targets for food businesses.
“The Committee’s report confirms that decades of voluntary approaches have failed to check the obesity crisis. Nor are the effective but expensive GLP-1 weight loss medications by themselves going to be enough to break the cycle across the country. It is time for the government to stay the course, resist any industry lobbying to delay this and mandate the changes needed to fix a food system.
“To ensure its healthy food standard policy remains on track for full implementation within this Parliament, ministers should introduce the consultation on mandatory reporting in the narrowing window we have before the summer recess, followed by a consultation on the targets themselves in 2027.”
Dame Anna Taylor, Executive Director of the Food Foundation, said:
“This report contains a wealth of important findings, and we urge the Government to act swiftly on its recommendations. Crucially, it puts its finger on the real problem: affordability – not willpower – is what stands between most people and a healthy diet. As the report recognises, restricting unhealthy food only achieves so much; the bigger opportunity is making sure people can actually afford food that keeps them healthy and well-nourished.
“We’re particularly pleased to see the Committee recognise the value of the Healthy Start scheme in advancing this agenda, and the urgent need to strengthen the Scheme. Healthy Start should be a lifeline, but for years it’s been left to wither: too many families are missing out, and the value of the payment has been left behind by soaring food prices. Fixing it isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s essential.
“We hope the incoming Prime Minister will seize this opportunity to deliver the reform that’s so clearly needed, and put in place real policies to support people through the challenge of ever-rising food prices.”
Professor Christina Vogel, Director, Centre for Food Policy and Professor of Food Policy adds:
“We are pleased to see the Committee use our research evidence in support of several of their recommendations that can be swiftly implemented by the government to improve the impact of existing healthy food policies. We especially welcome the recommendations to require food businesses to promote fruit and vegetables alongside restrictions on the marketing of foods high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS), and to provide enforcement officers with sufficient funding, training and stronger fines to enforce these laws effectively.
“We commend the Committee’s call for a more joined-up approach to healthy food policy and to restrict the involvement of businesses selling large quantities of unhealthy food and their representatives from direct involvement in policymaking. The recommendation to extend the age limit and eligibility criteria of the Healthy Start scheme is particularly important. It would remove the gap between Healthy Start and Free School Meals, helping to make healthy foods more affordable and accessible for children. We would have liked to see the Committee go further by recommending front-of-pack and menu warning labels for HFSS foods and drinks, and by requiring reporting on the proportion of HFSS products and fruit and vegetable sales within the upcoming healthy food sales reporting policy. However, we welcome the Committee’s call for the immediate introduction of the updated nutrient profiling model used to define HFSS products and look forward to swift government action on this and the report’s other recommendations.”
Alice Wiseman MBE, Vice President of the Association of Directors of Public Health and Director of Public Health for Gateshead Council and Newcastle City Council, said:
“The places where we live, work, and play shape our health, so we must design environments that make healthy choices accessible to everyone. Yet, fast-food outlets continue to oversaturate our most deprived neighbourhoods, where they are twice as common as in more affluent areas. Combined with highly persuasive marketing and cheaper prices, this makes unhealthier food the more accessible option while deepening already unequal health outcomes within and between communities.
“Today’s report recognises that if we want to prevent obesity, we must create environments where everyone, regardless of where they live or how much they earn, can make the healthier choice. Directors of Public Health are working with partners locally to create healthier food environments, and we urge Government to heed the Committee’s advice and stand up to the food industry. That includes strengthening planning policy so that local authorities can limit the number and location of unhealthy food outlets, introducing the Healthy Food Standard so that it’s easier for people to buy healthy food, and introducing tighter advertising restrictions and clearer product labelling.”
Professor Grant McIntyre, Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh said:
“The Select Committee’s recommendations are another important step in helping to address the UK’s obesity crisis, so must be implemented immediately.”