‘A plan to fix our broken food system’: House of Lords Food, Diet and Obesity Committee report

Approximate read time: 10 minutes

In February 2024, the House of Lords Food, Diet and Obesity Committee launched an inquiry into the link between unhealthy foods and obesity and poor health.^[1] In October 2024, the committee published its subsequent report, ‘Recipe for health: A plan to fix our broken food system’ (24 October 2024, HL Paper 19 of session 2024–25). The government responded to the committee in January 2025.^[2] The House of Lords is due to debate the committee’s report on 28 March 2025.

1. What were the committee’s findings?

1.1 Background to the inquiry

The committee was established in January 2024, with a remit to consider the “role of foods, such as ‘ultra-processed foods’ [UPFs], and foods high in fat, sugar and salt [HFSS], in a healthy diet and tackling obesity”.^[3] The committee noted that in 2020 a previous committee—the House of Lords Food, Poverty, Health and the Environment Committee—had published the report ‘Hungry for change: Fixing the failures in food’. In the context of that report, the new committee said it had not sought to duplicate the work already undertaken. Indeed, the committee endorsed the recommendations of the ‘Hungry for change’ report and called on the government to act on them. However, the committee said its inquiry had been prompted by two subsequent developments: the publication in 2021 of the independent, government-commissioned ‘National food strategy’; and what it called the “growing debate over ultra-processed foods”.^[4]

The committee noted that the response to the national food strategy report by the previous Conservative government had been “widely criticised for its lack of ambition” and in 2023 the report’s author, Henry Dimbleby, the co-founder of Leon restaurants, had subsequently resigned as the government’s ‘food tsar’.^[5] The committee said it was against this backdrop that its inquiry had focused on the impact of the unhealthiest foods and whether there was a case for tighter regulation.

1.2 The committee’s conclusions and recommendations

Following its review of the evidence, the committee concluded that the UK’s food system was “broken”, and that obesity and diet-related diseases were a “public health emergency”.^[6] It said that England had one of the highest rates of obesity among high-income nations, with two-thirds of adults either overweight or obese. The committee further noted that one in five children in England started primary school overweight or obese, and the figure rose to over a third of children by the time they left. The report contended that unhealthy diets were the “primary driver” of obesity and preventable diet-related diseases. It claimed the annual cost to society of obesity was equivalent to 1–2% of GDP, totalling “billions each year in healthcare costs and lost productivity”.

The committee also said there had been an “utter failure” from successive governments to tackle the issue.^[7] It claimed that at the heart of the failure was a “misplaced focus on personal responsibility”. Due to “misguided fears of the ‘nanny state’”, government policy had consistently relied on consumer choice rather than “tackling the underlying drivers” of unhealthy diets. The committee said the food industry had “strong incentives” to sell highly profitable unhealthy products, and key players in the industry exerted a “powerful influence” through effective lobbying techniques. The committee concluded that voluntary efforts and industry self-regulation had failed, and “further mandatory regulation” was now needed.

The committee’s central recommendation was that the government should adopt a “new, comprehensive and integrated food strategy” to address the issues identified in its report.^[8] The strategy should be based on a new “overarching legislative framework” for a healthier food system. The legislation should:

• Require the government to publish a long-term food strategy, setting out targets for the food system and the government’s plans for enforcing those targets.
• Give the Food Standards Agency (FSA) “oversight of the food system”. It should be required to report annually to Parliament against targets for sales of healthier and less healthy foods, and on progress against the government’s strategy.

In other key recommendations, the committee said the government should:

• Introduce a “salt and sugar reformulation tax” on food manufacturers, to incentivise businesses to reduce salt and sugar in their products. This would build on the “success of the soft drinks industry levy” introduced in 2018.
• More tightly regulate the sale of ultra-processed foods, which include sweetened breakfast cereals, carbonated soft drinks, and reconstituted meat products.
• Ban the advertising of unhealthy food across all media by the end of the Parliament. This would go further than the upcoming ban on pre-9pm advertising and on paid-for online advertising, due to come into effect in October 2025.
• Make large food companies report on the healthiness of their sales. Food businesses that fail to meet healthy sales targets should be banned from “any discussions on the formation of policy on food, diet and obesity prevention”.

2. What was the reaction to the committee’s report?

The committee’s report was welcomed by the Obesity Health Alliance (OHA), a coalition of over 60 organisations working to reduce obesity. The director of the OHA, Katharine Jenner, contended that the government “must take forward the insightful and well-considered” recommendations of the committee.^[9]

The British Nutrition Foundation also welcomed the committee’s recommendations, including those designed to restrict the promotion of HFSS foods. It claimed there was “substantial scientific evidence” that those foods were “detrimental to health”.^[10] The foundation said the government now needed to take “urgent action to help people choose heathier foods and live healthier lives”.

However, the Advertising Association questioned the committee’s recommendations relating to food advertising. It argued that healthy food advertising campaigns had a “much greater positive impact on people’s health than advertising bans and restrictions”.^[11] The association said it would work with the government on how “health-focused advertising campaigns can be used to drive positive health outcomes”.

The chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, Karen Betts, told the Grocer magazine that the food industry acknowledged it had a “key role” to play in tackling obesity.^[12] However, Ms Betts also argued that the industry had already taken action to produce healthier foods, and she cautioned against over-regulating the sector. She said:

Manufacturers have already made significant progress to create healthier options for shoppers […] To continue with this, what industry needs is regulatory certainty.^[13]

Ms Betts also welcomed the committee’s call for further research on the impact of ultra-processed foods. She said:

[…] we need better-quality evidence on ‘ultra-processed’ foods and whether processing itself raises particular concerns. If that research brought anything to light, industry would of course act quickly.

3. How has the government responded?

The government published a response to the committee’s report in January 2025.^[14] Ministers accepted that there was an “obesity crisis”, driven by a food system in which high fat, salt and sugar foods were “more available, more promoted and more advertised”.^[15] The government also agreed that obesity was “one of the main causes of ill health, economic inactivity and premature mortality”.

The government noted that it had been elected on the five missions it had set out at the 2024 general election, one of which was the creation of an “NHS fit for the future”.^[16] Ministers said a plan to reduce obesity was part of that mission, which would “help make the country fairer, allow people to be healthier for longer and reduce early deaths from the biggest killers”.

On the committee’s central recommendation, the government did not commit to a food strategy underpinned by a new legislative framework.^[17] Instead, the government said it was committed to its mission-led approach and “food policy will be an important part” of achieving the mission’s goals. It added that the mission would “shift the NHS away from a model geared towards late diagnosis and treatment”, to a model based on prevention. The government said the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) was “developing an ambitious food strategy”, a goal of which would be the production of healthier foods to tackle obesity and improve health outcomes. The government said Defra would collaborate with the Food Standards Agency in the development of the food strategy, but it did not commit to legislate to increase its powers or remit.^[18]

On the introduction of a salt and sugar reformulation tax, the government said there were already a “range of measures” to incentivise businesses to reformulate their products.^[19] The government noted that a range of reports had been published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities on the outcome of the food industry’s voluntary reformulation programmes.^[20] The government said the reports showed the “programme has been successful” in reducing levels of sugar, salt and fat in some foods, although it acknowledged the industry “needs to do more”. The government said it continued to “keep all taxes under review”, but future decisions would be made by the chancellor of the exchequer.

On the regulation of ultra-processed foods, the government reiterated that actions would be considered as part of the development of the NHS mission and Defra’s food strategy.^[21] The government acknowledged that achieving “significant” dietary improvements would require “whole system intervention”, including from devolved governments and local authorities. The government said it would “consider the balance of mandatory and voluntary measures that we need in future” to reduce sales of the unhealthiest foods.^[22]

On food advertising, ministers did not commit to fully ban the advertising of unhealthy foods.^[23] Instead, the government said it was committed to the upcoming changes to the advertising rules that are due to come into effect in October 2025. However, ministers also said the government would continue to review the impact of the advertising regime and “consider whether further action is needed”.

Ministers rejected the recommendation to compel large food companies to report on the proportion of their sales from unhealthy foods. The government said there was already a scheme—the food data transparency partnership—which is a cross-departmental programme to work voluntarily with food manufacturers with over 250 employees to improve their food data reporting.^[24] The government said although the partnership had made progress there were “several outstanding technical challenges” to the current reporting scheme, such as data quality and defining which products should be included. It said those challenges would need to be resolved before the government would consider expanding the scheme. Ministers also said there was “no current expectation for small or medium sized businesses” to be brought into scope of the existing reporting regime.

The government also rejected the committee’s recommendation to ban food companies with a high proportion of sales from unhealthy foods from discussions about food policy. The government said it “engages with a wide range of food industry stakeholders”, which was “vital” to understanding changes to the food supply chain. Ministers said they had “no plans” to exclude food companies from discussions based on the percentage of sales a company derives from less healthy foods. The government response added:

Such an approach would prevent effective engagement with many of the companies where change is most needed. This approach would also favour large companies which may sell more tonnes of HFSS products than other companies, but where HFSS sales are only a small percentage of their overall sales due to selling many other types of products.^[25]

4. What has the reaction been to the government’s response?

Following the publication of the government’s response, the chair of the House of Lords Food, Diet and Obesity Committee, Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat), said she was encouraged that the government accepted there was an “obesity crisis”.^[26] However, she said she was “very disappointed” with the overall response, as it was “far from bold and kicks many desirable actions into the long grass”. She said the committee intended to “keep the pressure on the government to do a lot better for the sake of our children’s health”.

The director of the Obesity Health Alliance, Katharine Jenner, also said she was “deeply disappointed” with the government’s response, which lacked the “bold action needed” to fix the problems of obesity and poor diet.^[27] She added:

By intending to rely on industry cooperation in the upcoming food strategy, the government is prioritising the voices of those who profit from unhealthy food over independent experts and those directly affected by an unhealthy food environment. Time and again, voluntary schemes and industry-led initiatives have proven ineffective.^[28]

Ms Jenner claimed that without “urgent action”, the government “risks missing a vital opportunity” to improve the nation’s health.

Anna Taylor, executive director of the Food Foundation charity, said the government’s response lacked “both the ambition and pace needed” to tackle the health and economic impacts of unhealthy foods.^[29] She added:

The government response suggests that ministers have not appreciated that the health mission, and indeed the economic mission, will never succeed unless we deal with drivers of poor diets.^[30]

Ms Taylor said she hoped the government’s upcoming food strategy would offer “a substantially more ambitious approach” to improving the food system in the UK.

5. Read more

• House of Lords Library, ‘Eating less sugar: Reformulating food and drink products and government policy’, 21 May 2024
• House of Lords Library, ‘Impact of ultra-processed food on children’s health’, 9 October 2023
• House of Commons Library, ‘Obesity policy in England’, 20 June 2023
• House of Lords Library, ‘Relationship between health and food production’, 1 July 2022

---

Cover image by ready made on Unsplash.