The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said that UK retailers are ‘fully committed’ to improving the health of their consumers, following the introduction of a ‘sugar tax’ on certain soft drinks in April.
The BRC made the admission following the publication of a report by Public Health England, which outlined the progress made to date by retailers.
'Led The Way'
Andrew Opie, director of food policy at the British Retail Consortium said that retailers have “led the way in reducing sugar in their products. Thousands of tonnes of sugar have been removed from retailers’ own product ranges to date and continuing work will result in even greater reductions over the next few years.
“Retailers have shown that reducing sugar levels across a wide range of products is possible but all food businesses must follow suit if we are to see significant reductions in the level of sugar in the nation’s diet.”
Sugar Reduction
According to the Public Health England findings, retailers and manufacturers have already achieved a reduction of 2% in average sugar content and calories in products likely to be consumed in one go.
Public Health England had previously challenged the food industry to cut 20% of sugar from a range of products by 2020, with a 5% reduction in the first year.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
