Lo Health and Care Bill, launched in England on 28.4.22, introduces the stop to advertising of junk food (HFSS, High in Fats, Sugar and Sodium), starting October 2022.
This measure is part of a broader strategy to fight obesity, overweight and related diseases (NCDs) introduced by the British government in July 2020. (1)
Premise. Junk food and incurable diseases
The so-called NCDs (Non-Communicable Diseases) - cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and other ills associated with unbalanced diets - have an impact on public health expenditure in the UK of over £ 6 million. With an estimated growth of up to 10 million in 2030.
Junk food, i.e. ultraprocessed foods with nutritional profiles unbalanced (HFSS), is considered to be the number one cause of noncommunicable diseases and premature mortality. In England, as in the EU and in the world. (2)
2) England, lo Health and Care Bill
Lo Health and Care Bill was presented by the government to the London Parliament on 6.7.20, to improve the health of the British population with preventive measures Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) more effective than those already adopted. (3) The traffic light nutrition label (traffic lights system) and the sugar tax in fact, they were not enough to counter the consumption of junk food.
Civil society - associations for the prevention and protection of the sick, consumers, scientific society (4) - has therefore exerted pneumatic pressure, free from conditioning and conflicts of interest such as those that dominate in Italy battle against the NutriScore. Until obtaining a result that includes measures potentially suitable to protect minors from marketing predatory of junk food (Unicef, 2020). (5)
2.1) Restrictions al marketing of junk food
Il marketing HFSS ultraprocessed foods (not even minimally processed foods, e.g. oil, butter, salmon) is subjected to drastic restrictions:
- ban on television advertising, from 5:30 to 21:00, on the channels live e on-demand subject to the jurisdiction of the UK Communications Authority (Ofcom),
- prohibition of marketing online. Stop advertising and paid ads (i.e. remunerated in child, via product delivery), including those on Email and messaging services.
2.2) Exemptions
The exceptions the restrictions of the above are unfortunately significant, since they concern:
- the media (e.g. sites website, blog, social media) owned by the brands, whose owners exercise editorial control and ownership of the contents,
- advertising online paid by operators not based in the UK, provided that they are not essentially directed to that market (based on specific criteria defined in the Health and Care Bill),
- brand advertising only, provided the ad does not refer to or refer to junk food, (an understatement, in cases like Pringles, Nutella, M & Ms, etc.)
- small and medium-sized enterprises,
- audio content available online (e.g. podcasts, radio),
- broadcasting,
- B2B online promotion,
- transactional content online (Eg. ecommerce). (6)
2.3) Restrictions on the sale of junk food
Il retail physical and digital with more than 50 employees is in turn subject to a series of bans, in relation to the sale of HFSS ultraprocessed foods:
a) 'quantity-price' promotional offers (e.g. 3 × 2, same price plus product),
b) placement of HFSS foods in strategic positions within the shops (e.g. entrances, beginning and end of aisles, avancasse),
c) promotion of junk food in home page, pop-up, shopping cart and payment cart closing pages,
d) offer free top-ups (r) of sugary drinks. (6)
Free the supply chain from junk food cycle, ESG
Financial Times, the City of London newspaper, offers a pragmatic reading of Health and Care Bill. Observing how the first answers come precisely from financial investors engaged in the food industry. Who simply acknowledged the need to change strategy.
Investors so they started asking the giants for Big food listed on the stock exchange, what are the industrial strategies planned to free themselves from junk food cycle make profits in different ways. (7) All the more, we add, as the ESG parameters (Environment, Social, Governance) of investments are not compatible with the production of unhealthy food. (8)
Provisional conclusions
Disease the populations through the offer and the neuromarketing of ultraprocessed foods with unbalanced nutritional profiles is very POP (Profit Over People) but it is neither sustainable nor acceptable.
The British government it has been able to strengthen the banks to protect public health and that of minors in particular, and has therefore been taken as a model by the WHO itself. (9) Meanwhile, in Italy, 1 out of 4 minors are at risk of serious damage to health due to politicians enslaved to Big food. (10) Shame!
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) Marta Strinati. Junk food, no promotions in UK supermarkets. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 30.12.20/XNUMX/XNUMX,
(2) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. Global Syndemic, the deadly mix of malnutrition and ecological crisis. GIFTS (Great Italian Food Trade). 7.6.19/XNUMX/XNUMX,
(3) Dolly RZ Theis, Martin White (2021). Is obesity policy in England fit for purpose? Analysis of government strategies and policies, 1992-2020. Milbank Quarterly; 19 Jan 2021; doi: 10.1111/1468-0009.12498 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-0009.12498
(4) Dario Dongo and Andrea Adelmo Della Penna. Ultraprocessed foods, the worst evil. Appeal of scientists in the British Medical Journal. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 16.8.21/XNUMX/XNUMX,
(5) Health and Care Bill granted Royal Assent in milestone for healthcare recovery and reform. UK Government. 28.4.22,
(6) Health and Care Bill: advertising of less healthy food and drink. UK Government. 10.3.22,
(7) Camilla Cavendish. We have been Big Food's lab rats for too long. Financial Times. 29.4.22, https://www.ft.com/content/56fe8c61-bd2d-4d6e-ae51-171657b472c8
(8) Dario Dongo. Due diligence and ESG, social and environmental sustainability of companies, the proposed EU directive. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(9) Marta Strinati. WHO chooses the UK model to reduce calories and sugar in the Old Continent. GIFTS (Great Italian Food Trade). 2.10.21/XNUMX/XNUMX,
(10) Dario Dongo, Sabrina Bergamini. Childhood obesity, 1 minor out of 4 at risk in Italy. Istat report. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 29.10.19/XNUMX/XNUMX,
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
